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

Abracadabbbra said: Bank of America = Worst bank policy, worst customer service and worst fee's.

Why would you put your money in such a shitty insitution?
If you had any money then you would understand why

I have turned my considerable mental powers to this problem and it seems to me that the problem is using BoA's checking account system. Their checking product is not very good so just don't use it. Do what the Diver does, and use their cards to borrow $145,000 a month by paying yourself at a DIFFERENT financial institution. Never had a problem, always been treated well, and they are very happy to increase my credit lines when I have the balls to ask.

DavidScubadiver said: I have turned my considerable mental powers to this problem and it seems to me that the problem is using BoA's checking account system. Their checking product is not very good so just don't use it. Do what the Diver does, and use their cards to borrow $145,000 a month by paying yourself at a DIFFERENT financial institution. Never had a problem, always been treated well, and they are very happy to increase my credit lines when I have the balls to ask.

Your opinion. As I said above, I have been with BoA for more than 2 decades, starting ONLY with their checking.... and still have the same "checking product", which works great for me....although I haven't written checks in years. Their (BoA's) billpay was one of the first out there... and the addition of yodlee made everything even better.

BoA has NEVER done anything wrong with any of my accounts.... they bend over backwards to re-allocate CLs, or do a BT on any of my 4 cards.... and the CSRs are very helpful and knowledgable (sometimes I feel like I have premier or private banking priveldges)... BUT if they started making mistakes, or turned into the horrible bank everyone claims that they are, I would have no problem going elsewhere! Luckily, that hasn't happened...

Technologist said: still have the same "checking product", which works great for me....although I haven't written checks in years. Explain how the checking product works so well for you if you don't write checks. Yield stinks, no?

DavidScubadiver said: Technologist said: still have the same "checking product", which works great for me....although I haven't written checks in years. Explain how the checking product works so well for you if you don't write checks. Yield stinks, no?

Like he said in his next sentence...billpay. The NEA savings account yeild is okay. I expect private banking yeilds are okay also...but not as good a Bank of Toledo

Technologist said: DavidScubadiver said: I have turned my considerable mental powers to this problem and it seems to me that the problem is using BoA's checking account system. Their checking product is not very good so just don't use it. Do what the Diver does, and use their cards to borrow $145,000 a month by paying yourself at a DIFFERENT financial institution. Never had a problem, always been treated well, and they are very happy to increase my credit lines when I have the balls to ask.

Your opinion. As I said above, I have been with BoA for more than 2 decades, starting ONLY with their checking.... and still have the same "checking product", which works great for me....although I haven't written checks in years. Their (BoA's) billpay was one of the first out there... and the addition of yodlee made everything even better.

BoA has NEVER done anything wrong with any of my accounts.... they bend over backwards to re-allocate CLs, or do a BT on any of my 4 cards.... and the CSRs are very helpful and knowledgable (sometimes I feel like I have premier or private banking priveldges)... BUT if they started making mistakes, or turned into the horrible bank everyone claims that they are, I would have no problem going elsewhere! Luckily, that hasn't happened...

I agree, since I have their customer since Nation's bank days which is 17 yrs

DavidScubadiver said: Informal Poll

I wonder how many people who have had adverse BoA action have documented their income with BoA for any reason, either because they have a mortgage or because they sought oversized credit lines? I wonder whether having documented income/assets, one is less likely to be flagged for fraud.

I have faxed them numerous brokerage and bank statements, showing my assets, as well as W-2 forms and check stubs. When I say "my assets" I should really say, "our assets" since a good chunk of my assets come from their interest free loans.
Also think A big plus is having a Premier account, My rep knows I'm a wh#re and money flows in and out like the tides depending on rate. So would think before any adverse actions were to take place he would put a stop to it

Or seriously considering joining said organization. I need to modify my security questions. "Have your bags been in your possession at all times? Has anybody unknown to you asked you to carry any items on board the plane? Have you now, or have you ever been - or are you seriously considering becoming - a member of any terrorist organization?"

Add to that, "Having packed your own bags, did you pack any explosivies, firearms or other weapons with which to destroy the aircraft or otherwise harm passengers?"

delzy said: ....
FW supports arabic script?

I didn't want to reveal my identity because I knew people would act like this. Can we please cut out the taunting in Arabic and jokes about terrorism? Some of you may be kidding, but others may take things too seriously and too far. This thread concerns a very serious topic.

