Complaint Review: Bank Of America

I surely hope someone at BofA with some sort of power reads this, or someone who can help me! I'm so tired of telling my story over and over. What happened to my money? Why is a collectoin agency after me? When will your institution accept responsibility and apologize to me? When will you put my personal money back? When will you respond? It's not right to do this to people, and you guys have destroyed my business, as well as stolen so much money from me. What is wrong with the bank? Employees are too scared to fix real problems because they don't want to be accountable but what about your customers who suffer from the environment? To add insult to injury, I am no stuck at BofA w/my personal checking that you stole money out of and continue w/fees that I can't stop because you already took me to the cleaners, destroyed my business relationships, and ruined my business.

After being so patient w/your dodgy systems and trying every suggestion while not getting angry, you swipe my personal money without explanation or justification, close the account when you told me to stop using it until settles, ignore my dozens of pleas for help, and then have the nerve to send it to collection! It's unbelievable. No one will accept responsibility, and no one calls me back or returns my calls. What kind of bank does this to someone? What kind of fraud department *ignores* dozens of calls for a year? What kind of claims department ignores legitimate claims? Do I have to get a lawyer to get a response?! I've been understanding, patient, lenient, and forgiving. In return, I get nothing but attitude and blame from your CSRs who can't even find anything on my account(s) and think I'm crazy.

To anyone who doesn't believe this, I assure you that this story is 100% true and I'm only listing the last year of it here. I'm looking for a lawyer, and hoping there's a class action in the near future. When greed causes your staff to avoid real problems, then it shows that the environment is unstable and hostile.

Once again, can someone please contact me, resolve this issue once and for all, give back my money, and apologize regarding the below issue:

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http://www.bankingquestions.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=11969&Board=1&page=1&fpart=all&gonew=1#UNREAD
Part of my post.......
A little over one year ago, I was posted to the Bankers Online forum, and viciously attacked & insulted. If I say something wrong or don't "articulate" my problem properly, please ask me questions because I am not a banker. I don't think like a banker, and I may ask questions based on something that's currently happening and not realize I need to explain the full history. I appreciate anyone's help. I am truly desperate at this point. My problem is very complex, and yet it's so simple. If the bank had fixed the initial problem in 2004, I would not be here today.

Sigh, where do I start...
I have been a customer of this bank since 1991, and loved this bank. Never had a problem between 1991 and 2004. However, my account fell into some kind of computer glitch in 2004, and in the end, I'm left without a business account, a lot less money, and a lot of embarrassment, plus anger.

In 2004, I decided to open a personal checking account at BofA. I had a personal checking in the past, and had a business account since 1999. I've been a good customer. I mainly transact internationally which results in $100s worth of fees for the bank each month. I realize that's not much in the big picture but I never complained and always paid. If I made a mistake, I would own. If only the bank would do the same...

Again, I opened a personal checking account in June 2004. I also live in Japan. I moved here in 1999 and have always used this bank for my needs. My new account was a basic account intended for personal purchases and a newly created PayPal account. I had hoped to keep my personal bills, as well as PayPal transactions, separate from my business account. Obviously, this is a good idea for anyone who has a business, and the concept is pretty simple.

In June 2004, the moment my new account's Check Card went live, the account went negative. I didn't notice immediately but as soon as I realized it was negative, I checked online. My business Check Card was posting to my personal checking, and my personal Check Card was posting to my business account. I also noticed some strange fees that I have never been charged on my business account. I called the bank, and they assured me that the issue would be fixed immediately and they apologized. However, they also informed me that they could not "move" the transactions to the proper account. So, my intention with this new account was already not going to plan.

After I confirmed that the cards were now pointing to the right accounts, I went to the ATM and I was denied. I was charged a fee for this too. I then attempted the withdrawal with the other card, and it was approved. It should have been denied but it wasn't denied because the cards were still not pointing to the right accounts.

