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Report: #430003

Complaint Review: BANK OF AMERICA GEORGIA - Marietta Georgia

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  • Reported By: Atlanta Metro Georgia
  • Author Confirmed What's this?
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  • BANK OF AMERICA GEORGIA 1430 Roswell Road Marietta, Georgia U.S.A.
  • Phone: 678-718 3886
  • Web:
  • Category: Banks

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Bank of America Sucks!

My experience with this third rate bank is provided here for your information just in case you are thinking of banking with this company.

Monday, March 2, 2009

My bad experience with Bank of America

In the early and mid 2000's I had several accounts with Bank of America in Georgia. This includes checking and an account with their Banc of America Investment Services. I came across some bank statements which reflect that as of 5/31/04 that I had on deposit with Bank of America "total asset value of $96.562.59. I subsequently relocated and changed banks.

This year I was in need of a Georgia account for the direct deposit of my social security check and on Feb 4th 2009, I went to their branch at 1439 Roswell Road, Marietta 30062 and spent 20 minutes with Renee Ballew, Senior Personal Banker and opened a checking account with an initial $100 cash deposit and a Money Market with an initial Zero balance which I was going to transfer funds into.

I then went to the Franklin Road Social Security Office and after 2 1/2 hours wait I spent 6 minutes with an employee changing my direct deposit Social Security check to Bank of America.

On Feb 9th I recieved a 5 paragraph letter dated Feb 6th which said in part: "We regret to inform you that the Bank of America has elected to close your account(s) in accordance with the provisions of our Deposit Agreement. . ."

I phoned their customer service number and got a run around with the call center employee saying the same thing but NOT telling me why such a decision was made. I asked for a supervisor but got none.

I then went to the www.consumerist.com web site and got the information from one of their consumer articles on who to contact in the Executive Customer Relations Office and I phoned them at 704 368 5687 and spoke to a Ms. K. Lewis who had to look into it and phone me back.

She phoned back some minutes later and only gave the same non-information that I had both in the letter and from the earlier customer service. She would not provide any information as to 'why' the account was closed, only that it was their right to do so and they did.

I asked about the return of my $100 and was told it would be mailed back to me. I later went to the Social Security Office and after a 2 hour wait I had my direct deposit changed back to the original bank account.

I received a monthly statement from BofA showing that my account was closed with a $0 balance and showing an "Account Closing Transaction on 2/6/09 deducting the $100.

When the check did not show up by Friday 2/27/08 I phoned Bank of America and was transferred three times customer service, to Fraud and finally ID Theft. The latter number was the only one where I have ever had any decent cooperation.

I spoke at length with Ms. Jaye Paulk who was off the line several times speaking with other departments. She was able to tell me that if I went to the Roswell Road branch and saw a Jackie Vassalo and showed her my identification that Ms. Vassalo would then email the 'Compliance' Department so that the funds could be released.

Ms. Paulk was to email Ms. Vassalo the information that I would be there on March 2nd to show her my identification etc.

On March 2nd at 12:30 PM I presented myself at the Roswell Road branch and found Ms. Vassalo and told her I was there to present my ID to her per the email to her of the prior Friday.

Ms. Vassalo said she was unaware of any email and unfamiliar with the purpose of my visit. I again referenced the prior email and she went to the podium and checked her email account and told me she found no such email. I provided my SSN and copy of my statement and she looked at my account and confirmed that the account was in fact closed, something I was already aware of.

She told me several times that she only handled 'quick things' and had other things to do. I asked her to phone the 866 231-5147 number which Ms. Paulk had given me in case there were any questions or problems. Ms. Vassalo was not interested. I left with nothing accomplished.

When I got home I phoned the 866 number and spoke for some time with Ms Paulk who told me that she had in fact sent the email Friday and even read it to me on the phone. I told her that while I did appreciate her attempt to assist me, she being the only B of A employee that was in any way of help, that I was entirely finished with the nonsense which I had gotten from B of A and would be putting in a complaint and posting on various consumer web sites about my negative experience and their repeated failure to return my opening deposit.

I also suggested that Ms. Paulk phone Ms. Vassalo to confirm that I had been there earlier in the day asking about providing my documentation and that she might also wish to inquire as to whether Mr. Vassalo had the incoming email.

