Bank Of America Spurious overdraft fees, refusal to correct false information on notificatio of same Nationwide Internet

Thanks one and all for the suggestions.

I filed a complaint via email with the Federal Office of the Comptroller of Currency, the federal agency that oversees national banks, with a cc: to BofA's customer service and any other email address I could find.

The bank has now dropped the second and third charges and actually reversed the first charge, putting the $35 back in my account, even though I hadn't requested them to do so. However, as a parting shot, they assessed a $35 "returned item" fee against the account, making their little gesture null. In addition, the power company nicked me a $10 fee for having to return the bucks to the bank.

So, I'm out $45 and while I may file a complaint with the state agency just on general principles, it's more likely I'm just going to chalk it up as a learning experience as to where NOT to bank. Thanks again for all the responses.

Tell them you are going to file a report with the "Chief State Examiner, Dept. of Financial Institutions." This is the California Banking Commission. That should get some results. If you just do a search for that title you will be able to find the appropriate information to be able to file a report.

First off, contact Bank of America's Online Banking department. Let them know you have a "Wrong Amount Posted" situation, which is a Regulation E transaction type. Because this situation would be covered by Reg E if the transaction had posted, the bank is still responsible to cover the OD fees, and you need them refunded right away. If the Online Banker can't assist you, ask to speak to a supervisor, but it really ought to be a straight forward fix.

With regards to the lawsuit over the Social Security accounts, don't bother; the original judgement was based on faulty legal reasoning, and was overturned on appeal.

I'm looking into every suggestion, believe me.

I've done a history search on this company and it turns out that they been sued for just about everything under the sun. One class action they lost involved their confiscation of Social Security and Disability funds to satisfy their lust for these $35 payments for nothing. Since, in addition to even slapping the fees on my account for rather dubious reasons, that is exactly what they're doing to me, I've contacted two law firms including the one that successfully prosecuted that original class action just three years ago.

That's the neat thing about being a grouchy old retiree with a computer, an Internet connection and no life... you can hold out against them for considerably longer than people with more important things to worry about. I think I'm going to make this a fight.

I've already filed a complaint with the Federal Reserve Board and am looking for other departments and agencies that might have jurisdiction or an interest.

Tom, First of all I certainly sympathize with you because of this unfortunate incident. I'm afraid you're fighting a losing battle trying to get the Bandits to EVER admit that they did anything wrong. They are most certainly going to claim that it was you that in fact made the decimal point error that caused the problem.

This is certainly an innocent mistake. I agree with you. Why should you be forced to pay a mininum of $35*3 for a total of $105. Remember I said MINIMUM because it's highly possible that you'll pay additional fees each time this transaction TRIES to post and it causes other smaller transactions to bounce after it.

But this is where customer service comes in. I'm not sure if this is even possible but what about the possibility of a Stop Payment? If this is possible, you'll simply pay the one time stop payment fee, whatever that amount is, but this will accomplish a lot of things. It will prevent this repeated transaction from overdrawing your account multiple times, resulting in multiple overdraft fees and it will also prevent it from jeopardizing other smaller transactions, compounding the problem. This might not be possible, but with GOOD customer service, they should at least understand your mistake and offer some type of REASONABLE solution similar to this.

Finally, if they don't rise to your expectations of handling this with good customer service, then you've already made the right move by closing your account. You're correct that one small account might not be all that important to them. But over time, each one of these SMALL account closings will add up and begin to have an impact. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day. Good Luck!

Tom, First of all I certainly sympathize with you because of this unfortunate incident. I'm afraid you're fighting a losing battle trying to get the Bandits to EVER admit that they did anything wrong. They are most certainly going to claim that it was you that in fact made the decimal point error that caused the problem.

This is certainly an innocent mistake. I agree with you. Why should you be forced to pay a mininum of $35*3 for a total of $105. Remember I said MINIMUM because it's highly possible that you'll pay additional fees each time this transaction TRIES to post and it causes other smaller transactions to bounce after it.

