Complaint Review: Bank Of America - Los Angeles California
- Bank Of America P O Box 341475 Los Angeles, California U.S.A.
- Phone:
- Web:
- Category: Banks
Bank Of America B of A withdrew money from my child's Coogan Law Trust Account to cover one of my accounts. Los Angeles California
*Consumer Comment: Coogan's Law Account & Parent's Access to it
*Consumer Suggestion: Yep to protect the childrens money
*Author of original report: B of A Charges update
*Consumer Suggestion: alot in service charges
*Consumer Comment: Stop hiding behind a child
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My child has a Coogan Law Trust Account. I had $182.00 in my savings account of which I transferred $180.00 to my Checking account. Apparently, B of A withdrew their monthly savings acct. service charge to make my account $175.00. So when my savings transfer went to my checking account they decided to pull money out of my child's Coogan Account to cover the transfer.
Isn't this illegal? How can Bank of America pull money out of an account, which by law no one can touch, and cover something like this? This account was opened so that my child would have savings from her earnings when she turns 18. Nobody is supposed to be able to touch the money until she turns 18.
I called customer service and they basically said that B of A could pull money out of any one of the accounts that happens to have my name on it. Regardless of whether it is a Coogan Law Trust account and I am only a trustee on the account.
I am closing my account with Bank of America asap. Their fees are ridiculous as are their business practices.
I also called to complain about this situation and the customer service rep basically said that Bank of America could do whatever they wanted because it was in their terms of use agreement.
Linda
Los Angeles, California
U.S.A.
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 04/26/2008 11:37 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/bank-of-america/los-angeles-california-90034/bank-of-america-b-of-a-withdrew-money-from-my-childs-coogan-law-trust-account-to-cover-on-329137. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content
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#5 Consumer Comment
Coogan's Law Account & Parent's Access to it
AUTHOR: Dan - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Sunday, April 27, 2008
It seems that the bank went beyond their authority when they took the money from the child's account to settle the parent's debt. The banks' terms and conditions cannot supersede state or federal law. Coogan's Law accounts are blocked accounts and cannot be accessed by anyone until the child is emancipated or turns 18. I would think a judge would see that a parent can overdraw their own account by several hundred dollars to gain a back door access to the child's account. Your checking and savings accounts are linked, so the bank should have taken their fees from your checking account. You had to have been aware that the bank charges those fees and left enough money in there to cover the fee.
Coogan's Law was originally a California law but has been adopted by other states to protect child actor's income from squandering parents.
I have a problem with any bank charging monthly fee to have money in a savings account regardless of how much is in there. They don't pay enough interest as it is, then the IRS wants you to pay taxes on it, but you can't deduct the monthly fee.
#4 Consumer Suggestion
Yep to protect the childrens money
AUTHOR: Steven - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Sunday, April 27, 2008
That is protect the childrens money from the parents. You are a classic example
#3 Author of original report
B of A Charges update
AUTHOR: Linda - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Sunday, April 27, 2008
Actually, the charges differ every month and come in on the 31st of every month.
That month I transferred money on the 28th. The charge for fees at B of A came through on the 31st.
I don't know how much B of A will decide to charge me until they charge me.
In that month I was $6.00. My savings account showed the $180.00 had been transferred. However, when I received my child's statement there was $180.00 missing from her account. The statement read "withdrawal $180.00".
I asked the customer service rep to put the money back into my child's account and she said she couldn't because there was a block, no one could touch her account.
My question is "isn't it illegal to pull money out of a child's Coogan Law Trust account?".
I had the customer service rep file papers to deposit $180 into my child's account to cover the withdrawal. She said it would take 5 business days.
My child's money is not mine to spend or use. I have two checking accounts and one savings account for myself with B of A and 1 account for my child.
This is illegal to pull money out of a child's Coogan Account, for any reason.
The law was put in place to protect the child's money. It has nothing to do with me.
#2 Consumer Suggestion
alot in service charges
AUTHOR: Steven - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Sunday, April 27, 2008
So let's see. You had 182 dollars in your savings account. You had a zero balance checking account???? The bank then tried to charge you a service charge of 5 dollars on your savings account but couldn't because you only had 2 dollars left in it so you had a negative balance of 3 dollars. Am I right so far???
So in order to allow the check to clear (the reason you transferred money from savings to checking). They took out how much from your child's Coogan Trust account??? Seems like there is no making you happy. I guess you would have rather faced other fees as well.
Bank's can withdraw any money from an account bearing your name to cover shortages from another account bearing your name. You would have seen that if you would have bothered to read all the fine print in the documents you signed.
If you don't like paying fees then you were right in closing your accounts. Try a credit union.
#1 Consumer Comment
Stop hiding behind a child
AUTHOR: John - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Sunday, April 27, 2008
for an excuse for your negligence.
"Apparently, B of A withdrew their monthly savings acct. service charge to make my account $175.00."
What do you mean 'apparently'? Like you weren't expecting it? It's the end of the month when most all service charges are filed. It's due to your own negligence that you were short and the bank has the right to offset with any account linked to the same persons.
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