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

theficus said:
5.) It's not Bank of America's problem if all my payments bounce. It's also not their problem if they continue to take my paychecks and hold them. "You shouldn't commit fraud if you don't want to have these problems."
6.) There is a note on my account stating "CSRs are not to speak with this individual. He is known to record conversations. Refer him to our legal department only." She hung up on me after reading this. I guess she didn't see it until she read it to me.

I'm going to the courthouse Monday to file my lawsuit. I'll post updates as things happen.

Yea, that was a bold statement. It is not typical behavior to outright accuse a customer of fraud. They must think they have an iron-clad reason to classify it as fraud, otherwise they'd just be using some generic terms. Statements like this can hurt their case when it's found that they can't prove any fraudulent behavior. It sounds like you're taking the right path. It seems a lawsuit is your only option at this point.

The interesting thing is they have now seized the entirety of your assets. I tried to read the whole thread, but I may have missed it... did you hire a lawyer?

Thanks for the offer of support, but it's unnecessary at this point. I'm going to pursue this in small claims court first. I don't need to retain a lawyer at this point because my state prohibits lawyers from participating in small claims court. I do plan, however, on consulting with a lawyer to see if I have a larger case beyond the various fees charged against my accounts.

What state are you filing in?
I prefer not to disclose that information now.

Dude, you should have never told them you were recording and should have recorded every call from the start. The terrorist reference would have been priceless.
I was completely blindsided by Bank of America. I didn't record the calls at first because I didn't expect any of this. I thought it was a simple bank error or hold on my funds. I also don't want to lie about recording on the phone because I live in a two-party consent state.

Maybe I'm reading it wrong but in Florida both parties need to know a call is being recored.
I dont know why people have so much trouble with this..."Calls may be recorded..." is 2 party notification. I know BOA has that. Whats the problem, Florida or not?

Both people know and there is no reciprocal duty to notify.

theficus said: Thanks for the offer of support, but it's unnecessary at this point. I'm going to pursue this in small claims court first. I don't need to retain a lawyer at this point because my state prohibits lawyers from participating in small claims court. I do plan, however, on consulting with a lawyer to see if I have a larger case beyond the various fees charged against my accounts.

Maybe it's just me, but wouldn't the seizure of nearly a million dollars automatically disqualify this from small claims? If you already had the money from your account in-hand and were merely trying to recover fees that'd be one thing, but as soon as you file a suit I don't think there's any way you're seeing that money until there's a ruling. You should be suing for the return of the full amount, all associated fees (including real damages from bounced payments), and interest on the amount from seizure until release. You're probably losing nearly $200 a day in interest/investments alone. In Ohio, that'd put you over the small claims limit in about 10 days.

I'd definitely consult a lawyer first. That's a great idea.

Good luck!

Trying to get back $888,888.88 by yourself in small claims court.

gizmotoy said: Maybe it's just me, but wouldn't the seizure of nearly a million dollars automatically disqualify this from small claims? If you already had the money from your account in-hand and were merely trying to recover fees that'd be one thing, but as soon as you file a suit I don't think there's any way you're seeing that money until there's a ruling. You should be suing for the return of the full amount, all associated fees (including real damages from bounced payments), and interest on the amount from seizure until release. You're probably losing nearly $200 a day in interest/investments alone. In Ohio, that'd put you over the small claims limit in about 10 days.

I'd definitely consult a lawyer first. That's a great idea.
My seized assets are about $110,000, not $1,000,000. I would've died of a heart attack if it was a million dollars!

I plan on consulting with a lawyer on Monday.

Maybe the CSRs are to blame for just hanging up, but have you tried speaking to the legal department as the account note prompts you to??? You accounts may have mistakenly been lumped into a larger, serious, legit fraud case. Doesnt make it right, but it certainly explains everything.
I'll try to speak to the legal department on my lunch break today. Maybe I can get some better answers out of them.

Good luck!

Trying to get back $888,888.88 by yourself in small claims court.
The $888,888.88 debit keeps disappearing and reappearing on my accounts. Apparently it's Bank of America's method of noting account fraud and forcing all your debits to bounce due to non-sufficient funds.


I believe wells fargo has a very good set up you can go to for banking, brokerage and credit cards. Assuming they will take you after being rejected by BoA.
That's the closest replacement I could find for my Bank of America setup. We'll see.

theficus said: The $888,888.88 debit keeps disappearing and reappearing on my accounts. Apparently it's Bank of America's method of noting account fraud and forcing all your debits to bounce due to non-sufficient funds.

OP keep taking screen shots of your accounts with dates so you have a timeline of how and what they did in terms of charges, negative balance, 88888's etc. Perhaps taking printouts would help too. Good luck my friend.

theficus said: My seized assets are about $110,000, not $1,000,000. I would've died of a heart attack if it was a million dollars!

Small claims court is usually limited to a few thousand dollars. In CA, it would be $7500.

what a mess.

JennaG said: Dude, you should have never told them you were recording and should have recorded every call from the start. The terrorist reference would have been priceless.

Since BoA records all their calls, is there any way to subpoena the tapes for small claims court?

(This could very well be completely impossible. I have no idea.)

What's to stop them from erasing the tapes the moment the subpoena arrives? "Sorry, it's our policy to only save recordings for one month".

CantHelpIt said: What's to stop them from erasing the tapes the moment the subpoena arrives? "Sorry, it's our policy to only save recordings for one month". First, that's NOT their policy, as it would serve no purpose to record things for only a month. Second, retention programs are in writing, so they can't just flip flop like that. Third, destroying documents after a subpoena is served is a recipe for disaster that some people have tried to get away with, and wound up in very deep muck. Arthur Anderson and Morgan Stanley to name two biggies.

