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Report: #621562

Complaint Review: Bank Of America - BofA - San Diego California

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  • Reported By: Scott — San Diego California United States of America
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  • Bank Of America - BofA 737 University Avenue San Diego, California United States of America

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Bank of America is up to its old tricks when it comes to stealing money from it's loyal customers once again. Everyone knew it was a short matter of time before the banking institutions found loop holes in the latest round of banking regulations...

Bank of America has instituted penalties for taking money out of your savings account. The penalties, they call them "fee's" are for various amounts and never the same amount twice. I received my first notification from Bank of America on June 30, 2010 in the form of a withdrawal from my savings account for the amount of $4.89. The notification read "This fee was charged because your accounts minimum balance during the month was $0.05 on 06-24 and the account had 3 excess withdrawal(s). The amount of uncollected fees is $4.11". The amount of money deducted from my account was actually $4.89 NOT $4.11.

A review of my savings account activity shows 6 total withdrawals for the month of June 2010 none of which caused an overdraft situation with my account. Apparently new banking rules have been applied limiting the number of withdrawals to 3 per month. Where does a bank get off charging a customer fees for using there own money???

Why does the notification state $4.11 was deducted from my savings in the message, but the physical deduction was $4.89??? Apparently simple math is beyond their abilities.

Im also enrolled in a Bank of America program called keep the change. Every time I purchase something with my debit card thru my checking account the change is transferred to my savings account. On July 7, 2010 $0.92 was transferred from my checking account to my savings account as part of this program. On July 07, 2010 I also received a second notification stating Your account was charged for previously uncollected excess withdrawal fees. $0.92.

In summary Bank of America transferred $0.92 from my checking to my savings and then to the Banks personal pocket without ever advising me of these changes in advance. In my book this is called STEALING!

After talking to the Banks customer service department I was advised this activity will continue every time I use my checking account as long as Im enrolled in the Keep the Change program. Of course I opted out of the program immediately!

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 07/08/2010 01:48 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/bank-of-america-bofa/san-diego-california-92103/bank-of-america-bofa-bofa-bank-of-america-is-stealing-money-from-its-customers-again-621562. 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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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
1Author
6Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#7 Consumer Suggestion

Research first.

AUTHOR: D.W. - (United States of America)

POSTED: Thursday, July 15, 2010

Really? All the info about your accounts and their limitations are CLEARLY stated in the depositers agreement. I know it's long and can be a hassle to read BUT every fee and it's description is online at www.bankofamerica.com. On the front page it says Facts about fees. If you really were worried about recieving fees on your account you could use the resources at your disposal. You have to keep $300 min. in your Regular Savings to avoid $5 monthy fee. You can't make more than 3 deductions from the account without incurring a $3 Excess Withdrawl Fee per deduction after the inital 3. I found ALL this info on the website. And my accounts don't get fees cause i research them first.

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#6 Consumer Comment

Anyone can 'Google' this- A CREDIT CARD YOU WANT TO TOSS, and read the article about Bank of America.....

AUTHOR: Karl - (USA)

POSTED: Saturday, July 10, 2010

at the BusinessWeek.com site, correct?



******************************* BANK ALERT *******************************

*Make sure to 'Google' all of the following and watch them on the web to learn more about the banking system in America-

FRONTLINE: BREAKING THE BANK

FRONTLINE: INSIDE THE MELTDOWN

FRONTLINE: THE CARD GAME

ELIZABETH WARREN ON THE ECONOMY NOW ON PBS

AMERICA: FREEDOM TO FASCISM


"Knowledge is power."

POWER TO THE PEOPLE


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#5 Consumer Comment

Steven has a point...

AUTHOR: Ronny g - (USA)

POSTED: Friday, July 09, 2010

...that you may have been charged a fee for going below the minimum balance on the savings account. Either way you should consider yourself lucky the fee or fees were only $9.00 as others have been hit much harder.

However according to your report and I quote.."The notification read "This fee was charged because your accounts minimum balance during the month was $0.05 on 06-24 and the account had 3 excess withdrawal(s). The amount of uncollected fees is $4.11". The amount of money deducted from my account was actually $4.89 NOT $4.11.

A review of my savings account activity shows 6 total withdrawals for the month of June 2010 none of which caused an overdraft situation with my account. Apparently new banking rules have been applied limiting the number of withdrawals to 3 per month. Where does a bank get off charging a customer fees for using there own money???"

