<p>Re post #178: Google all you want. I think I’ll stick with busdriver’s plan and get my information from the account reps at my bank. The current word for me is, it doesn’t apply to the “type” of account I have. If and when I get a notice of anything different from B/A, I’ll talk to them about my account & my options. </p>
<p>If our information that we get from actually talking to bank reps is different than what people can find in news articles and Google searches… well, that’s life. It won’t be the first time news accounts were fuzzy on the details.</p>
<p>We’re not B of A customers but went through something similar with our bank recently.</p>
<p>We were alerted that they would start charging a monthly service charge, can’t remember exact amount, unless some criteria were met.
One was a direct deposit of at least $500 once per month. It needed to be ONE deposit not a total of smaller ones exceeding the $500.</p>
<p>This was not a problem for our account since my paycheck is direct deposited every two weeks.</p>
<p>But our young adult DD has her own account with direct deposit. Her deposits are low and would not meet the $500 in one chunk requirement. Did not matter that the cumulative deposits exceeded $500. She can ill afford banking fees…</p>
<p>A month or two later, I see that they revised their policy and DD will now avoid the fee with her multiple direct deposits.</p>
<p>Happy they changed their minds but makes me wonder why they seem to just throw things out there and then back peddle when they get complaints…</p>
<p>I spoke to 3 different bank reps at 2 local branches and also one on the phone. I got 4 different stories (again- not BOA but another bank testing out new fees). Seems they are getting different/conflicting/ever-changing information or are poorly trained, or all the above. And doesn’t matter what a human tells you. Ultimately they will refer a customer to what is written in their policy.</p>
<p>My older s has a special deal on his account that refunds him ATM fees up to a certain dollar amount if he uses another bank’s ATM machine. I happened to find out about it when this bank was opening branches in the state my son then attended college, and I was on the bank’s national website looking for branches opening near my s’s college. I stumbled across this special ATM refund offer for customers in that state. I went to a local branch and had them pull this offer up on their website (I had to show them were it was as we are not in that state they had no clue what I was talking about, and none of the officers in the bank had even seen this new promotion on their corporate website). BUT it was written on their website and even though my s’s account was originated in our home state, the way the offer was written on the website, this promo applied to customers in that other state, so they added this promo on my s’s account and it remains there to this day. So, feel free to talk to a probably poorly trained banker dealing with ever-changing bank policies. Others may choose to google/read the corporate website and stick with the printed word (which of course could change too, but thats what the “print” option is for )</p>
<p>Remember my B of A story a few pages back about closing my accounts? As a reminder…they had “assigned” me to a type of account that had a higher daily balance than my typical one and when I asked to have a different one, they told me I had to close my current account and open another with the type of account <em>I</em> was choosing.</p>
<p>More background for those who choose to get their info from a person AT the bank. I had gone to THREE different B of A offices, AND called one of their customer service places on the phone (number was on the letter with the account “change” info) asking why <em>I</em> could not choose the type of account <em>I</em> wanted…wondered why they were making this choice for me. In all four cases, I was told this was their policy and it could not be changed. That’s when I decided to close the account.</p>
<p>NOW when I went into the bank to close the account, the bank officer came up to me and asked “why are you closing your accounts?”. I told her about my FOUR conversations with folks at B of A…and she said “that isn’t true…you can change.” To which I replied…“All the more reason why I’m closing these accounts. I spoke to FOUR different B of A officials and you are the first one who has told me that I don’t need to close my account to get the type I want. I think your bank needs to get it’s information straight for the consumers to hear from all”.</p>
<p>To be honest, I think the ONLY reason she was telling me I could make the change was that I was closing all of my accounts with the bank and wanted it done immediately. At that point, I wasn’t so dissatified with the bank…I would have left my accounts there if ANY of the four people previous to her had said I could do so and have the type of account I wanted. They didn’t so I walked.</p>
<p>Edit: I’m not telling anyone here what to do. If you are happy with B of A, and their overall products and services, then stay with them. This is personal preference.</p>
<p>since this is cc, I’d just recommend folks to think about which banks are handy for our college kids. For my two, BofA ATM’s were on-campus, so maintaing my BofA account is a no-brainer. But, we also don’t use debit cards, so the new fee is a ho-hum.</p>
<p>BofA is a HUGE corporation … several hundred thousand employees (if memory serves). There was simply no way an employee could be knowledgeable about the various operations in different states. So one often gets the answer that “seems” right to the employee. Example: We once asked a CT branch manager where we could find a BofA ATM near New Orleans. “Oh, there are several right in New Orleans.” Can you give us the address of one? Checking, checking … “Um, it seems we don’t have any ATMs in New Orleans.” Well where would be the closest BofA ATM? “The computer doesn’t keep that information unfortunately. Perhaps you could call the Help Line. Can I get you their number?”</p>