I told Ms. Paulk that since I was going to make several complaints about the matter that it would be to her benefit to notate the account that she had in fact sent the email arranging for me to show up on March 2nd to see Ms. Vassalo.

Clearly Ms. Paulk did what she could to resolve the matter, unfortunately the rest of Bank of America seems to have their collective heads up their rear ends.

For the moment I am out the initial deposit of $100. Legally this is called 'conversion' when someone or some firm takes something that does not belong to them and keeps it for themselves.

Documents regarding this matter are found at: http://bankofamericageorgiasucks.blogspot.com/

Annoyed consumer
Atlanta Metro, Georgia
U.S.A.

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Bank of America

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 03/02/2009 03:20 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/bank-of-america-georgia/marietta-georgia-30062/bank-of-america-georgia-boa-sucks-boa-steals-my-100-marietta-georgia-430003. 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
13Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#14 Author of original report

BofA keeps looking at my blog site

AUTHOR: Annoyed consumer - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, July 17, 2012
As referenced on the Rip Off Report I set up a blog site about my problems with a Marietta, Ga BOA and although this is a relatively old blog it still gets visits, 5,667 in total, they come in peaks and valleys.

Today was a 'peak'  with 23 by 10 p.m.  If you need more details than I put on this site you can drop by
http://bankofamericageorgiasucks.blogspot.com and take a look.

Among todays visitors to this blog site was Bank of America with 4 visits,  10:18 minutes in total, all from BOA in Concord, Calif with IP addresses of 171.159.192.10 and 171.161.160.10.

Bank of America is probably the worst bank I have ever dealt with, you might never notice it until something like this happens to you.
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#13 Consumer Comment

QUOTE: 'Get ALL of your money out of the stock market now! The Collapse HAS....

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

POSTED: Monday, April 13, 2009

been triggered!!!!' - 8/21/2007

That was posted when the Dow Jones was around 14,000 in the summer of 2007!!! That was posted in 2007, NOT in 2008.

If Americans had cashed-in their stocks on, or around that date, they would have cashed it in when stocks were at, or around, their HIGHEST level, correct?

The Dow Jones closed at its all-time high of 14,164 on 10-9-2007. That was about 7 weeks AFTER the above quote, correct?

'Google' this- RIP OFF REPORT FUEL FREEDOM INTERNATIONAL MPG CAPS, and go to the 2001 Toyota Tacoma Ripoff Report, and then to the 'Update' entitled- 'Blame it on a Lawyer', and that quote is the LAST THING stated in that 'Update', correct?

IT CAME TRUE, DIDN'T IT?

WELCOME TO AMERICA- IN FRAUD WE TRUST!

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#12 Consumer Comment

Welcome to the USSA.

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

POSTED: Tuesday, April 07, 2009

""Our government is pouring BILLION$ upon BILLION$ of TAXPAYER'S money into corporations whose sole purpose seems to be to 'LINE THE POCKETS OF THE TOP EXECUTIVES WITH MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF CASH', right?""

Wrong you clown. What the government has been doing is BUYING these companies-purchasing STOCK.

What the fed is doing is nothing short of using a government created situation to SOCIALIZE the US.

So far, not ONE DOLLAR that the fed has spent (TARP) has gone to purchasing ANY so called "toxic assets." What the fed has done is nationalized one third of the banking industry by purchasing STOCKS (more to be nationalized later) and nationalized a portion of the auto industry.

As I type this, the fed is going so far as to dictate company compensation! When does it stop? I'm self employed-what is to stop the fed (or the States) from dictating what a company owner can make? What's to stop them from deciding that $100K is enough for a small business owner and that anything I pay myself ABOVE that amount will be taxed at 99% so they can give it to someone else?

Welcome to the United Socialist States of America!

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#11 Consumer Comment

Welcome to the USSA.

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

POSTED: Tuesday, April 07, 2009

""Our government is pouring BILLION$ upon BILLION$ of TAXPAYER'S money into corporations whose sole purpose seems to be to 'LINE THE POCKETS OF THE TOP EXECUTIVES WITH MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF CASH', right?""

Wrong you clown. What the government has been doing is BUYING these companies-purchasing STOCK.

What the fed is doing is nothing short of using a government created situation to SOCIALIZE the US.