DavidScubadiver said: First, that's NOT their policy, as it would serve no purpose to record things for only a month. Second, retention programs are in writing, so they can't just flip flop like that. Third, destroying documents after a subpoena is served is a recipe for disaster that some people have tried to get away with, and wound up in very deep muck. Arthur Anderson and Morgan Stanley to name two biggies.

With all due respect, I didn't just pull that out of my ass. I worked in a call center (admittedly, not a bank) for about a year. We retained calls for "around a month", and I was privately told that we had no formal written policy regarding call retention, so that our manager could delete the calls "at his discretion" when he felt it "was appropriate". It was implied that if anything ever came up where the recordings could be used against us, they would have "been deleted already".

Who knows though, maybe for a giant like BofA it's harder to make that kind of stuff disappear.

jus2cusmyle said: since they basically tell you that they might record the call wouldnt that work backwards also they know they might be recorded. just because they informed you of it they also informed whomever is on the banks end. atleast from a common sense side of it.

hope all is fixed soon

This is really nice point. I guess at they know they told us, can we record assuming that both the parties are been told??

now i need to get recording device..

what about any online service about recording calls..?

Here's the audio recording of my final attempt at getting anywhere with the risk closure/fraud department, including the introductory "calls are monitored" notice.

You seriously need to get a tape recorder that doesn't make beeps. Also why didn't you call the legal deptartment?

Forget it. Talk to an attorney and move on.

Ficus, small claim court is usually for small amount only usually the maximum amount the small court claim judge can award you is $5,000 or less depending on each states.

Your only option is to seek a competent highly experienced attorney who cares deeply about justice to take Bank of America to court on your behalf. In addition to all damages your have suffered, complete return of your money, an competent attorney can also get punitive damages for you which can amount to millions and millions of dollar. The punitive damage was set up to prevent company from mistreating/abusing consumers and serve as a deterrent from businesses acting recklessly and/or detriment to society.

My advice is stop calling them. Henceforth, all communications you have with BOA should be in writing. You should write a complain letter to the local Bank of America where you opened the account...Address it to the Branch manager of that particlar bank And send that copy to the CEO (Chief Executive Officer...(the top guy) at Bank of America. You can found this information at your local library. Ask the librarian to look up this the name of the CEO and Headquarter of Bank of America. These two letter MUST be send via Certify Mail Receipt Requested. This way you have prove that you sent them and PROVE that they received the letters.

These will provide your attorney evidences to show the judge or jurrors that you have tried your best to solve the problems but to no avail. Therefore, your only alternative is bring them to court. This will further strenghten your punitive damages against BOA.

My advise is stop dealing with those jokers and seek an advice of a competent and compassionnate attorney. Most will provide FREE consulation. And some will even take the case on contigency basis (take a percentage of the award ONly if you win) or pro-bono (free). Never give up and be patience. Finding a good attorney may required you to speak to or call to dozens of attorneys. But you'll find one that will fight aggressively on you behalf.

sreebalt said: hi

I faced the similar situation( pain ) few years back with BOA and used to have only checking account with them.

Called fraud department several times to get the reason to close my accounts and they are so rude, always hunG up phone without giving any details. Even local BOA branch mgr who tried to help me got the similar response. Till today I dont have any clue why they closed my accounts.

More over I got a letter from a BOA SAYING THAT I can't open an account in any bank who is member of Risk Sytem( not sure about exact name) and tried to open checking account with Wells Fargo and they straight way rejected my application because my name registered in the risk system.
I believe you mean ChexSystems. I am very interested to know if and how you resolved that problem with Chex because that is another nightmare in its own right. You need now to contend with ChexSystems also. Were you able to open a new bank account by other means?

There could be a parallel thread on how the OP resolves the blacklisting by BoA vis-a-vis ChexSystems. ChexSystems fraud report could virtually cut him off from all banks for at least 5 years.

theficus said: The CSRs know the line is being recorded because my phone makes a beep when it's recording. I'm not going to lie and tell them otherwise. I have some more audio with another rude and unhelpful CSR. She claimed that "Bank of America monitors phone calls but doesn't record them." I'll try to post that in a few hours.

I called again this morning and spoke to a CSR without recording the conversation. She told me the following information:

1.) My accounts are closed as of 11/06/07. She then contradicted herself by stating that my accounts are open to receive credits only.
2.) Bank of America will send me my money when they "feel it's appropriate."
3.) They will deduct the several hundred dollars in fees from my refund check.
4.) I am blacklisted by Bank of America. They also share this information with other banks.
5.) It's not Bank of America's problem if all my payments bounce. It's also not their problem if they continue to take my paychecks and hold them. "You shouldn't commit fraud if you don't want to have these problems."
6.) There is a note on my account stating "CSRs are not to speak with this individual. He is known to record conversations. Refer him to our legal department only." She hung up on me after reading this. I guess she didn't see it until she read it to me.

I'm going to the courthouse Monday to file my lawsuit. I'll post updates as things happen.

I just called Bank of America again today to follow up on my issue as well. I was hung up on for the first time!

I even notified them that I complained to the OCC and Better Business Bureau, and she didn't seem to care. I only have about $1,500 tied up there, so I guess I should consider myself fortunate.

Maybe if people like you and me make enough noise...

I'm a semi-loyal Bank of America customer in a Premiere Banking relationship with them (thank you, Dr. Wife), and I'm having a hard time stomaching the treatment you're receiving. It's pretty appalling that they're refusing to give you straight answers in the first place, let alone jeopardizing your creditworthiness by bouncing your checks and bill payments, and treating you with such contempt on top of it.

I look forward to hearing more of this story, and of seeing it in the blogs and (please!) local TV reporting. Good luck to you.

--Chris