Back to the topic at hand, the situation gets even stranger. Today, in preparation of my lawsuit against Bank of America, I logged into my account to take a complete inventory of charges and fees levied against my accounts. Interestingly, all of the $888,888.88 charges have been removed. And although all of my transactions from 11/01/07 to 11/06/07 have been reversed, new transactions from 11/07/07 have gone through, including several automatic payments and a direct deposit from my employer. All of my portfolio positions reverted to their previous state too. I'm planning to call Bank of America today to ask them about the status of my accounts and request an explanation for all of the charges I've incurred, including NSF and "activity research" fees. I'll record the calls and post them on here. Give me a few hours.

theficus said: I didn't want to reveal my identity because I knew people would act like this. Can we please cut out the taunting in Arabic and jokes about terrorism? Some of you may be kidding, but others may take things too seriously and too far. This thread concerns a very serious topic.

While I do hope you know we are only joking what happened to you probably is a result of this current climate. Does suck and would prefer things like this did not happen but it's a way of life for now

theficus said: I didn't want to reveal my identity because I knew people would act like this. Can we please cut out the taunting in Arabic and jokes about terrorism? Some of you may be kidding, but others may take things too seriously and too far. This thread concerns a very serious topic.

Back to the topic at hand, the situation gets even stranger. Today, in preparation of my lawsuit against Bank of America, I logged into my account to take a complete inventory of charges and fees levied against my accounts. Interestingly, all of the $888,888.88 charges have been removed. And although all of my transactions from 11/01/07 to 11/06/07 have been reversed, new transactions from 11/07/07 have gone through, including several automatic payments and a direct deposit from my employer. All of my portfolio positions reverted to their previous state too. I'm planning to call Bank of America today to ask them about the status of my accounts and request an explanation for all of the charges I've incurred, including NSF and "activity research" fees. I'll record the calls and post them on here. Give me a few hours.Unfortunately, serious as the topic is, we are all greatly relieved it happened to someone other than ourselves. And, collectively, we probably feel that the topic has been thoroughly vetted and await only what it is you decide to do, and what outcome you reach -- because in the back of all of our minds is the question, "could I be next, and if so, what did the ficus do and how did it help or aggravate the situation."

But until we hear from you, the topic will degenerate because its the only entertaining thing to do at this point.

You will get your money back eventually, but they are probably running a full background check with the FBI, and are going to hold your funds for some time to come. You are being profiled as you mentioned.

The media won't help you unless you go the ALEX JONES show, or go beg RON PAUL for help.

Plus, you can't sue them with the government authorizing that they can do these things whenever they want since they signed the bill into law.

Good Luck! Fight The Power!

kamalktk said:
It's even worse than that, FW has many Muslim members and there are threads devoted to Islamic finance.
what's a nice Jewish guy like me doing here? Maybe I am a Mossada operative spying

DavidScubadiver said: mhesidence said: DavidScubadiver said: Technologist said: still have the same "checking product", which works great for me....although I haven't written checks in years. Explain how the checking product works so well for you if you don't write checks. Yield stinks, no?

Like he said in his next sentence...billpay. The NEA savings account yeild is okay. I expect private banking yeilds are okay also...but not as good a Bank of Toledo Billpay? I use billpay too, but I don't pay my bills with my checking account. I pay them with my BoA card. Only time I pay by check is when I have to pay my BoA credit card, but since that's either $45,000 or $73,000 that has to be paid from a high yield checking account.

Right, don't write checks, use billpay (either CC or account funded). Who cares about rate on checking, when BoA has a great push/pull system in place, and billpay NEVER disappoints me.

I have a smaller bill due (under 1000, or 10,000), I schedule Billpay for 3 days from now (or next day if under 1K), and initiate a BoA PULL from my HYS account, which occurs the same day as the bill pay goes out. No loss of interest, money doesn't languish at BoA, etc.

Or I pay with BoA cc, and PUSH from HYS into BoA when the BoA cc bill is due.... once it hits account, I can pay BoA cc INSTANTLY (internal bank transfer)!

and for Brown neck... My bank was taken over by Nations, then taken over by BoA.... and I got to keep the same account numbers, plus customer history.... which is another reason I defend BoA... they HAVE treated me well!

