SUBMITTED: Friday, April 29, 2005
POSTED: Friday, April 29, 2005
Many of us have at one time or another lived in a situation where making ends meet is a phenomenal task. Layoffs, divorces, emergency expenses, inflation, pay-cuts, inexperience;the list goes on and on. Getting to the edge of a financial plateu is stressful enough, but taking the slightest step over is getting more and more perilous. These days companies have learned to profit from dismal situations. Bank of America is right at the top of the list.
Like some of the people posting comments on this page, Bank of America feels that if you aren't in control of your finances than you do not have a right to them. For instance, they claim that their banking software is set up to process transactions from largest to smallest, as a courtesy to their customers, because large transactions are usually the really important ones like mortgage and car payments. If there is a chance of overdraft, they claim, it is more likely to go through if it is first. The problem is, and the reason it is feasible to believe that Bank of America has unethical business practices, is that there are no guarantees that your mortgage or car payment will clear. The one gaurantee however is that whether anything gets paid or not, B of A will charge you 15.00 for the first overdraft, 20.00 for the second, 30.00 for the third - sixth, and 33.00 for every one after that. If the order that the transactions were put through caused a string of overdrafts, say because even after the overdraft occured your debit card operated at full functionality for gas, lunch, groceries,etc., you will find that no-one in Bank of America has the authority to do anything about it, not even as a "courtesy". Now you will find yourself caught in a spiral, trying to cover the overdraft fees and your bills and possibly more overdraft fees because you couldn't cover both. By the time you finally catch up and can close your account, you could be out hundreds of dollars. Which is a hell of a lot more money than they could have made off of you if you had remained a customer in good standing for several years.
They know this happens, call customer support a hundred times and you will not find an operator that has to check and see what they can do for you. They know, they hear it all day and have the same automated response about mortgages and car payments, "have a nice day!".
And there is the rub, B of A is worse than all the other vulture businesses that circle the financially disabled. Unlike high interest credit cards, Loans, Pawn Shops, and Pay-Day advances there are no regulations or limitations to what and when they can charge you. They operate under the loop-hole that it is a "courtesy" that they grant at their discretion. Yet strangely enough, the one profiting most from this courtesy is B of A.