Paul
St Louis,#2Consumer Comment
Wed, January 11, 2006
James I agree 100%. Ive had several problems in which the bank apologized for their mistake. And YES they were all corrected. But when mistakes continue within a short period of time, well then its time to move on. After all your complaint isnt the only one on this site. Maybe the people that havent had any problems YET with Bank of America should view the numerous amounts of complaints the bank has on this site. And as for the one that stated she has banked with them for 15 yrs with no problems? Well apparently they either are employed with the bank. Or they know of someone that is employed with the bank.
James
Lewisburg,#3Author of original report
Wed, January 11, 2006
If you had been paying attention, which it doesn't seem that you were. You'd have noticed that I have been saying all along that these were not transactions that I had confused or forgot to enter, these were not transactions that are legitimate. Before You go accusing someone or assuming that they are wrong, why don't you try to actually READ the update to understand the full picture, I appreciate your input, and realize that banks are regulated, but that doesn't mean that companies are always compliant with the law. I knew that topic hadn't anything to do with my problem, but as someone had implied that banks can never be dishonest I had to point that fact out. I am not going to bother updating this any more as I have tried to make everyone understand what is going on, but apparently the communication has broken down. I have stated the problem and what caused the problem, but now people assume that I don't know how to keep a proper balance. But I am fine with that, because I know the truth, and the truth is I didn't make an error the bank did. So good luck with your whole trusting the bank thing. I am not going to waste the time and effort to try to talk to a bank that always thinks that they are infallible. People make mistakes everyday, just because they may work for a bank does NOT make them perfect.
Ken
Randolph,#4Consumer Comment
Tue, January 10, 2006
I think that about sums it all up.
Stile
Phoenix,#5Consumer Suggestion
Tue, January 10, 2006
"There is no confusion at all. I am POSITVE ALL and I do mean ALL transactions have cleared my account. No checks, debits cash withdrawls, every thing is posted and clear on this account." Then what line items on your statement are accounting for the "missing money?" You've been asked this several times and you haven't responded. "I am not going to waste any more time with them. I have been using a checking and savings account for most of my life, I have never had any transactions outstanding that I couldn't track down. I never had any problems reconciling and balancing my check book. I check my online banking and check off everything that posts each and every day." So where is the discrepancy? Either the transactions posting to your account are valid or they aren't. I doubt seriously that there are math errors that are causing your money to disappear. Are all the transactions on your account yours, or not? If not, call the claims department and file a claim for unauthorized withdrawals. "To say that money doesn't disappear, how would you explain the outrageous interest rates that credit card companies charge? Just because an institution has billions of dollars doesn't mean that they don't have a bottom line to make even more money and if they can find a way to lesson how much money goes out of their pocket they will, even some will cheat customers out of money. If you think all banks and other institutions are honest just because they have lots of money, then you need to wake up and realize that the world isn't the same as it once was years ago. I've seen a rich man cheat people and seen a poor man be honest. You can't judge an institution's honor by how much money or assets they have." Now you're just beyond the pale. Credit card interest rates have nothing to do with your allegations that money is disappearing from your account. I'm not going to say that banks are necessarily honest, but they are regulated. They can't just steal money from a customer's account, they hire scores of independant auditors to make sure that the books balance every quarter. What makes your account so special that they've decided to steal money from you and risk their bank charter just to tick you off? There are only two real possibilities here: Either there are unauthorized transactions, or you are making an error in interpreting your account. The fact that you refuse to identify specific items that are causing a discrepancy and continue to insist that money is just missing suggests the latter.
James
Lewisburg,#6Author of original report
Tue, January 10, 2006
There is no confusion at all. I am POSITVE ALL and I do mean ALL transactions have cleared my account. No checks, debits cash withdrawls, every thing is posted and clear on this account. I am not going to waste any more time with them. I have been using a checking and savings account for most of my life, I have never had any transactions outstanding that I couldn't track down. I never had any problems reconciling and balancing my check book. I check my online banking and check off everything that posts each and every day. To say that money doesn't disappear, how would you explain the outrageous interest rates that credit card companies charge? Just because an institution has billions of dollars doesn't mean that they don't have a bottom line to make even more money and if they can find a way to lesson how much money goes out of their pocket they will, even some will cheat customers out of money. If you think all banks and other institutions are honest just because they have lots of money, then you need to wake up and realize that the world isn't the same as it once was years ago. I've seen a rich man cheat people and seen a poor man be honest. You can't judge an institution's honor by how much money or assets they have.
