Bank of America - The decline of a once Great Bank.
I recently as a small business owner had a need for a banking account in another bank in Charlotte other than the one that I had been banking with previously. This was due to the fact that one of the individuals who I had loaned money in our business to the tune of two and a half million wanted to be able to have a sweep account so that they could pay the large payment to me each month. What is most interesting is this individual work for the bank for over 20 years as the branch manager of the location that I went to attempt to open the account at.
This was an action that my wife and I would later regret. We went to the Bank of America location In Charlotte North Carolina in the neighborhood of Starmount. This was the neighborhood that I had grown up in and I had only lived a few blocks up the road during the majority of my youth. Realizing that the neighborhood had changed and that there now was a large majority of Hispanic individuals, including business owners that were my clients I wanted to continue to patronize businesses in the neighborhood.
As we entered the security guard stopped us and ask us why we were there. He was very polite, but he told us we most likely would not be able to open an account today, however we could attempt to. The bank was extremely busy as most branches are, we went in and asked for the individuals that were suggested to us by my client. One of which was the manager of the branch.
He greeted us professionally and also asked us why we were there. We explained to him that we want to open an account and was referred to the bank. He then asked to see my paperwork. I proceeded to show him our LLC paperwork, which had the name of our agent from Raleigh representing our company listed.
He then informed me that our names were not on the LLC. To my surprise, he was looking at a piece of paper where it said our names were optional. I then proceeded to show him where the names were located in the paperwork, in which case he started to get angry. I told my wife that I did not think this gentleman wanted our business. I also noticed that we were the only, as referred to by the manager gringo's - a racial slur, currently in the bank.
The manager left with our paperwork, coming back and telling me I needed to get all new paperwork that was up to date. Our paperwork was less than 18 months old, and our corporation's and business have been operating in one form or another in Charlotte since 1956. The new paperwork was from a recent change from a corporation to an LLC as suggested by our CPA.
I must tell being racially insulted made me very angry, I can remember a time when this term would have never been used, when this was North Carolina National Bank.
I got up and told the manager that we would not be doing business with him and head it towards the door, he replied that he did not need our business anyway.
I had finally had enough; I told him that he did not want to service our company because I am in his words a gringo.
I loudly informed him that he was a bigot and a racist, I could not believe that he referred to me and my wife and those terms in the 21st century, he just replied have a good day sir.
I have lived in Charlotte all my life, my family has been in business since 1956, I am privileged to own a multimillion-dollar company, this is due to the hard work of many individuals located within the very neighborhood in which I was insulted at the branch of this once great bank.
I patronize and try to help all of the businesses and churches within the neighborhood regardless of color, race or creed. Many times, making low interest loans so that businesses will continue to exist even though the neighborhood is going through economical changes.
I am involved in many fraternal organizations, as well as an author and I hold a PhD, I Received the key to the city of Charlotte (a citizenship award) in 1979 from the mayor. I mentioned this not to brag but to point out and to give the reader an idea of the type of individual I attempt and each day I want to become.
I and my family have patronized another bank (Truest) and its forefathers' banks for over 65 years. In all of my time with this bank I have never seen them disrespect nor referred to others in racial terms such as I was referred to in this branch of Bank of America.
We later after walking out of the Starmount branch went to the South Park location in Charlotte and made an appointment, but after discussion with my staff about the treatment we received we have decided as mentioned above, not to pursue a sweep account with Bank of America.
In the banking business no matter what size the bank may be, it must be seen very much as a tree, its fruit which comes from its branches, shows how healthy it is. After our experience we will not be partaking of its fruit, that comes from this branch of bigotry. It is our hope that these attitudes will change, and the bank will immediately take action to correct such behavior in its branches.