It seems the fees are a combination of exceeding the minimum balance allowed, and exceeding the number of withdrawals from the savings account.

The whole thing is so confusing and makes so little sense to anyone so the best thing to do as I stated previously, is use a checking account and not a savings account for these types of withdrawals. make sure you are opted out of overdraft coverage, don't fall sucker to the banks trying to encourage you to have this protection, as it protects nothing, and you can win the battle. Yes, sad to say but these days the banks are to be considered the enemy, and the more informed you are, the better your chances to avoid being swindled.

As far as your last statement "Where does a bank get off charging a customer fees for using there own money???"..

They "get off" doing this because they have found another way to exploit Federal regulations and use the regulations as a loophole to charge fees to their customers. Really know other way to put it. The best defense is a good offense.

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#4 Consumer Comment

What about account balance minimum

AUTHOR: Steven - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, July 09, 2010

What is the minimum balance you are supposed to maintain in this account? Says here you had 5 cents in your account evidently before you put more money in. Looks like that was the original problem and they penalized you for it.

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#3 Consumer Comment

Yes, it's another BANK RIP OFF...

AUTHOR: Ronny g - (USA)

POSTED: Thursday, July 08, 2010

Yes, this is just another way the banks are exploiting federal rules to profit off customers honest mistakes, or unawareness since most customers are not experts on how the antiquated banking system works.

I had a feeling that keep the change program was somehow going to hurt customers...and here we see it first hand. Yeah..you kept the change, and they get it back in fees 10 fold..works out pretty good I'd say for the bank.

You can do an internet search on regulation D and have a good time reading the recent complaints. Seems this is actually a little known regulation, and most only find out about it after they get hit by the BANK with fees. Or go find your original savings account agreement and see if it's possible to find any info. Does it mention keep the change can cause fees? Go to Bank of Americas website and see where it says anything about this. It may be there, or it may not, but seems a lot of customers were unaware..hmm where have we heard this before?

Anyhow, I will try to break this down, I could write a few pages.

In a nut shell, the regulation was made like 30 years ago. Now how many bank customers used online banking and direct deposit and did electronic transfers back in 1982 for example?

Next, the fees are NOT required to be charge by the bank, and it seems it is arbitrary as different banks and credit unions charge different amounts for fees, and have different limit restrictions. The Fed says 6, but some banks limit it to 4 or 5.

As well, what the banks can do is close the account, deny transactions, or convert the savings account to a checking account. You can also consider a non interest bearing savings account but a free checking account is the best way to avoid these fees. I mean these days it is pretty easy to conduct 4,5 or 6 electronic transactions in a week, much less a month. Even if you were to take your direct deposit for example, and each week you went online to deposit it into different accounts...yes, they can get you that way too..who would ever think this was possible or legal? If the Feds feel they need a regulation like this for liquidity or whatever, they need to revamp this regulation, and raise the limit to at least 12 a month, that would not be too unrealistic. This regulation is so asinine, that it implies 6 withdrawals of one dollar each, is worse for them then a single withdrawal of $10,000. I mean who thought this one up? (I bet the banks lobbied pretty hard for it though).

Anyhow do a little research, this is an interesting topic and is another way the banks will be fleecing customers, mark my words we will be seeing these types of reports here increasing until the antiquated regulation is brought up to date. I mean how many customers assume the feds can tell them how to withdraw or deposit OUR money? Especially when you can withdraw or deposit as often as you want from a teller or bank attached ATM and have no limit? It all makes no sense these days really..the banks and the fed and the gov can not seem to be able to change with the times...and who pays??? The customer..into the banks greedy little hands once again,

Now what is the rip off you may ask? Well if the FEDS say we are only allowed to conduct a max of 6 of these types of savings account transactions a month..but the BANK...let me say this again slowly...T H E  B A N K is allowing it and just taking money from customers in fees..surely something smells down in China Town.

Anyhow, this customer is VERY fortunate the fee is so low, You can do an internet search and see how unsuspecting victims of this were charged 300 bucks in fees during a single cycle.

The best advice is use a checking account for this, let the savings sit or invest your money more wisely into something that can actually grow your money.

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#2 Author of original report

No, I haven't been living under a Rock...