But this is where customer service comes in. I'm not sure if this is even possible but what about the possibility of a Stop Payment? If this is possible, you'll simply pay the one time stop payment fee, whatever that amount is, but this will accomplish a lot of things. It will prevent this repeated transaction from overdrawing your account multiple times, resulting in multiple overdraft fees and it will also prevent it from jeopardizing other smaller transactions, compounding the problem. This might not be possible, but with GOOD customer service, they should at least understand your mistake and offer some type of REASONABLE solution similar to this.

Finally, if they don't rise to your expectations of handling this with good customer service, then you've already made the right move by closing your account. You're correct that one small account might not be all that important to them. But over time, each one of these SMALL account closings will add up and begin to have an impact. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day. Good Luck!

Tom, First of all I certainly sympathize with you because of this unfortunate incident. I'm afraid you're fighting a losing battle trying to get the Bandits to EVER admit that they did anything wrong. They are most certainly going to claim that it was you that in fact made the decimal point error that caused the problem.

This is certainly an innocent mistake. I agree with you. Why should you be forced to pay a mininum of $35*3 for a total of $105. Remember I said MINIMUM because it's highly possible that you'll pay additional fees each time this transaction TRIES to post and it causes other smaller transactions to bounce after it.

But this is where customer service comes in. I'm not sure if this is even possible but what about the possibility of a Stop Payment? If this is possible, you'll simply pay the one time stop payment fee, whatever that amount is, but this will accomplish a lot of things. It will prevent this repeated transaction from overdrawing your account multiple times, resulting in multiple overdraft fees and it will also prevent it from jeopardizing other smaller transactions, compounding the problem. This might not be possible, but with GOOD customer service, they should at least understand your mistake and offer some type of REASONABLE solution similar to this.

Finally, if they don't rise to your expectations of handling this with good customer service, then you've already made the right move by closing your account. You're correct that one small account might not be all that important to them. But over time, each one of these SMALL account closings will add up and begin to have an impact. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day. Good Luck!

Tom, First of all I certainly sympathize with you because of this unfortunate incident. I'm afraid you're fighting a losing battle trying to get the Bandits to EVER admit that they did anything wrong. They are most certainly going to claim that it was you that in fact made the decimal point error that caused the problem.

This is certainly an innocent mistake. I agree with you. Why should you be forced to pay a mininum of $35*3 for a total of $105. Remember I said MINIMUM because it's highly possible that you'll pay additional fees each time this transaction TRIES to post and it causes other smaller transactions to bounce after it.

But this is where customer service comes in. I'm not sure if this is even possible but what about the possibility of a Stop Payment? If this is possible, you'll simply pay the one time stop payment fee, whatever that amount is, but this will accomplish a lot of things. It will prevent this repeated transaction from overdrawing your account multiple times, resulting in multiple overdraft fees and it will also prevent it from jeopardizing other smaller transactions, compounding the problem. This might not be possible, but with GOOD customer service, they should at least understand your mistake and offer some type of REASONABLE solution similar to this.

Finally, if they don't rise to your expectations of handling this with good customer service, then you've already made the right move by closing your account. You're correct that one small account might not be all that important to them. But over time, each one of these SMALL account closings will add up and begin to have an impact. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day. Good Luck!

I'm sorry to hear about your situation. I don't bank with BOA but I have a suggestion that might help you.
In my online billpay system, I can look at a history of the payments that I have scheduled for each company. If BOA's allows you to see the history, you can look to see if you put the decimal point in the right place. If so, print off the page and go to your local branch and speak with the manager. Show him or her the page showing the correct amount authorized by you and the wrong amount processed by the system. The bank that I'm with allows branch personnel to do refunds, I would think BOA is the same. See if the manager will refund the fees to you.
If not, I would suggest calling customer service, asking for a supervisor and then explain the situation to them, telling them you can fax the proof that you put the right amount in to be paid. Get the supervisor's name & number so that you can contact them directly.
Another option may be contacting the online banking customer service if it is different than the regular customer service. They would be trained about online billpays and should be able to see the amount you scheduled for payment, where regular customer service can only see the amount that tried to post.
I hope that one of these help you solve this situation.