Wish they had a ZERO STAR... TERRIBLE and I am a Wealth Management customer. Supposed to be their best. LMAO
THIS COMPANY IS THE WORST AND THEY DO NOT CARE AT ALL! I have been with them for 37 years and a WEALTH MANAGEMENT CUSTOMER. Been since Bank South and Nations and they keep getting worse. It's the same the biggest does not care, loses some clients and they could care less. Think Anyone even reads this? NO How can they be so bad. The Branches are THE WORST. Try and call one to speak to someone NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... Drive Through banking NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Automated video tellers NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Good hours NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Really If I didn't have a good friend that is my wealth management guy I would NEVER bank with them. Tell me ONE THING they do good for service. A JOKE

As a LONG TERM customer with an extremely good banking history, as well as a great credit rating and history, I was truly shocked by how poorly I
Was treated and 'handled' by the Bank of America 'system'.
I am 70 YOA now, financially stable, and I'd been a customer of BofA since I was a very young man. (Back when the local bank was named Seattle First National).
I had always maintained a great banking relationship with BofA over the many years I had been with them. I also had a Alaska Airlines credit card for at least the past 25 years and used it for specific business related travel and expenses. Because I used it limitedly and specifically there were not regular charges and I usually paid it off quickly when there were charges.
Over a year ago (in 2022), I put an approximately 16K charge against my credit card and set up auto pay payments much greater than the minimum amount due each month to pay it down and reduce the balance rapidly. I made the error of setting up the autopay for only a set number of payments instead of indefinitely. I did not catch that the automatic payments STOPPED and I had a late payment penalty. I went into the branch to correct the issue, not knowing, (not understanding at that time), why the automatic payment didn't work and go through properly. Oddly enough the banker I met with didn't understand either, and whomever it was she contacted via the phone was totally unforgiving. The 'contact', would not reverse the $39 late fee, and could only request a 'review' of the situation. The banker did however assist me with re-setting up the automatic payments and we discovered what was likely my error in setting it up the first time for a set number of payments.
ANYWAY-
When I looked up and reviewed the next on-line statement there was an additional fee from the time over-lap and nothing was reversed or credited.
I went back into the bank and when it was readily apparent that the banker or whomever she once again contacted via phone would not immediately reverse fees and charges, I choose to pay-off the entire balance due.
I was sent thru the teller to do so and based on the conversation I absolutely and honestly believed I was paying off the entire balance.
The TELLER gave me what I could ONLY ASSUME was a Pay-Off balance.
Because I was set up on paperless statements AND believing that the amount I was told, and paid, was the entire amount owed; I paid no attention to my Bank of America account for the next few months.
In January the ANNUAL FEE for being an Alaska Airlines card holder is posted and I looked at the account, only to realize there was a severely overdue balance.
Of what was initially a fairly SMALL amount of accrued interest from the days just before paying OFF the balance due months before. HOWEVER now, in addition, I owed 3 months of late fees and additional interest expense to the tune of over $100 additional dollars.
This time I DID NOT go into the branch, but instead called the number on the back of the card.
I explained everything and pled my case. The ONLY ANSWER I received was that he understood the frustration BUT could only 'request a review' to have late fees, charges and additional interest reversed. ALSO, I had to pay the past due balance before that request could be submitted.
So I paid Just Over $100 and was told there would be little... to no balance due... and potentially actually a credit balance, IF they reversed the amount of the late fees as charged.
Next I dicover my Credit Score has dropped from the high 700s, (even from as high as 798 just years ago), to 676.
Shortly after that, I received a letter from BofA saying my credit card 'credit limit' was being reduced to $500.00 - I called them to re-explain EVERYTHING.
I referenced the Teller having given me the bad Pay Off information and even though I was ultimately responsible for not reviewing my account on-line I hoped that they would take that into consideration because I felt it was paid in full. Almost rudely he told me it was VERY CLEARLY stated in Red on my monthly statements that the statement balance due continues to accrue interest after the statement date.
I mentioned that I was complying with the 'save the environment' movement and did not receive paper statements. Instead of taking it lightly, like the jokingly intended way I said it... again, rather rudely and defensively, he said its in red on the statements AND I am responsible to read my statements whether in paper or on-line. He didn't want to hear about my request and intention to PAY OFF the card... only sticking to the statement and statement balance accrues interest POV; so I doubt that my position was referenced in the request for review YET, I still requested that the $17,500 credit limit be reinstated. I was told that ONLY a request for review could be made it wasn't his place to do anything but place the request.
Next, I received a letter saying the request was denied - primarily due to my 'severely late payment history'.
The letter referenced TransUnion as the main resource of information.
I called, spoke with the credit reporting company representative and requested a detailed copy of my credit report. She could not, would not disclose anything but she said my request was processed and I will be receiving a full copy of my credit report via mail.
To my knowledge BofA is the ONLY creditor that could have reported anything BAD creating the bad score, and so, I am anxiously awaiting the report.