AUTHOR: Scott Farrar - (United States of America)

POSTED: Thursday, July 08, 2010

So I learned something new today about Saving's accounts which is based on an out dated regulations written long before on-line banking existed which definetely needs to be ammended to meet todays business and consumer needs....


"There is a limit of six transfers, ACH or otherwise, per statement cycle on savings accounts as mandated by the Federal Reserve board Regulation D, which defines the rules of each account type and its reserve requirement. Why is this important? With the advent of online savings accounts and the chase for a better interest rate, ACH transfers into and out of savings accounts are becoming more frequent. Before online savings accounts like ING Direct and Emigrant Direct, when you actually had to visit a bank to initiate an ACH transfer; a limit of six transfers on a savings account wasnt really a problem. In fact, youd be hard pressed to initiate six in a year, let alone six within a statement month. Now, you can initiate six ACH transfers within a statement cycle without really realizing it and that can be cause to terminate your account! The reason for this is because your savings account is classified as a saving deposit and the reserve requirement on a saving deposit is 0%, compared to something like 10% on a transaction account. A reserve requirement is how much of the balance the bank must keep in reserve and not give out in loans. So when Emigrant Direct gets your $1,000 in your saving account, it doesnt need to hold any of that in its reserves, it can loan all thousand dollars because the reserve requirement on a savings account is 0%. (hence the attractive rates) On a checking account (a transaction account) however, they must retain 10% of the balance on hand because the assumption is you will be drawing on your funds more frequently."


"Federal regulations require that no more than six (6) transfers per statement cycle may be made to (1) an account at another bank or financial institution, including your External Account, (2) to another EmigrantDirect account or (3) to a third party by means of a preauthorized or automatic electronic transfer. We reserve the right to close your Account for violation of the above restriction. The depositor is permitted or authorized to make no more than six transfers and withdrawals, or a combination of such transfers and withdrawals, per calendar month or statement cycle . . . to another account (including a transaction account) of the depositor at the same institution or to a third party by means of a preauthorized or automatic transfer, or telephonic (including data transmission) agreement, order, or instruction, and no more than three of the six such transfers may be made by check, draft, debit card, or similar order made by the depositor and payable to third parties.


So I found the regulations, but have yet to discover where in the regulations it states Banks and/or financial institutions can take my hard erned money and put it in their pocket for exceeding the limit of six transfers rule...


The regualtion is obviously out dated and needs some work. If the penalty is $9.00 why doesn't the Bank state I'm being penalized $9.00? The Banks have been all over the news until the Oil Spill about abusing customers with high fee's and penalties. If I wasn't supporting an unemployeed American in my home 100% I wouldn't be dipping into my savings account at all, but look at the World News! Everyone is doing there part in the working class to get through these tough times caused by corrupt banking institutions and being hit with more "Fee's" because your trying to help a fellow American out is just WRONG!


So NO I haven't been living under a ROCK. I have been living a normal life like the rest of working class America until the Financial Institutions finally created a problem so huge and a hole so deep the government had to step in and bail them out with "Our Money."


The Banks get our taxes from the government to bail them out and they continue taking money from those same tax payers in the form of Fee's. Where is the justice???

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#1 Consumer Comment

Nothing new about withdrawl limits.

AUTHOR: Flynrider - (USA)

POSTED: Thursday, July 08, 2010

"Apparently new banking rules have been applied limiting the number of withdrawals to 3 per month. Where does a bank get off charging a customer fees for using there own money??? "

  So how long have you been living under a rock?  This is not a "new rule" or even a B of A rule.    Withdrawl limits on savings accounts are federal regulations and they've been in place for at least 20 years (that I can remember).   If you'd bothered to read your account terms, you wouldn't be surprised now.  

   If you have that much activity in your savings account, why bother having a savings account at all?  Just use your checking account.

"The amount of uncollected fees is $4.11". The amount of money deducted from my account was actually $4.89 NOT $4.11. "

  I'm no english major, but the way I read it was that they deducted $4.89 from the account for fees, and you still owe them $4.11 more (obviously you didn't have enough to cover the entire $9 in fees).   Since they followed that up with $.92 deduction, my math says you should expect them to withdraw another $3.19 when it shows up in your savings account.

  Bottom line, all savings accounts have withdrawl limits.  Doesn't matter where you bank.

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