I called the bank again and again and again about this issue, and after a couple months, they finally figured out why this was happening. I was told that my business check card was platinum and my personal card was gold. Apparently, their system will not allow the platinum card's transactions to point to the business account, and that's the issue. I was pretty disappointed with this news because it meant I would be limited to the gold card's daily limits on my business account. To make it extremely confusing, the debit card attached to my personal account said Platinum Business Card with my company name and the card attached to my business account was a personal Gold card with my name. BofA could not fix this without canceling both cards and starting over. Even if both cards were reissued, it would not fix the Platinum and Gold card issue. At the time, I thought it would be easier to rearrange my recurring debits to the proper cards, even though it meant my web host's monthly bill would have to be split over 2 transactions over 2 days if I wanted it to post to my business account. At the time, I also didn't realize the Platinum Business Card had certain fee privileges that didn't apply to the personal account.

In Nov. 2004, I noticed BofA began charging a Foreign Transaction Fee on my purchases and withdrawals on my personal account. Having never seen these fees in the past, I was convinced it was a mistake. I was still in the process of pointing bills to the proper account. Changing my card on recurring bills turned out to be difficult, and I was busy with the holiday season and work. Unfortunately, in Dec 2004, I was still having problems. I called BofA, and was told an internal investigation and review would occur. I was told it would take 2 weeks. I waited a month, and called back. I was told that there was no investigation and nothing in their system about it. I had the representative create another internal request, and was told it would take about 2 weeks. Again, I waited. This happened several times when I was finally connected to someone competent. She filed the claim, and told me that it would take 3 days. She also helped with other issues, like canceling my cards to resolve ongoing confusion. Approximately, 2 days later, I checked online, and the bank had refunded all the fees on my personal account going back to December 2004. I took this as an admission of fault. I called the bank, and asked about the refund and was told that the bank doesn't refund fees of this amount and they were at fault. I asked if I would receive an explanation, and I was told that I would receive a letter explaining the refund. I never received anything from the bank.

Unfortunately, in the meantime, I didn't notice that the canceled card that was pointing to the wrong account was now pointing to the proper account, but all my personal purchases made with the now canceled Platinum card were posting to my business account. Apparently, if a card is cancelled, BofA's claims department will pay it as a claim. Their system applies the claim to the first account number, the oldest account, and as a result, their system posted pending authorizations and new debits on the cancelled card to my business account. They continued to allow charges to the card, and paid them off my business account. I never expected any of this to happen, and didn't understand why "claim" transactions were posting to my business account. At the time, I recall there was a lot of confusion about what was posting to which accounts. At the advice of online banking, I put a stop payment on my business account. Unfortunately, I didn't know this would cause my merchant bank to close my account. My merchant, CSI, tried to fill, and American Express also tried to bill fees. Both were denied. American Express waited a few days and after a succesful deposit, they returned to billing. However, my merchant shut off my account. I now lost my main source of income and my daily deposits stopped. I called my merchant, and was told that I needed a letter from the bank that confirms the business account as "open". After a week of calling, I finally found someone at Online Banking who wrote the letter. They refused to admit fault in the letter, and only confirmed that the account was open. In response, my merchant reopened the account but they put a reserve on it. Having been without deposits for weeks, I billed some orders through my merchant, and waited for the funds to post. I called my merchant three times over this period and was assured the funds would post. I processed another batch, and issued some refunds. Normally, my merchant takes 2 days to post. Nothing posted, but debits from my merchant. Apparently, they lied to me, and had put a "small reserve" amount on the account. I called them and no one could tell me the reserve amount, but it was definitely well over $1000. I continued to try to contact my merchant when Katrina hit, and their office was closed. Although this merchant is very large, the only person who could assist me was this one employee in the office that was closed. I was now approaching one month of no deposits into BofA, and the wrong debits posting to the wrong accounts. In the meantime, I'm incurring fees on my personal account that I sincerely believed were a mistake and I felt the previous refund was a confirmation of this mistake. Sadly, being in Japan, I could not resolve my card processor issue, so I closed my web shop and moved to eBay to accept PayPal exclusively. My aveage deposits were $10000-$20000 a month, and it dropped to $0 pretty fast.

