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Bank of America closed all my accounts. What to do now? *UPDATED 03/01/08* Archived From: Finance

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beethovengirl said:
I [and many rate-chasing FWFers] have made plenty of 6-figure deposits and then transfered them to outside institutions soon after. I've never had any issues.

we dont have names that sound like known terrorists or Colombian drug dealers either.

As was said above, these names are often common Arabic and Hispanic names, yet even innocents sharing similar name are subject to increased scrutiny.

Ive said this several times before in this forum and people doubted me/dont want to believe its true. But if you have Arabic/SE Asian sounding name you must be VERY careful playing financial games. Yes this includes the numerous Indians, Pakistanis etc reading these boards. They arent targeting you bc of race or religion, they are targeting the names.


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SUCKISSTAPLES said:we dont have names that sound like known terrorists or Colombian drug dealers either.

As was said above, these names are often common Arabic and Hispanic names, yet even innocents sharing similar name are subject to increased scrutiny.

Angelo Mozelo
Stan O'Neal
Charles Prince
Dick Cheney
and many more

None of these sound Arabic or Hispanic but they are the worst crooks whos account have to be investigated.


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beethovengirl said:uood8 said:Your account was probably flagged for money laundering, which the bank will have nothing to do with if they even suspect something. and by you making a large deposit then transferring funds to outside instutitions is a huge red flad.
I [and many rate-chasing FWFers] have made plenty of 6-figure deposits and then transfered them to outside institutions soon after. I've never had any issues.

But they dont have the OPS name.


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scott1961 said:Don't want to derail your thread but you are accusing a bank of something pretty serious by saying they called you a "Racial Slur" That's the only reason I'm interested in the context of it. I have moved over a half million out of BoA in the last month without any issues, Must be because of my nice Jewish name?

If the accusations are true, they should be taken to task. Since a lot of calls are recorded, it seems this kind of rude behavior would have potentially been captured, and I think the OP should make sure they follow up in filing a proper complaint. All they would need to do is pull the call, listen to it, and I am sure the CSR would be insta-fired.

That is why I find multiple cases of horrible customer service behavior from multiple people all to the same person in a short period of time to be hard to believe. Just because of the way these things are managed and controlled.

So I think the OP is obligated to follow through with the proper complaint. Having racist CSRs around does not benefit anyone, even if you do just want your money and want to move on.


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SUCKISSTAPLES said:beethovengirl said:
I [and many rate-chasing FWFers] have made plenty of 6-figure deposits and then transfered them to outside institutions soon after. I've never had any issues.


we dont have names that sound like known terrorists or Colombian drug dealers either.

I know. My statement was in response to uood8's post regarding suspicion of money laundering due to the large deposit and subsequent external transfers. i.e. I don't think it's the large deposit and the external transfer that's the problem -- it's his name. I suspected this from the beginning, which is why I mentioned the Council on American-Islamic Relations in my first post before theficus revealed that he is indeed Muslim.


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theficus said:SUCKISSTAPLES is on the right track. Anyway, I decided to make one last call to see if I could speak to a supervisor. The CSR who answered told me:

1.) The decision is final.
2.) There aren't any supervisors I can speak to.
3.) "Bank of America doesn't like people depositing convenience checks."
4.) "Bank of America is not going to help you steal money."
5.) "We don't have an address to give you."
6.) When I asked for an address to send a complaint, I was told "you can't sue us," even though I didn't mention that. She then hung up on me.

I don't know what in the world is wrong with the people in this department. Again, I was polite and simply asked to speak to a supervisor about the matter. When they refused, I asked for an address to send my complaint, which they also refused. The phone number is (818) 291-8649 if anyone is interested.

To make matters worse, all my transactions for the month of November have been returned, including all my credit card payments. I'm also being charged NSF fees and returned payment fees for each of these transactions since each of my accounts appear to be in the negative over $800,000. What a nightmare.

I'm never doing business with Bank of America again and I'm going to pursue this matter legally. I'm nearly 100% certain I'm being profiled because of my name.

Don't take this the wrong way, but do you have an unusual demeanor/phone voice?

I have some friends that speak very loud/aggressively, even in their most passive polite tone.

Something has to be triggering these people to turn on you over and over again, and it is just not clear what it is. It is just odd that you keep having these confrontations yet you are peaceful and polite as you say. It is possible to run into 1 bad apple. The odds are much less that you would run into 3 or 4 people, if you were being polite and straight forward. Even if they could not helop you, must people would at least empathize with you. That person after person would be ultra-rude to you, simply defies reasonableness on any level without you doing something.


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More here: SWF


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beethovengirl said:uood8 said:Your account was probably flagged for money laundering, which the bank will have nothing to do with if they even suspect something. and by you making a large deposit then transferring funds to outside instutitions is a huge red flad.
I [and many rate-chasing FWFers] have made plenty of 6-figure deposits and then transfered them to outside institutions soon after. I've never had any issues.
I would have to say I have moved $1m (easily) through my checking account in last 5 years. There was a single one that was almost 1/4 million dollars. It hardly ever sits there for long. No problems beyond inconsitent funds hold policies.