So far, not ONE DOLLAR that the fed has spent (TARP) has gone to purchasing ANY so called "toxic assets." What the fed has done is nationalized one third of the banking industry by purchasing STOCKS (more to be nationalized later) and nationalized a portion of the auto industry.

As I type this, the fed is going so far as to dictate company compensation! When does it stop? I'm self employed-what is to stop the fed (or the States) from dictating what a company owner can make? What's to stop them from deciding that $100K is enough for a small business owner and that anything I pay myself ABOVE that amount will be taxed at 99% so they can give it to someone else?

Welcome to the United Socialist States of America!

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#10 Consumer Comment

Welcome to the USSA.

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

POSTED: Tuesday, April 07, 2009

""Our government is pouring BILLION$ upon BILLION$ of TAXPAYER'S money into corporations whose sole purpose seems to be to 'LINE THE POCKETS OF THE TOP EXECUTIVES WITH MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF CASH', right?""

Wrong you clown. What the government has been doing is BUYING these companies-purchasing STOCK.

What the fed is doing is nothing short of using a government created situation to SOCIALIZE the US.

So far, not ONE DOLLAR that the fed has spent (TARP) has gone to purchasing ANY so called "toxic assets." What the fed has done is nationalized one third of the banking industry by purchasing STOCKS (more to be nationalized later) and nationalized a portion of the auto industry.

As I type this, the fed is going so far as to dictate company compensation! When does it stop? I'm self employed-what is to stop the fed (or the States) from dictating what a company owner can make? What's to stop them from deciding that $100K is enough for a small business owner and that anything I pay myself ABOVE that amount will be taxed at 99% so they can give it to someone else?

Welcome to the United Socialist States of America!

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#9 Consumer Comment

Annoyed Consumer, Unfortunately for you, & the rest of the.......

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

POSTED: Tuesday, March 24, 2009

citizens in the United States of America, it looks as though corporate FRAUD is a mainstay in our economy, because without it, the entire U.S. economy would most certainly COLLAPSE, wouldn't you agree?

Our government is pouring BILLION$ upon BILLION$ of TAXPAYER'S money into corporations whose sole purpose seems to be to 'LINE THE POCKETS OF THE TOP EXECUTIVES WITH MILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF CASH', right?

'Google' this- RIP OFF REPORT FUEL FREEDOM INTERNATIONAL MPG CAPS, and go to the 2001 Toyota Tacoma Ripoff Report, and then read the 'Update' to that Report entitled- 'Blame it on a Lawyer'. Read what a Harvard Business Professor said to his class of EXECUTIVES in late 2004!

It has ALL come TRUE, hasn't it?

Remember, the government NEEDS these corporations in order for its existence, right? Without the BILLIONS of dollars in TAX REVENUE flowing in from corporations like BOA, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, GM, Chrysler...........and many others, the government would go broke, wouldn't you agree?

This is WHY there are so many problems in regards to FIXING America! The government actually NEEDS corporations that practice DECEPTION, FRAUD, CORRUPTION, GREED, MANIPULATION..........or they (the government) would LOSE OUT on their MONEY which is TAX REVENUE collected by taxing corporations on their PROFITS & their GAINS, right?

This is WHY we're headed into a DEPRESSION, in my opinion!

Good luck to you!

WELCOME TO THE MOST FRAUDULENT COUNTRY ON EARTH- The United States of America- IN FRAUD WE TRUST!!!

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#8 Author of original report

BOA Admission

AUTHOR: Annoyed consumer - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, March 13, 2009

On Mar 12, 2009 I received an incoming letter from Matthew C. Taft, AVP/Customer Advocate in the Office of the Chairman (813 805-4873), the letter is found on my blog site: http://bankofamericageorgiasucks.blogspot.com and I will quote one line FYI - "Informationprovided by Equifax and Experian was used to make the determinationto open, maintain, collect or close your accounts."

As you know any firm who uses such an agency to check your credit and then makes an adverse decision in this regard MUST inform you by letter which agencies were consulted so you may obtain a copy of your report to check for errors on your credit report.

Bank of America did NOT send the required notification and as you can see from my prior posts this only came up when Mr. Taft in his earlier phone call mistakenly let the cat out of the bag that Risk Management had actually gotten my credit report. Only when I pointed out that they are REQUIRED to furnish me a notification did they finally send me this letter.

