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<p>I’m pulling for B of A to be broken up and regulated much more closely, along with the others. For me, the big issue isn’t so much customer services, although heaven knows, B of A doesn’t exactly shine in that department.</p>
<p>The issue is that these banks have gotten even more powerful than they were before the meltdown. And remember “too big to fail”? They BIGGER – and more dangerous – now than they were in 2008.</p>
<p>^ Don’t worry LasMa. Big banks will be a lot less dangerous once Dodd-Frank is repealed … at least that’s what bank lobbyists suggest.</p>
<p>My husband was chatting to our credit union the other day (suggesting they should offer HSA accounts as I would much rather have mine with them if they start offering them), and they said they have been getting a ton of phone calls from BOA customers considering changing to the CU.</p>
<p>If you opted for overdraft protection…can you OPT OUT?</p>
<p>The BOA student debit cards are linked to a small savings acct there to be used for overdraft protection. Don’t remember if there is a fee or not though.</p>
<p>The kids do not overdraft as they can see what they spend on debit immediately on the website. They never get so low in the acct that they would overdraft. They both have credit cards to use when they need/want to. (Yes, we pay the CC bills and add money to their debit accts as needed. nice grandma also sends all the grandkids checks several, or more times a semester to use as spending money.) As we like to say, “It’s good to be them.”</p>
<p>Son doesn’t have a B of A savings account anymore. He closed THAT when they started to charge him an “inactivity” fee each month.</p>
<p>Here ya go, thumper. Scroll down to the instructions on how to opt out at BOA. [Just</a> Say No to Overdraft Fees: How to “Opt-Out” | MyBankTracker.com](<a href=“http://www.mybanktracker.com/bank-news/2009/10/19/just-say-no-to-overdraft-fees-how-to-“opt-out”/]Just”>http://www.mybanktracker.com/bank-news/2009/10/19/just-say-no-to-overdraft-fees-how-to-“opt-out”/) Warning-- this requires a call to customer-no-service. Good luck gettign a human on the phone. Try [Phone</a> Numbers, Shortcuts, Reviews & Customer Tips - Companies Worldwide - GetHuman.com](<a href=“http://www.gethuman.com%5DPhone”>http://www.gethuman.com) for how to navigate that.</p>
<p>Funny, I have no problem to speak to a human on the phone with BOA. Perhaps its CAlifornia?</p>
<p>How many options (prompts) did you have to go through to get a live person?</p>
<p>Where WAS the live person? In CA? Probably not unless you happened to have the number of your local branch. </p>
<p>I’ll have my son go into the B of A branch and find out if he opted out…maybe he already did.</p>
<p>Well, I don;t remember how many layers of prompts I went through, but I think I did not go through many. The advisor came on line to varify me and then I can talk. No hoops to jump through. I call the number on the statement though.</p>
<p>I fyou are an Advantage customer, you have a different number than the other customers. Private bank customers don’t even get a directory menu, just a regular person.</p>
<p>And there are still people from California on the line. California, Florida are both still states with call centers. The chat is in California, Phillipines and India among other places.</p>
<p>Ahhhh… the secret handshake!</p>
<p>Interesting. The “customer service” folks I spoke to were in Georgia, Deleware, Charlotte. And once I found the phone number for the B of A local office…with them (had a business card with the local number on it). Once I got the “secret inside number with a person’s name”, my issues were resolved more quickly. BUT it took a lot of calls including one where a supervisor in the credit card division named Adam actually hung up on me.</p>
<p>I spent HOURS, however, on hold. Hours. I actually was afraid to hang up because I didn’t want to get out of the queue. I actually wrote down the amounts of time I spent on hold. One day…over three HOURS for one call.</p>
<p>A friend posted this on their facebook page the other day-- it is quite a propos [Hilarious</a> Message from Bank of America - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>That was hilarious Jym…well worth the minute or two (so glad that Youtube links like this one can now be posted here).</p>
<p>So I went to the credit union Saturday around lunchtime, to ask about the logistics of making the switch, and the place was mobbed. I asked a rep, “Are all of these people from B of A?” He grinned and said, “Probably most of them.”</p>
<p>Tutu Taxi - I was told basically same thing. Two things to note. Bank does have to give notice of change and will not necessarily roll out on Jan 1 (at least here). Also will still honor old accounts. Both my girls have Campus Edge accounts which are student accounts with 5 year no fees. They will not be charges debit fee or fees for using tellers (like new eChecking which seems to be new entry account). However when 5 years is up (oldest in 2013), accounts will convert, but that does give some time for things to shake out. Main reason we won’t move now is too many linked accounts that it is easy to transfer money around. Also, I suspect other banks will add fees and oldest is at small school OOS where her choice is either another big bank or small local banks</p>
<p>If you are in the east [TD</a> Bank](<a href=“http://www.multivu.com/mnr/52947-td-bank-offers-no-monthly-fee-for-debit-card-purchases]TD”>http://www.multivu.com/mnr/52947-td-bank-offers-no-monthly-fee-for-debit-card-purchases) promises to keep it’s debit cards instant and free.</p>
<p>Seems like my “ho-hum, I’ll worry about it if and when Bank of America actually tries to charge me anything” attitude is paying off:
[Bank</a> of America may soften policy on $5 debit card fee - Oct. 28, 2011](<a href=“http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/28/news/companies/bofa_debit_card_fees/]Bank”>Bank of America may soften policy on $5 debit card fee - Oct. 28, 2011)</p>
<p>Good thing I didn’t bother to mention the whole debit card thing to my daughter. I know she has a B/A credit card (the one they accidentally issued her when she was age 8) and I’m pretty sure she has direct deposit of her pay check. </p>
<p>It’s a rather old and hackneyed marketing gimmick to raise prices on goods and services in order to get the sales benefit of then being able to offer new “discounts”.</p>