Now, today I received another BofA letter stating my account and request were reviewed; the $39 dollar late fees for November December and January Would Not be reversed and that was their Final Decision.
I called the number on the card confirming the balance due was $94 and change. Because of the Past Experience I reiterated that I wanted a final, total payment amount. Very surprisingly he said that was the correct balance because they can calculate the additional days of interest,, and that's what he already did!
And even though that spoke directly to the heart of my original issue, I let it go and got him to agree to credit back the annual card fee of $99.00 - called it a push, and CLOSED MY ACCOUNT.

After a 50+ year relationship, I will Never do business with Bank of America again.
Saddly, to my knowledge and belief, I really don't think they care.
Wil F.
February 2024

I wrote a review yesterday and was going to add some more today. But I could not find my review here. So I will repeat what I wrote yesterday before adding what I experienced since yesterday.
July 23rd, 2023
I have had two unbelievably bad experiences with Bank of America visa credit customer services. One was some time ago. I had my Bank of America cash reward Visa directly paid by a bank account. There was no problem. But one time the bank's credit card changed it's policy and did not allow direct payment. I did not know that because they did not notify me. Two months after they changed their policy I noticed that the statement showed that I owed two payments plus interest. I called customer service to ask why my card was not paid. That was when I found out about their new policy. I questioned why I was not notified. The customer service agent said he would remove the charges and allow me to use the direct payment method. He gave me a confirmation number. The next statement showed that I owed 3 months plus interest. I called customer service and asked why the last conversation and confirmation did not do anything. She removed the fees and set up direct payment for me like last time. I got a confirmation number again. But it did not work. The same thing repeated 5 times. Knowing that it would not do me any good to talk to the customer service agents I tried hard to find the contact info of Bank of America's president. Finally, I got a call from their vice president and my issue was resolved.
The second problem I have with Bank of America's customer service agents was when I asked them how to change the payment method from using one bank account to another account. It should be an easy task to do online but I did not find the page for that purpose. I called their customer service for help. I did that four times. The second agent said he would send me an instruction on how to accomplish that task. But the "instruction" I got from him was to teach me how to enroll in online banking and mobile banking. I already enrolled in both a long time ago. He had looked at my account online. Why did he send me an instruction on how to enroll? I call the Bank of America customer service agent again two more times. The last one did not do a thing but to hung up on me.

Two days ago I called the Fidelity Visa customer service to change my linked bank account. Their customer service agent helped me to resolve the issue immediately. If "
Fidelity Investment's visa card customer service could do that why can't Bank of America's visa card customer service could not?
Yesterday and today I ordered things from Amazon using the Bank of America visa card. I need those things urgently. But Bank of America Visa refused to pay for my purchase. Amazon had to cancel my orders. I got two emails from Bank of America stating that they detected some suspicious activities and refused to pay. I didn't know why purchasing on Amazon was suspicious activity. So I called the card's customer service to ask them why. The recorded message asked me to hold. I held for about an hour with extreme patience. Then, it hung up. I don't even have a place to ask why they acted that way. If they don't want me to use their credit card I can cut it up right now.