Ken
Randolph,#7Consumer Comment
Mon, January 09, 2006
Sending an email is not a good way to handle this. You don't know who is going to get the email, or if it is even read. If you cannot go to the branch in person, then U.S. Mail is the way to go. In fact, you may have to put it into writing in order to preserve your rights. You have to be able to identify which transactions are not yours. Point them out to the bank and tell them 'I did not make this purchase'. You have a limited amount of time in which to do this, so don't waste any. The bank must either prove that you did make the purchase, or, credit your account back. I have a feeling, as someone pointed out above, that you may be confusing the pending POS transaction, with the actual debit to your account. Looking at a statement should tell you exactly where your money is going.
Ken
Randolph,#8Consumer Comment
Mon, January 09, 2006
Sending an email is not a good way to handle this. You don't know who is going to get the email, or if it is even read. If you cannot go to the branch in person, then U.S. Mail is the way to go. In fact, you may have to put it into writing in order to preserve your rights. You have to be able to identify which transactions are not yours. Point them out to the bank and tell them 'I did not make this purchase'. You have a limited amount of time in which to do this, so don't waste any. The bank must either prove that you did make the purchase, or, credit your account back. I have a feeling, as someone pointed out above, that you may be confusing the pending POS transaction, with the actual debit to your account. Looking at a statement should tell you exactly where your money is going.
Ken
Randolph,#9Consumer Comment
Mon, January 09, 2006
Sending an email is not a good way to handle this. You don't know who is going to get the email, or if it is even read. If you cannot go to the branch in person, then U.S. Mail is the way to go. In fact, you may have to put it into writing in order to preserve your rights. You have to be able to identify which transactions are not yours. Point them out to the bank and tell them 'I did not make this purchase'. You have a limited amount of time in which to do this, so don't waste any. The bank must either prove that you did make the purchase, or, credit your account back. I have a feeling, as someone pointed out above, that you may be confusing the pending POS transaction, with the actual debit to your account. Looking at a statement should tell you exactly where your money is going.
Ken
Randolph,#10Consumer Comment
Mon, January 09, 2006
Sending an email is not a good way to handle this. You don't know who is going to get the email, or if it is even read. If you cannot go to the branch in person, then U.S. Mail is the way to go. In fact, you may have to put it into writing in order to preserve your rights. You have to be able to identify which transactions are not yours. Point them out to the bank and tell them 'I did not make this purchase'. You have a limited amount of time in which to do this, so don't waste any. The bank must either prove that you did make the purchase, or, credit your account back. I have a feeling, as someone pointed out above, that you may be confusing the pending POS transaction, with the actual debit to your account. Looking at a statement should tell you exactly where your money is going.
Stile
Phoenix,#11Consumer Suggestion
Mon, January 09, 2006
You say that you haven't made any transactions in the last week and all your transactions are free and clear from pending, but money is still disappearing from your account. You claim the bank is taking this money (presumably because the 17 Billion BofA made this year isn't quite enough). The problem is that there must be some entry on your transaction history to account for this "missing money." If your balance last week was $1000 and today it is $800 then there must be $200 worth of activity that posted since last week. Now, you're saying you haven't had any activity in the last week. What about the check you wrote 3 weeks ago, or the gas station charge you made 10 days ago that the merchant is just getting around to presenting? If there are no transactions posting, then you're stating that there are math errors occurring. My suggestion would be to wait until Online Banking rolls over for the month, and then every day for a week or so print out your transaction history. You'll have a daily snapshot of how your transactions are posting, and this will account for any missing money.