Clearly their internal policy is to NOT make the required notifications and this puts them in violation of Federal regulations. As of this posting I still do NOT have my opening deposit back.

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#7 Author of original report

Here is what I have found so far:

AUTHOR: Annoyed consumer - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Thursday, March 05, 2009

Robert from Buffalo - Thanks for the input with your comment.

I have twice today spoken to a Matthew Taft a Customer Advocate in the Office of the CEO Ken Lewis. I was informed in the last call that he did not know if my credit report was used but will look into it and if it was will so inform me. I have summarized the info that I have learned in my dealing with the B of A over the past few days, here it is:

1) B of A will open your account as you sit there in the office, they will accept and credit your deposit and you will leave thinking you now have an account with them. However, this opening is only tentative and is subject to 'verification' which they do after you have departed. They look at the Chekex system to find any bad checks, they do a background via the major credit bureau(s) and based on any negative or even questionable information, they will immediately close your account and a few days later a letter full of 5 paragraphs of boiler plate will show up. By then now about a week after you thought you had opened an account you may have written checks which will of course now bounce.

2) If you establish an account in an area outside where your credit reports show you as living this will cause their 'Risk Management' department to abruptly close your account and the letter mentioned above is sent to you. They do NOT bother to ask you if you have moved or have a condo in place A and a house in place B or ask for any explination as to why you are applying in NY but your credit report shows an address in Fla, they immediately jump to the conclusion that there is some ID Fraud, close your account and your checks bounce.

3) Bank of America will NOT send you any notification that they used one of the 3 major credit reporting agencies to obtain the negative information that they used in making their decision to close your account (ie: deny you credit). Federal regulations require that any firm who uses such credit reporting agency information in the course of making their decision to deny you credit that they must notify you of the name and address of the agency used in the form of a letter which you can then submit to said agency with your request to have them provide you a copy of the report that they had furnished to B of A.

You may find that you have a receipt for an opening deposit, checks show up, the debit card and pin number arrives but this account you thought you had was closed 2 days after you opened it.

You can find this info at my blog site: http://bankofamericageorgiasucks.blogspot.com

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#6 Consumer Comment

Read the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

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

POSTED: Thursday, March 05, 2009

""This was clearly an uncomfortable subject and he back tracked a bit claiming that there was a soft' and a hard' enquiry and that this was a soft' one and no letter needed to be sent.""

I would agree with this IF THEY DID NOT CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT ON YOU.

However, closing your account is considered ADVERSE ACTION, and because they took such adverse action against you they are REQUIRED by the FCRA to notify you of the action and the credit reporting agency that provided the information to them that compelled them to take such adverse action.

Seems to me that they violated the FCRA by closing the account and NOT SENDING YOU THE REQUIRED INFORMATION MANDATED BY THE FCRA/

You should consult with an attorney who specializes in consumer credit issues and consider SUING them for FCRA violations.

Good luck.

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#5 Consumer Comment

Read the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

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

POSTED: Thursday, March 05, 2009

""This was clearly an uncomfortable subject and he back tracked a bit claiming that there was a soft' and a hard' enquiry and that this was a soft' one and no letter needed to be sent.""

I would agree with this IF THEY DID NOT CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT ON YOU.

However, closing your account is considered ADVERSE ACTION, and because they took such adverse action against you they are REQUIRED by the FCRA to notify you of the action and the credit reporting agency that provided the information to them that compelled them to take such adverse action.

Seems to me that they violated the FCRA by closing the account and NOT SENDING YOU THE REQUIRED INFORMATION MANDATED BY THE FCRA/

You should consult with an attorney who specializes in consumer credit issues and consider SUING them for FCRA violations.

Good luck.

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#4 Consumer Comment

Read the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

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

POSTED: Thursday, March 05, 2009

""This was clearly an uncomfortable subject and he back tracked a bit claiming that there was a soft' and a hard' enquiry and that this was a soft' one and no letter needed to be sent.""

I would agree with this IF THEY DID NOT CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT ON YOU.

However, closing your account is considered ADVERSE ACTION, and because they took such adverse action against you they are REQUIRED by the FCRA to notify you of the action and the credit reporting agency that provided the information to them that compelled them to take such adverse action.