This is a review for the chestnut hill, MA branch bank of America financial center. Visited this office for a CD and when we were at our appointment, there weren't any employees, the teller who helped deposit our checks ended up attempting to open the CD for us, clearly, she wasn't qualified as she had no clue how to do that and had to get the manager Kundan Jindal to help. Then we tried to order a wallet size checks, they confirmed with us that it would be the create size and with carbon copy but didn't confirm with us the price and just place the order before asking us which account to bill this charge. When we asked if we could change the order to a larger amount the teller said that the order already went through and we can't change any and they sent us out without giving us a receipt. Weirdly we didn't get an email receipt as well with a breakdown of the order and charge. A week later, we received the product, but of the wrong type where it was more expensive and came with a stamp we already had. We called the branch and ask if they could help check the order for us, but the person who picked up, Olga, who was also the teller who helped us place the order, lied and said that she didn't help us even though her first and last name is identity to the teller who provides the poor experience we had. After not admitting to assisting, she just said that she wouldn't be able to help and would have to have the manager of the branch call us to help, and immediately hung up on me even though I was planning to ask another question. The branch manager called us soon after, who was also of not much help saying she isn't aware of the situation and we had to contact bank of America's customer service to receive an answer about whether or not if Olga and Kundan Jindal had made a mistake on our order as we received something we weren't expecting or need. She also wasn't friendly and was also in a rush to hang up on us, which is not the customer service one should receive when they had caused so much trouble by making a mistake and wasn't familiar with her job. I should of known too not to come to this location as they have an overwhelming amount of negative reviews and one star, but this deserves those one star, it might even be too high of a rating as they probably should receive no stars. Save yourself from trouble and avoid coming to this branch for any service that you may need. Bank of America really needs to do a better job at selecting their employees or train them better so they can provide adequate service.

My name is Steven Morgan CEO of Talk of the Town Group LLC. We have been doing business with you for the last several years. Recently due to our company name change we were instructed to open new accounts. We opened the new accounts and have had NOTHING BUT TROUBLE!

Recently a client of ours gave us a $10,000 check from his company. Please realize we deposit over $200,000 payments a month. Bank of America put a 10 day hold on the check. 3 days later without notifying us BANK OF AMERICA put a FREEZE on this account. After calling 12 times and getting all kinds of stories we find out the same check with the 10 days hold on it has caused this freeze.

To help out we called the Owner of the check, and the bank it was written on. All verified the check was cashed on November 23rd. No one the bank or the owner has received a call or email from Bank of America about this check. I have attempted to give their information to the Bank Agents to help them with their process.

It has now been 4 days for the freeze and 10 days for the check. All they tell me is the same thing they told me 4 days ago they are working on it. In the mean time they have bounced over 10 checks causing problems with our vendors and clients. We HAVE LOST OVER $100,000 in revenue as a result of the freeze.

It is PAYROLL TODAY and 30 employees are waiting for their paychecks. BANK OF AMERICA says WE ARE SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.

We will be closing all our accounts. I will spend the last 20 years of my life telling everybody my story of how banks have gotten so large they JUST DON'T CARE. You have $21,000 of my money and YOU WILL NOT RELEASE IT! You ARE NOT ABOVE THE LAW! You are HOLDING HOSTAGE MY COMPANY!

I can only hope this email will start a process that makes BANK OF AMERICA PAY!

This is the first of many letters I will be writing. You have definitely screwed the wrong person. O', I'm sorry for your inconvenience!