That is Presidential though, not BofA. And I have a nice Irish name (once upon a time that might have had its own issues, but no longer I presume)

I'm sorry to hear you had to go through this, OP. BofA was definitely not my financial institution of choice before this point (though I've had a mortgage & 4-5 CC through them -- though all as result of acquisitions aftere I opened them), and this pretty much seals the conclusion for me. Small thing to you I know, but just want to share that.


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theficus said:Also, I want to publicize my situation because I strongly believe I was targeted because of my name. I still don't think this would have happened to me if I had an Anglo-sounding name.

Why don't you just change your name to Alfie Rubinowitz. I like that name.


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beethovengirl said: i.e. I don't think it's the large deposit and the external transfer that's the problem -- it's his name. I suspected this from the beginning, which is why I mentioned the Council on American-Islamic Relations in my first post before theficus revealed that he is indeed Muslim.we dont know if hes Muslim or not. I have many friends with Arabic names who are not Muslim.

Its also not a "one or the other" issue - large money movements on a new account do raise risk flags. Certain names also raise flags. Combine the 2 and they dont want you as a customer.


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SUCKISSTAPLES said:beethovengirl said: i.e. I don't think it's the large deposit and the external transfer that's the problem -- it's his name. I suspected this from the beginning, which is why I mentioned the Council on American-Islamic Relations in my first post before theficus revealed that he is indeed Muslim.we dont know if hes Muslim or not. I have many friends with Arabic names who are not Muslim.

beethovengirl doesn't realize that she probably made one of the most offensive, stereotyping comments on this board. Ignorance is so entertaining when it comes from those so enlightened.


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When you get your money back, I would go open another account with them then close it the next day, heheheheheh


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For all the grief that FNBO was getting, even FNBO did not freeze my accounts when I moved $300K from two accounts within a week. BofA, while generally good, put a hold on a large check even though I have had an account with them for 10+ years.


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SUCKISSTAPLES said:beethovengirl said: i.e. I don't think it's the large deposit and the external transfer that's the problem -- it's his name. I suspected this from the beginning, which is why I mentioned the Council on American-Islamic Relations in my first post before theficus revealed that he is indeed Muslim.we dont know if hes Muslim or not. I have many friends with Arabic names who are not Muslim.
theficus said that he is Muslim:
http://www.fatwallet.com/t/52/778747/11415056#m11415056


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It is funny ... As of March 2007, Citibank is the largest bank in the United States by holdings and its single largest shareholder is Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, who has a 4.4% stake.


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delzy said:SUCKISSTAPLES said:beethovengirl said: i.e. I don't think it's the large deposit and the external transfer that's the problem -- it's his name. I suspected this from the beginning, which is why I mentioned the Council on American-Islamic Relations in my first post before theficus revealed that he is indeed Muslim.we dont know if hes Muslim or not. I have many friends with Arabic names who are not Muslim.

beethovengirl doesn't realize that she probably made one of the most offensive, stereotyping comments on this board. Ignorance is so entertaining when it comes from those so enlightened.

WTF are you talking about?! He said that he's Muslim.
http://www.fatwallet.com/t/52/778747/11415056#m11415056

I made no offensive, stereotyping comments AT ALL.


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theficus said: ... I don't think I would have had this problem if my name was "Ted Stevens" or something more vanilla sounding. What do you guys think? ...

FWIW, Uncle Ted's been having g-men sorting his recyclables for him for several months. Not sure using that particular name in association with electronic money transfers would be such a good idea.


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beethovengirl said:delzy said:SUCKISSTAPLES said:beethovengirl said: i.e. I don't think it's the large deposit and the external transfer that's the problem -- it's his name. I suspected this from the beginning, which is why I mentioned the Council on American-Islamic Relations in my first post before theficus revealed that he is indeed Muslim.we dont know if hes Muslim or not. I have many friends with Arabic names who are not Muslim.

beethovengirl doesn't realize that she probably made one of the most offensive, stereotyping comments on this board. Ignorance is so entertaining when it comes from those so enlightened.

WTF are you talking about?! He said that he's Muslim.
http://www.fatwallet.com/t/52/778747/11415056#m11415056

I made no offensive, stereotyping comments AT ALL.

Sorry, I missed the part where he said he was a muslim. My bad.

I, too, know non-muslims with Arabic names.


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delzy said:Sorry, I missed the part where he said he was a muslim. My bad.
thank you for apologizing

I, too, know non-muslims with Arabic names.
The majority of Arab Americans are Christian, so it's very common.


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delzy said:

beethovengirl doesn't realize that she probably made one of the most offensive, stereotyping comments on this board. Ignorance is so entertaining when it comes from those so enlightened.


The only one entertaining us with their ignorance is delzy who is too ignorant to read before commenting.


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