Seems to me that they violated the FCRA by closing the account and NOT SENDING YOU THE REQUIRED INFORMATION MANDATED BY THE FCRA/

You should consult with an attorney who specializes in consumer credit issues and consider SUING them for FCRA violations.

Good luck.

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#3 Consumer Comment

Read the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

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

POSTED: Thursday, March 05, 2009

""This was clearly an uncomfortable subject and he back tracked a bit claiming that there was a soft' and a hard' enquiry and that this was a soft' one and no letter needed to be sent.""

I would agree with this IF THEY DID NOT CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT ON YOU.

However, closing your account is considered ADVERSE ACTION, and because they took such adverse action against you they are REQUIRED by the FCRA to notify you of the action and the credit reporting agency that provided the information to them that compelled them to take such adverse action.

Seems to me that they violated the FCRA by closing the account and NOT SENDING YOU THE REQUIRED INFORMATION MANDATED BY THE FCRA/

You should consult with an attorney who specializes in consumer credit issues and consider SUING them for FCRA violations.

Good luck.

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#2 Author of original report

Just when you think it is over!

AUTHOR: Annoyed consumer - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Thursday, March 05, 2009

Just when you think the matter is finished Bank of America shoots itself in the foot!


Yesterday, March 4th, I thought I had put this B of A matter behind me and would not have any further use for this blog.

This morning (3/5/09) at 10:48 I got an incoming call from a the B of A Office of the President from a representative who referenced my earlier complaint and asked if anyone had explained to me why' my account was closed. I told him that I had various conversations on the matter with B of A but that aspect of the matter had not been resolved.

He related to me that the issue was my Social Security number and that it seemed to have been used elsewhere and that flagged it as potential fraud and the account was flagged by their Risk Management and the account closed.

My response was that I was not surprised the SSN was used outside the Kennesaw area as I had a condo in Florida (the original bank used for my monthly SSN deposit was in Florida).

He further related that B of A first establishes an account and then subsequently it verifies' the information using CheckEx to look for bad checks and does further background with the major credit reporting agencies.

I then asked him why I had not received a letter stating which of the 3 major credit reporting firms had provided B of A with the information that caused them to abruptly close the account.

This was clearly an uncomfortable subject and he back tracked a bit claiming that there was a soft' and a hard' enquiry and that this was a soft' one and no letter needed to be sent.

At this point the man was clearly off message and went into a longish story about how they had a problem in California with illegals opening accounts and they had to verify accounts so as to make sure that no illegals opened accounts with B of A, he then went further into the traditional Bank of America circle your wagons' mode and dropped back on the the opening agreement you signed states that we can close your account at any time and we did so.

Times like this you wish you had a tape recorder running just so you could put it online.

Here is what I learned with this B of A admission against interest' conversation with the Office of the President:
The Bank of America is in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act in that they are running credit reports, probably through their Risk Management office and NOT providing the required letters to consumers listing the credit reporting agency(s) providing this negative info which they obviously use in making their determination as to continuing your account or closing it.

This is a violation of the FCRA and the information will be passed on to the appropriate Federal agency as soon as I can determine which office it should be sent to.

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#1 Author of original report

Case Resolved

AUTHOR: Annoyed consumer - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Update - as of 3/4/09 11:47 a.m. EST

Recap: Yesterday I created a blog site and also posted on the Rip Off Report. I then mass emailed 15 executives at B of A my complaint and cited both the blog site and the Rip Off Report site as having the information.

Update: This morning I received a phone call from Ms. Lea Fouther of B of A and the matter was discussed at legnth. She felt the matter had not been well handled. Early in the call I expressed my opinion that even if B of A would be interested in reopening the account for me that I would not care to deal with them and I was only interested in obtaining my initial $100 opening deposit back.

Ms. Fouther is arranging to send me the $100 and she was entirely helpful in this matter as was Ms. Paulk at ID Theft. Ms. Fouther has left her phone number with me should I at some time in the future decide to deal with their firm again (not very likely).

In looking at various consumer complaints here at the Rip Off Report I have found some really incredible posts about customers who have had much worse problems with Bank of America than I had. Using this site, coupled with opening a seperate blog on the matter, was the key to getting the matter finished.

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