Complaint Review: Bank Of America

I started a new job about 2 weeks ago so instead of getting the paycard my employer offered I opted to start a bank account with some money a close relative sent to me. My fiancee had been laid off for about a month and family knew times were getting rough for my family with small children so I recieved a 1,000.00 check from my grandmother in another state. I started my job and the following week I started my account with Bank of America so I could have direct deposit.

I started the account online and then upon getting a confirmation email a day later I went into a branch and I made a deposit of one thousand dollars. I was notified there would be a 3 to 5 day hold on the check since it was an out of state check. I was fine with this since there really is nothing you can do about a hold on an out of state check. 5 business days pass and I call the bank and they confirm I have all the money in the account and my available balance. I went to the bank and drew out 50 dollars to get some gas and a few other things and went about my next day.

A few days later when we needed a little more money I called the bank to have my new debit card activated and I find out my balance went from 950.00 to NEGATIVE 89.00. After waiting 15 minutes on hold I finally am able to speak with a rep. I tell her about the deposit and my 50 dollar withdraw at the branch and I am wondering my in the HECK I am at a negative 89 dollars. She explains to me that ANOTHER 5 business day hold was put on the check. I could have died.

I was just in the branch a few days before and they gave me my money and said NOTHING about a hold, which I would think that would be their responsibility to tell me since I am a new customer and it would show I have only have had the account 2 weeks. This snotty woman on the phone trys and tells me that because due to the federal regulations on cashing checks there was another hold put on the check. Ok so I tell her that I should not be held responsible for ANY OD fees accrued because I did not know of any hold whatsoever.

She tells me all she can do is use my "one time overdraft forgiveness" on this and it will be all fixed. I say ok whatever I have to do to make my account go back to positive. She also tells me that this is a one time use of this protection and I can never use this again. I feel like I have been screwed into thinking this was my fault and now i am taking the fall for this and using my one and only "get out of jail free" card.

So 2 days after this incident I get a letter in the mail stating that I have the additional hold on the account. HOW CONVIENENT! Telling me after the fact. I dont know if this has happened to anyone else but tomorrow morning I am calling the bank back and demanding they make this right and be held accountable for the overdraft fees so if anything ever happens to me like this again ( only being my fault) I can use my overdraft protection one time deal. I know that the check was good because it came from relatives that have money and I dont think they should be holding checks for 10 PLUS days when it should have had PLENTY of time to clear!

Courtney
Smyrna, Tennessee
U.S.A.