There are some major BOA jock-hangers on this board. For people to make blanket statements like, "The OP must be leaving something out. BOA doesn't do this kind of thing" is just stupid. I just don't understand that kind of denial. You can't apply your own experiences to someone else. A bank is a collection of individuals, all human beings that are capable of making mistakes, being racist, disregarding their own policies, lying, cheating, stealing, etc. It's definitely possible specific action was taken against this one individual and there may have been no good reason for it. I don't see why your experience as the 'Joe Schmoe who has moved tons of money through BOA without a problem for 80 years' has any relevance. If someone else steps into a hole, but you walk around it, does the hole not exist for you?

DavidScubadiver said: Monkeysan said: If someone else steps into a hole, but you walk around it, does the hole not exist for you? Basically, for all intents and purposes, the hole does not exist for me if I've walked around it.
Right, Not to sound uncaring, but I am. As long as I have no problems then why should I worry about someone else's ?

curtisekarr said: Relax theficus, I think the humor is more aimed at the inane questions that airport security used to ask, as if it ever once stopped a planned terrorist attack.
Oh, I'm not upset over the comments in this thread. I simply don't want the jokes to snowball and degenerate a serious thread into 15 pages of crass attempts at humor.

I'm leaving for lunch within the hour; I'll make and record my calls to Bank of America then. Check back for an update soon.

Monkeysan said: There are some major BOA jock-hangers on this board. For people to make blanket statements like, "The OP must be leaving something out. BOA doesn't do this kind of thing" is just stupid. I just don't understand that kind of denial. You can't apply your own experiences to someone else. A bank is a collection of individuals, all human beings that are capable of making mistakes, being racist, disregarding their own policies, lying, cheating, stealing, etc. It's definitely possible specific action was taken against this one individual and there may have been no good reason for it. I don't see why your experience as the 'Joe Schmoe who has moved tons of money through BOA without a problem for 80 years' has any relevance. If someone else steps into a hole, but you walk around it, does the hole not exist for you?I think there's some continuity gap in BofA offerings. The people here who praise the bank have been customers for a long time, 10+ years. I have some close friends who have their own or are under their parents or family linked accounts and could not be persuaded to dump the bank. I tried to tell them that BofA had the worst interest rates and the most ridiculous fees (comparing to wa.mu), only to learn that they don't ever pay these fees. They either have the right "relationship" or their accounts were grandfathered (they let you keep the terms&conditions under which you signed up). But as far as interest rates, some didn't know or care, others listened and got better accounts elsewhere. Edit: yes I know some MMA accounts are good, but you have to know about them.

Technologist said: And if some people commenting about "BOA Jock hangers".... had you read the entire thread, or if you had been reading it since it first posted, you would see that I offerred good suggestions to the OP. Once done, I am not being a jock hanger, but defending the opposite side of the same coin you are complaining about.... the "BOA is the shittiest bank" crowd...

Well, if I miss some information in a thread, it obviously doesn't exist. I just go around it. There is no spoon.

I worked for BOA a long time ago around the time they were doing the switch from NationsBank. It was great fun sitting in a room with the rest of the department while they called out the names of the people who weren't getting laid off. That was also when they decided to lead the pack and start charging fees for customers using non-BOA ATMs.

I really don't see anything about the bank being customer-friendly. You really have to aggressively pursue things at BOA to find good products or get the most from incentives, as I know from having to chase down their $100 promos or get improperly-charged fees reversed.

But I guess that is pretty minor stuff compared to having all my accounts frozen and being flagged as a money launderer.

Obviously, they're very successful as a bank, and there's no reason to complain about crappy rates or something because you could always take your business elsewhere. Unless they freeze your accounts and flag you for money-laundering, I guess. Then...well...then you're just kinda screwed.

On the business side of things, I've been dealing with them for a work-related account, and they have so many departments and different people working on things it's a wonder anything gets done.

But all in all, BOA is very successful. It's much like Wal-Mart--I like to bash them, but I'll still buy my groceries there to save a few bucks.

Also, let's face it--if you push enough money through any financial institution, they will probably bend over backwards catering to your business, but the average schmuck will get screwed because he isn't profitable. Plus, people like Donald Trump didn't get to where they were by weeping over every homeless bum they trip over on the way to work. Of course, if you walk around the bum, he doesn't exist.

Anyone on this board looking for empathy should look elsewhere. It's like jumping into a shark pit with a side of beef tied to your testicles.