At the time, I had hoped the bank would resolve my debit card issues. I figured I would return to accepting credit cards once that account was fixed and in the meantime, I would have to use my personal account for business. Sadly, after one year of going in circles and a canceled card that the bank kept paying, their system drops the card number. Normally, this would mean the card doesn't exist but someone was still billing it and I was still incurring fees. Being that I had been struggling with this problem for so long and Customer Service could not find the card number in BofA's system, I was transferred to Fraud in Georgia. The manager in that office promised to stop the charges, and said someone would be in touch with me regarding the negative account. Fortunately, the transactions did stop but no one got in contact with me. I tried to follow-up with customer service and claims, but they refused to help me because the manager was handling our issue and they couldnt find the card number or even grasp my problem. Nearly one month passes and after their system has transferred $100s out of my personal checking to pay fees incurred on transactions that posted due to an invalid card number, the account was closed. To make in worse, while they were pulling funds out of my personal checking, I was advised to stop making deposits and told not to leave funds in the account until my issue was resolved. I told the advice, so when I did receive a deposit, I went to the ATM and withdrew it. This caused $100s worth of NSF on my personal checking. I tried to be patient. I called the manager again because he promised to see my problem to the end. I have left numerous voice-mails, and began to panic when the account was closed without any means to getting help. Now, it's been over 3 months, and I still can't get this manager to reply. I'm out of $100s of dollars. I have no credit card processing. I have no business account. No one will help me, and I've lost so much when I simply wanted a personal checking account.

Also, in regard to the above, I am now being reported to a credit agency for money that I should not owe in the first place. I have been charged $100s in fees for personal bills that should not have posted to my business account. I have placed no less than one to three calls a month to this bank for nearly 2 years. At some point, shouldn't the bank fix it? There's so much that went wrong with my debits that's it's honestly mind boggling and very hard to explain. Although I'm very grateful to the Fraud Manager, Randy Willis, for actually canceling my canceled debit card, I am disappointed that I have been left in this state and only one aspect of my issue was fixed after nearly 2 years of international phone calls. Although no one else at the bank could stop the invalid card number from being billed, the company that was billing the invalid card showed up at my door within 2 days to fix the issue. That's great but now I have no account and am out of $100s in fees. The final step of closure can't occur because no one at the bank can find the canceled card in the system. In addition, I had to file chargebacks in the past to get the NSF refunded on both accounts. The first time I filed, the bank claimed not to receive my disclosure statement. By the time I found out and wanted to send it again, I was told that I was too late (past 60 days). The next time, I didn't send it in because I just wanted the invalid fees back and was told the transactions would post to the right account if the claim reversed. Unfortunately, the transactions posted back to my business account and the insanity continued until I was connected to Randy Willis. However, I waited for Randy Willis, and ended up without an account because I waited too long. No one in claims or customer service will help me now because Randy Willis was handling our problem, and even though he's not really handling the entire issue, no one will help without his consent.

I'm truly grateful for any advice. I'm so tired of this problem. I posted last year about some NSF that was being double charged on international transactions that were posting to the wrong account and I was literally attacked and belittled. Please don't attack me. I feel dumb enough at this point. I feel really stupid for trusting the bank, and not following up on every call and issue. In the end, I just want closure that doesn't result in my account being closed and my name being labeled as a deadbeat. I can't feel more helpless than I do at this point, and am sincerely desperate for any advice, at all.
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BofA, please read the ENTIRE thread, and then research the account. I don't want to sue. I'm not that kind of person but I need my issues fixed and my money back!!!

Ss
Hawaii, Hawaii
U.S.A.

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