I have been banking with BofA for almost 8 years and I am a Patinum rewards customer. For the first time I needed your customer service agents to help me and your agents on the phone literally harassed me, transferring me from one department to another WITHOUT EVEN LISTENING TO ME OR MAKING ANY EFFORT TO LISTEN to what I had to say for three long hours. Everyone was a headless chicken blabbering without knowing which is the correct department that could help me. I was in tears when I hung up and decided to go to your Superstition Springs office ( E Southern and Power) hoping that I would get some help. 6 days ago, my DEBIT CARD details and my online banking details (user ID and password) were compromised due to a fraudulent text I received saying my card had been suspended and I needed to click on a link ( that took me to a webpage that looked exactly like BofA). I called your customer care immediately and reported the fraudulent activity. They transfers me to your fraud Dept, cancelled my compromised debit card to send a new one in mail and suspended online banking. I am a student / future healthcare provider, working 14 hour days in the middle of nowhere with ZERO signal and no access to internet, so I had to wait until yesterday, Saturday Aug 27 to be able to drive back home where I'd have internet to change my online banking details and get my account re-activated. I work 200 miles away from home until the end of September, so without online banking I have zero access to cash or any suspicious activity on my account and with limited phone signal and busy work schedule, it is impossible for me to make calls and wait fir hours just to get through to a rep who can talk to me.
I called your helpline at 9 am and was transferred to debit card dept, online dept, online fraud dept, online debit card fraud back and forth a million times without getting anyone yo help me re-activate my account. NO ONE KNEW WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON. Online banking said they can't reactivate it because it was the fraud department who blocked my account, the fraud dept said it was debit card fraud dept, who then said it was the Digital debit card fraud who asked me for a claim number which I didnot have because I was never given one, so they put me back to online banking and the same cycle went on for 3.5 hrs. At noon, I gave up and went to you branch hoping we would get some help. The lady was kind and did everything she could. She called your fraud department with me sitting right there listening to the call, and to no surprise, her colleges threw her in the same loop. She was thrown from one dept to the other, just like I was and she was a manager. I could see the frustration and embarrassment on her face. She was in shock because every agent she spoke to said the same thing "yes mam, I have spoken to my supervisor and it is dept XYZ that you need to talk to. I am 100% sure" when the truth was THEY had no idea, neither did their supervisors who recommended the next department.
Seriously, she couldn't even look me in the eye.
Bottom line - 6 hours of messing around and NOTHING. And this is a Platinum customer, banking with you for 8 year, a professional, needing your help for this one time, due to a very serious emergency ( Fraudulent activity on account) and this is what I get? I can't even imagine how your people torture those who don't have the resources or awareness in their time of need. I will ensure I share my story with everyone I come across moving forward on every social platform and tell people ABOUT THE ABSOLUTE COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN that exist between the 10 million departments you have created without anyone knowing what they are supposed to do. Not just with external customers like myslef but your internal teams can't even help each other. The lack of empathy towards the inconvenience this causes to hard working people like us is SHAMEFUL AND TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE.
You need to fix your systems and train your staff to be nice, listen and HELP … isn't that what they are being paid to do in the first place?
Thanks for nothing, please feel free to share my feeback with all your SUPERVISORS, hopefully someone who cares hears me out and lends a helping hand.

I was on Bank of America website I signed up for a bank account it deposit $100 into that to help me a new account but they wouldn't let me open the new account because I could go to a local branch and verify my ID because I'm in a physical rehab center they don't feel sorry for us. Now they sent me a check for $100 I can't cash it cuz I can't get down there till local bank they won't let my friend put in his checking account because it's not his check. What am I supposed to do they don't give a damn about anybody because I wrote a review that I've set something to their main office and still haven't heard anything back from the last comment I made to me Bank of America is sorry they need to be closed down and read modified
Can I call the local branch here in Waco Texas the guy told me he wish he could do that but the policy is I have to be there in person to cash it or try to cash it at somewhere else then I ask him if I said a friend of mine down there with my ID to IDs in the proof for me can he cash it no it has to be you in person but guess what I'm not able to travel down there at this time and I need some some stuff from Walmart and I can't do the grocery online because I don't have the money in my account they need to uplift from these regulations and trying to reform some stuff. For the upper management they need to take a look at their policies and make changes. Because your website said I could only signed up with that bank account online it does not say you have to go into a local branch to prove your who you are I should be able to scan or take a picture of my ID and send it to them through their website in a picture of me holding my ID through the website they don't they're back in the in the 80s I text you pictures showing what I have to use for transportation on the or mobility around here and I don't have it I'll boss about 15% of my left side after my last stroke and I've been in the hospital and rehab center since February 12th this year but they don't care they don't care if they get a new account open and get their numbers up that's how they care about

As a business we have suffered through some hard times- and having COVID ourselves... as we are finally starting to make leeway a customer gives us 2 payments for a large sum. One night I went to deposit a check to and 1 out of the 5 ATMS would accept deposits... Now the bank is stating they are holding an in state check for 9 business days. The Branch says they have a lot of fraud on the ATMS? As to why 1 ATM would only accept deposits.