<p>NewHope, I agree that it’s unrealistic to expect every bank employee to know everything bank-related in every possible location. As to ATM locations, it took me about 30 seconds to find the locations of BOA ATMs in LA. There are locations in 15 LA towns/cities.</p>
<p>Newhope, I also agree it is unreasonable for the bank employees to know all the information. In my situations, I was asking the bank folks at my local B of A offices for information…then went to the number provided to me by the bank itself on their letter. Seems to me someone there should have had straighter info than the very last person…why would that ONE person have information that was supposedly a system wide change in fee structure (because B of A had bought out my bank…Fleet…don’t get me going about Fleet…they weren’t a walk in the park either).</p>
<p>In my experience…sample of two (my husband and me)…the larger the bank and the more corporate or large commercial accounts they hold, the less they seem to care about the little guys like us who simply have things like savings and checking accounts. WE do not pay their bills…we get it…and that is why our sample of two has moved to a local bank and a credit union.</p>
<p>“As to ATM locations, it took me about 30 seconds to find the locations of BOA ATMs in LA. There are locations in 15 LA towns/cities.” </p>
<p>A very coy answer alwaysamom. I love your sense of humor! Certainly a national bank with ATMs in 15 Louisiana towns would have an ATM in New Orleans, right? Um … no. So, here’s a question for all you out-of-state visitors … if you were in New Orleans and needed a BofA ATM, which of the following towns (with ATMs) would be closest: Abbeville, Crowley, Houma, Jennings, Opeousas, or Rayne?</p>
<p>Debit cards are convenient for college kids. You can only spend what you have in the acct. You can easily transfer $ from savings to checking/debit for use. Also, when you use the debit card you can get cash back at many places. That adds to convenience too as not all kids have access to local bank branches.</p>
<p>Also, debit cards=no need for checks. </p>
<p>Most freshmen do not have credit cards and these days it is near impossible for college kids to get a credit card on their own without income. </p>
<p>Both my kids have BOA near campus so they opened BOA accts for college. I will likely not continue the accts there. They can get debit cards anywhere. Both have Credit Union accts for savings so they can get debit cards there. (I like that they have no access to this “savings” acct and the savings increase well over the years.</p>
<p>How many parents would let their child have credit cards without money to pay them off. Credit lines increase, kids owe $, etc. We get the kids CC bills and know exactly what they are spending money on and how much they charge. </p>
<p>By the way, S1 got first credit card (his name only, no cosigner needed) at BOA, no income and 0$ as his money is in another bank. Just had debit card we deposit $ into. They granted him a credit card. S2, two years later, denied CC. Had to have husband on card. </p>
<p>I thought BOA was charging non-students fees to use teller services now also.</p>
<p>NewHope, I’m not sure why you’ve reacted in that way to my post. Coy and humorous? I was responding to your asking the bank employee where the closest ATM would be to N.O. and them suggesting you call a help line. My point was that the bank employee could have located the information online very quickly. I wasn’t attempting to be humorous.</p>
<p>Has something changed? I had a kid who did not have overdraft protection…and was using his Debit card for point of use purchases…and racked up some huge fees (which the bank DID adjust given the circumstances). Be very careful…</p>
<p>I also agree that it’s not possible for every B of A employee to know the answer to every question. Does that mean it’s OK for them to just make stuff up?</p>
<p>If you are using a debit card and don’t have overdraft, your bank can charge you for overdrafts…using the card with insufficient funds…unless something has changed! The money is immediately taken from your account. If you don’t have enough there…the bank charges you a hefty amount for each overdraw.</p>
<p>B of A settled a class action lawsuit this summer for their policy of posting the day’s largest charge first, so that they could charge overdraft fees on each one of the other smaller charges as well. D got a notice that she was in the class, and at some point is going to get a few bucks.</p>
<p>alwaysamom - Sorry. I was guilty of treating your response the same way I respond to exchanges I have with BofA representatives. The comment appeared coy and humorous to me because, like my experiences with BofA, it was data-rich and information poor. I apologize if my response was offensive. </p>
<p>Yes, BofA lists “Locations of branches and ATMs” in Louisiana. Do they actually have any branches in the state. No. They do have ATMs, principally located in Valero facilities. Can one make a withdrawal? Yes. Deposit? No. Transfer funds? Unknown. Is it reasonable to ask a customer to make an 85-mile round trip from New Orleans to Houma to find out?</p>
<p>Still, I’m pulling for BofA to pull itself out of its current situation. We don’t need less national banks. And it’s not like Citibank and Chase Morgan are paragons of customer service either.</p>
<p>re: the overdraft fees after the laws changed, ALL banks worked like crazy to get people to opt-in. From our little 2-branch bank to Chase, to BofA, they all talked about not losing the safety and convenience. Links were available to click during online banking, it was a required question for all tellers to ask, etc. Your DS might have opted in without thinking of the consequences.
It drove the tellers crazy at out local branch when we kept declining.</p>
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