Complaint Review: Fleet Bank / Bank Of America MERGE

To All Bank card Holders Fleet Bank CARDS BANK OF AMERICA has Taken HOLD OF FLEET BANK AND BOUGHT THEIR CREDIT CARD BANK OVER First Fleet Bank is not a Bank at all But A Credit Card Company. I Think the FTC and other Government Agencies are trying to ALSO RE WRITE WHAT A BANK IS AND A CREDIT CARD COMPANY IS.

I got a letter From BANK OF AMERICA stating they have Taken
over FLEET BANK and MY OLD CARD, which I did not Pay cause Fleet Bank was involved in a HUGE CLASS ACTION I WAS INVOLVED IN. Fleet Bank When they were taken to FEDERAL COURT-DID NOT notify any of its card caring Customers about this Class Action that was done in the year 2000. The class action was also done for ALL CARD HOLDERS,and FLEET BANK LOST THE COURT SUIT. Since the federal Court found them guilty of Fraud and other actions I closed the account and also denied them another payment and put the whole card in Dispute.

October 13, 2000
A consumer lawsuit against Fleet Boston accuses the bank of misleading consumers by offering a fixed interest rate on credit cards, then raising the rate when consumers transferred balances from other cards.

The lawsuit was filed in state court in Providence, RI, FLEET LOST THE CLASS ACTION I DID FIND SOME INFO ON THE NET WORK ABOUTT HE MERGER BELOW BY A MAN WHO WAS TALKING ABOUT THE MERGE SEE BELOW



It's likely that the problems Fleet has gotten itself into - class action law suites claiming that it used deceptive practices to fist it's credit cards on unsuspecting clients, claims that it manipulates interest rates without regard to "fixed rate" promises, and other complaints filed with State Attorney's General nationwide - won't go away any time soon.


And here's another reason why. If you believe the multitudes of on line postings and do a little reading between the lines, it seems as though a good number of the complaints Fleet engenders stem in large part from the folks actually manning the help desk - those folks that answer the phones when you call your credit card's customer support number.

And an unfortunate fact of mergers like this is that those folks simply aren't going to go away overnight.... they will remain in place until the new corporation can do a little house cleaning, and that's gong to take some time... maybe a lot of time.

Fleet's Credit Card Problems
In spite of being the eighth largest issuers of consumer credit cards prior to the merger, Fleet apparently failed to live up to the expectations of large numbers of it's clients, not only credit card holders, but banking clients as well.

As mentioned above, Fleet had created a veritable boiling cauldron of trouble for itself - complaints to State Attorney's General regarding late postings of payments received, imposition of undeserved fees, unwillingness to waive fees when it was clear that the customer wasn't at fault, refusal to consider reasonable requests to resolve issues, and on and on.

And what about that lawsuit filed in 2000. The original lawsuit claimed that Fleet promised that it would never increase the credit card holder's interest rate unless they made late payments, and that in spite of that promise, Fleet increased that "fixed" rate as soon as the Federal Reserve raised interest rates.

The lawsuit went on to claim that Fleet apparently thought it was free to increase the "fixed" interest rate any time it saw fit, and that - in fact - Fleet never really intended to abide by the fixed rate promise to begin with.

The suit argues that these actions violated the Rhode Island Deceptive Trade Practices Act, (the state where the original lawsuit was filed) and asked that the case be broadened into a class action lawsuit which would include thousands of other card holders who'd suffered similarly.

So, What's This All Mean for Fleet's Credit Cards
According to Bank of America Corporation statements, everything should proceed as usual, and that holders of Fleet credit cards in good standing should be receiving replacement Bank of America cards as soon as is possible. And the new cards will, upon activation, allow you to work as before. Hmmmm.... that doesn't necessarily sound very good...

'in good standing'? what about those card holders with open complaints where, in fact, the card holder is not at fault? and 'business as usual'? dealing with Fleet might not have been very pleasant to begin with; and what about 'work as before'? it's questionable whether or not the system worked to begin with... oh, it's pretty clear that the system worked to Fleet's financial benefit, but Fleet wasn't the only party involved, even though it perhaps thought it was.

But take heart. You can bet that the executive management of the new corporation is going to do it's damm'dest to clean up the mess and correct the questionable business practices left behind by Fleet; for one it's the right thing to do, not only for Bank of America Corporation, but for their millions of clients as well.

Mark
houston, Texas
U.S.A.