My husband was given this number 1-eight8eight-three0nine-nine2fivetwo-& for two days has been put on hold for extensive times... the first day 2 hours & now into the second day now approx. 3 hrs can some one please tell me WTF is going on!
Is this line for irate customers that they don't want to deal with & just want to piss people off even more... Because if that is the case with the current world we live in... I can tell you one day someone will go in there and they will have that person really annoyed and someone will definitely act irrationally...

I called and spoke to some one at the branch, they advised they will try and call to push this check through, and advised their ATMs had fraud... how is it the consumer's fault? We as business are Unfortunately, are just trying to complete a project for a customer who is terminally ill and all she wants is to see her kitchen and whole apartment done before she passes... WTF is going on with Bank of America wanting to push hardworking businesses into 9 business days holds. What do we do hold a job up for 9 days for a check to clear... do they hold payments when they receive them so they can pay their employees and their CEO's... I can understand 9 if it was out of state but its an instate check and this bank has the capabilities to see funds clear automatically and these funds have already been pulled from the customer's account. So who is messing with who here? But I can commend the 1 lady who is competent at their branch and she is sweet.

PS we are going on day 3 of a check being deposited in the ATM.
BOA get your stuff together or you will soon be dropping your customers like flies.
And trust me I understand fees and no person is perfect but come on. I pay them and don't b****... but we are hardworking trying to get out of this COVID Cluster F*** if they don't get their act together We will be pulling two Business accounts and our personal accounts back to another like TD Bank or Chase at least they seem like they pick up their phones and their staff got stuff done.

My husband and I opened a Bank of America account online on a Wednesday and had a pop up notice to go into a branch to complete the process. We went to a branch with cash and our drivers licenses and proof of address on the same Wednesday in a major city as we live in a city 200 miles away where there is no local Bank of America Branch. Friday we tried to transfer more funds into the account and were told the account was frozen by the fraud department. We called the 1-800 number (40 minutes on hold) to be told we'd be transferred to talk to the fraud department. We were transferred, but got put back into the generic 1-800 hold line (another 40 minutes) to be told we have to go into a branch to resolve the issue. We had to drive 200 miles back to the branch, have the branch manager dial the "direct line" to the fraud department and wait another 40 minutes on hold with us sitting in front of her to be told the account was initially locked because BoA couldn't identify one of the two of us (Oddly, the same branch scanned in both driver's licenses when we put the cash in the account, but somehow that was insufficient.) We were additionally told that 2 days later (Friday) BoA closed the account and issued a check. I asked the branch manager for the check to be cancelled. I wanted to leave the bank with cash I brought in and the account to remain closed, and to be given a letter of the account closure. I was told the bank couldn't cancel the check (Really? You're a bank?) and I had to wait 21 days for the check to arrive.
Good news is I did get my money back in check format. Then I got a letter saying BoA could report me to a credit agency and I kept getting statements showing $0 balance for the account (as if it was still open) and I got a letter saying BoA could report me to a credit agency?
We wrote a letter to BoA asking for a letter confirming the account was definitely closed so we would not get any charges for not having enough funds in the account to have the account with zero fees. We got a letter back saying "Please call our Risk Account Closure department at xxx. Xxx. Xxxx for assistance regarding your account status." 40 more minutes of my time and I was told by the floor manager of the department that they could not issue me a letter saying the account was closed. I was informed the generic letter BoA sent me saying they could report me to a credit agency is the only letter BoA provides for account closure and I may get statement for up to 2 more months. I asked who the appropriate governing agency for the bank was so I could file a complaint. I was told BoA was not obliged to tell me the regulatory agency. The manager also would not provide me with identifying information so I could document the representative at BoA who told us he was not authorized to write a letter saying BoA closed account #X on Y date, and was not required to provide regulatory body information. The manager refused. I asked to file an internal complaint with the bank. The manager said he would file a complaint, but would not provide me a copy of the complaint and could not guarantee I would receive any response.
Go ahead and try to do business with this bank. The customer service is appalling.