James
Lewisburg,#12Author of original report
Mon, January 09, 2006
It wasn't merchants doing the taking it was the bank, because all of my transactions have been posted, and no activity has oocured on this account for at least 1 and a hlaf weeks. THe money they took out from the account for merchants was already paid. The bank took additional monies out of my accounts, and there were NO MORE MERCHANTS to pay. the money was free and clear from ANY pending transactions. The bank simply took the money not to pay anybody but themselves because no merchants have posted anything to my account, because they have nothing to post. I paid in CASH all last week. The bank manager STILL has not returned my email. Bank of AMerica claimed they would "do some research", I haven't been contacted in any form whatsoever by either the manager of my local branch, nor customer service which claimed it would "research" my account. Sounds rather fishy don't you think? they can't substantiate their claim that they aren't at fault, yet here I am holding more than enough proof that they are.
James
Lewisburg,#13Author of original report
Mon, January 09, 2006
It wasn't merchants doing the taking it was the bank, because all of my transactions have been posted, and no activity has oocured on this account for at least 1 and a hlaf weeks. THe money they took out from the account for merchants was already paid. The bank took additional monies out of my accounts, and there were NO MORE MERCHANTS to pay. the money was free and clear from ANY pending transactions. The bank simply took the money not to pay anybody but themselves because no merchants have posted anything to my account, because they have nothing to post. I paid in CASH all last week. The bank manager STILL has not returned my email. Bank of AMerica claimed they would "do some research", I haven't been contacted in any form whatsoever by either the manager of my local branch, nor customer service which claimed it would "research" my account. Sounds rather fishy don't you think? they can't substantiate their claim that they aren't at fault, yet here I am holding more than enough proof that they are.
James
Lewisburg,#14Author of original report
Mon, January 09, 2006
It wasn't merchants doing the taking it was the bank, because all of my transactions have been posted, and no activity has oocured on this account for at least 1 and a hlaf weeks. THe money they took out from the account for merchants was already paid. The bank took additional monies out of my accounts, and there were NO MORE MERCHANTS to pay. the money was free and clear from ANY pending transactions. The bank simply took the money not to pay anybody but themselves because no merchants have posted anything to my account, because they have nothing to post. I paid in CASH all last week. The bank manager STILL has not returned my email. Bank of AMerica claimed they would "do some research", I haven't been contacted in any form whatsoever by either the manager of my local branch, nor customer service which claimed it would "research" my account. Sounds rather fishy don't you think? they can't substantiate their claim that they aren't at fault, yet here I am holding more than enough proof that they are.
James
Lewisburg,#15Author of original report
Mon, January 09, 2006
It wasn't merchants doing the taking it was the bank, because all of my transactions have been posted, and no activity has oocured on this account for at least 1 and a hlaf weeks. THe money they took out from the account for merchants was already paid. The bank took additional monies out of my accounts, and there were NO MORE MERCHANTS to pay. the money was free and clear from ANY pending transactions. The bank simply took the money not to pay anybody but themselves because no merchants have posted anything to my account, because they have nothing to post. I paid in CASH all last week. The bank manager STILL has not returned my email. Bank of AMerica claimed they would "do some research", I haven't been contacted in any form whatsoever by either the manager of my local branch, nor customer service which claimed it would "research" my account. Sounds rather fishy don't you think? they can't substantiate their claim that they aren't at fault, yet here I am holding more than enough proof that they are.
John
Gainesville,#16Consumer Suggestion
Mon, January 09, 2006
One of the things that frequently happens is that some businesses charge your debit card as a credit card when you use it. I have heard of some gas pumps that will "hold" $75 or $100 each time you use a card to purchase gas, even if the purchase was only $5. This has mostly been with Credit Union cards, but one person stated they had this happen with other cards also. You can blame the business, not the bank, for this activity, as they are the one that places the "hold" on funds. No money has been withdrawn yet, as the charge didn't post, but the amount of the hold is removed from your available funds. When the final transaction posts, the hold is released and the actual charge is removed from your account. As a Bank of America customer of many years, I have experienced many of their ways of doing business. Bank of America does one thing different from other banks, and they don't keep that hold for days or weeks until the charge posts. After 1 working day, they release the hold until the actual charge appears, which appears as money "missing" one day, then back the next day. To some, this may be an inconvenience, but to others, it is a blessing. Many times I have rented a car with my Bank of America Visa debit card. The car rental place would put a hold on the card for the charges + 50%. On long rentals, the total hold could easily be close to $500 for a weekly rental. Instead of holding this whole amount until I returned the car, BOA would return the hold the next day and all I had to worry about was the $300 and change for the rental when I returned the vehicle, giving me back that extra $200 hold to spend. The best thing you can do is find the businesses that are posting high holds and stop doing business with them.
