Encounters with Bank of America

I opened a new checking account with Bank of America as soon as I started working which was sometime mid of 2007. I assumed that my employer was going to do direct deposits of my salary. So I went with a MyAccess Checking which is free if I used it for direct deposits.

3 months went by and everything was fine. End of my 4th month I saw an account fee being charged to my account. When I called up Bank of America they told me that my employer was not doing the ‘direct deposit’. Instead he was doing counter deposits. And that was the reason I was being charged. So I went ahead and changed the account type to Standard Checking which is free if I maintained a minimum balance of $1000 in my account.

On the day before that particular day, my account balance went below $1000 because of the above mentioned account fee. End of that statement period, I was again charged an account fee because of this. When I called again and explained to them about the changes to my account, they refund the deposit. Again this charge had gotten me below $1000. So they told me that I will have to call again once it is charged next month to get the refund. I decided that I was going to leave $1010 in my account to make sure I don’t incur this charge again.

Yesterday was my pay day. I ensured that my salary was deposited and then made a transactions to pay my credit card. When I looked at the account activity today, it was missing the deposited check but the credit card transaction was charged. So this again brought me back to below the minimum balance requirements. Apparently the bank decided to process the check today. I don’t understand how they could show it in yesterday’s activity but then decide to remove the activity.

When I called the bank, they suggested that I talk to my employer to get my salary as a direct deposit. Are you kidding me? My employer would change it just for me? Do they live in the same world as we do? Then I explained to them as to how many times I have called and that I had a mortgage with them. I told them that with all the accounts I have with their bank, the least they could do is give me a free checking account. And I got it.

When we opened the mortgage account with Bank of America, they told us that my account cannot be upgraded to premium unless I maintain a balance of $10,000. I don’t know when they took this rule away. Probably just when I showed them I was disappointed. Along with this free checking account, they also offered me another free checking account, a free MMA account and a free safe deposit box. Haa..Haa..What was I doing all along? I should have done this long back.

The other joke is that she offered me a MMA account with 0.35% interest rate and was claiming that this is way higher than their savings account rate of 0.25%. All I could do was smile. I have an online savings account for an interest rate of 4.5% APY. It felt so good to feel that I wasn’t wasting my money in a Bank of America savings or MMA account.

After I was done with this phone call, I could only think of “The Worst That Can Happen Is They Say No” post by Paid Twice. Crying baby gets the milk.