Stile
Phoenix,#17Consumer Suggestion
Sat, January 07, 2006
"These weren't fees of any kind, they were transactions that were not authorizesd by me and not disclosed by the bank, they kept taking money out with no explanation." If there are unauthorized transactions on your account that are being charged by merchants, then contact the bank's claim department and file a claim. Have you done this already? What was the result? You say that they are taking money out without an explanation. The bank cannot explain to you why a merchant is charging your account. It is expected that you will be aware of which merchants you've given your account information. "I even checked the pending transactions daily and some would be posted as pending and the next day would find them to be removed then posted again on the next day. Sound familiar? It should this is how they generate overdraft fees." No, it's not how they generate fees, it's how they post transactions. When you run your card without using your pin, the merchant gets an authorization. The bank holds the amount of this authorization from your available balance for 1 business day. After that 1st business day, the funds become available again. This is why it is important to keep an independant register. It sounds like you're doing that with MS Money, but are you manually entering your transactions in MS Money, or are you letting it update automatically against your online banking? Recently, I've heard that Bank of America has moved to 3 business day holds. I imagine this will stop the majority of these reports stating that the bank juggles transactions since people will see items pending for 3 days or until posted, whichever is shorter.
James
Lewisburg,#18Author of original report
Fri, January 06, 2006
These weren't fees of any kind, they were transactions that were not authorizesd by me and not disclosed by the bank, they kept taking money out with no explanation. They flat out refuse to reverse these erroneous amounts. I have been using MS Money since it first came out on the market and I always double check everything for accuracy. I have spoken with customer service on the phone and through email both times they refused to do anything about it. I have always been good at reconciling my check book and have NEVER had this problem with any bank before. they don't know what happened yet they rufuse to accept the fact that they made an error somewhere.I deposited extra funds in this account several times to make sure that it wasn't an oversight on my part. I even checked the pending transactions daily and some would be posted as pending and the next day would find them to be removed then posted again on the next day. Sound familiar? It should this is how they generate overdraft fees. Again these transactions that I'm posting about are NOT overdraft fees. They simply took the money without cause or reason. I have even contacted the branch manager via email and am still awaiting a response from him.
Ken
Randolph,#19Consumer Comment
Thu, January 05, 2006
If you had a balance of $500 yesterday, and a balance of $100 today, there has to be an entry or entries equal to $400 on the account. What are these entries? You are wise to maintain accurate records with MS Money, but remember that the program is only as accurate as the data you enter. If you do the right thing and enter a transaction into Money, but, accidentally transpose the amount, then you are going to be out of balance even though you did the right thing. This is probably the only time when it IS a good idea to check your balance online, because you have the MS Money balance to verify it against, and if you can't reconcile the two, you know that either you or the bank made a mistake, and you can track it down easily.
James
Lewisburg,#20Author of original report
Thu, January 05, 2006
I noticed about a week ago that my account balance kept going down and I haven't used my debit card or wrote any checks in the past four days and I had no transactions that were pending. the same for my savings account, both account had balances that customer service even confirmed where accurate with my records,as well as all transactions. However the very next day, both accounts were severly low on funds but keep in mind there were no transactions made on either account and I write down all transactions religiously and even use microsoft Money on top of all of that to keep track of everything, and as we all know, computers don't make mistakes when it comes to addition or subtraction. Beware...
Steve
Bradenton,#21Consumer Suggestion
Thu, January 05, 2006
James, I know that it it upsetting when dealing with a big company and not getting the answer you want. However, it is very clear that most of the complaints you speak of are made by people who are irresponsible and cannot or will not balance a checkbook properly. I have been with Bank of America for nearly 15 years and have never had a problem. Even when I was at fault on two different occasions, all it took was a polite phone call and problem was fixed and charges removed. It is all about how you deal with a problem that determines the outcome. You never mentioned exactly how they are taking your money or what it is for. Are these overdraft charges?
Ken
Randolph,#22Consumer Comment
Thu, January 05, 2006
When you spoke to the bank, what was their excuse for charging you fees? How much did they charge you? Did they rebate any of it at all? If not, why not?