I’m a Bank of America Customer, and I’m P*ssed Off

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Bank of America

Important Information Enclosed: I’m a Bank of America Customer, and I’m P*ssed Off

I know that the housing market has crashed.

I know that the citizens of this great nation are struggling with debt, unemployment and foreclosure.

I feel for those who must navigate the bureacratic hurdles to staying afloat in an environment where perhaps the most hopeful financial prospect for us is the lesser among a series of evils.

I’m willing to accept that my own decisions have left something to be desired, from my choice of houses (for reasons of location and condition) to my choice of spouses (oy vey!), which had led me to pay as much for this house as I would have paid for the completely updated home that was my first choice, to my choice to spend much of my savings on home improvements to “help the house sell” in a market where the only thing that will “help a house sell” is some serious prayer. And a second coming. On the front lawn.

This left me more than happy to accept a family loan to pay off my mortgage so that I could save the interest on the Bank of America loan while I wait for that much-anticipated second coming. I’ve been waiting for six months already, so it should be any day now. (Granted, if my house does sell, it will be at a loss, and that’s before factoring in the tens of thousands spent on improvements, but no bother.)

As it turns out, giving a bank your money is more difficult than one would think. I first waited several days for my local bank (well, the bank that took over my local bank after it failed) to clear the check from my family.

As I wanted to confirm that the check had cleared, I then spent about three days trying to remember my login information for the failed bank which apparently is continuing to maintain online records until they are transferred to the new bank, which already has my money. (Following? Me neither.) None of my prior login IDs or passwords fit this bank’s particular specifications of letters, numbers and special characters, and that’s saying something. The bank didn’t have a “forgot your password” link, but they did provide a number which went to the new bank which referred me to a number for the old bank which was in fact the new bank. (Huh?) Anyway, I finally went to the local branch and had them reset my account. Yay!

It is with this background that I excitedly logged into the Bank of America website to process my final and complete payment for the mortgage. As it turns out, online payments are limited to $5,000. (D’oh!)

I called Bank of America on June 10th, and they notified me that they needed to provide me with a form with the payoff information, which I would then submit with my final payment by mail or at a local branch. Yay!! Sign me up.

They offered to mail the form for free, or fax it…for a $30 fee. Thirty bucks for a fax? No way! Mail it is.

Today, seven days later, I received an envelope from Bank of America. Finally!!! The envelope read: “Important Information Enclosed.” I guess that should have been my first sign that it was nothing of importance. Nonetheless, I opened the envelope with some amount of faith that this was the document that would help me become mortgage-free. (Giving away faith this easily, it’s a wonder that I’m not more religious.)

“Dear [account holder]:

You recently contacted us for loan payoff information, and we want you to know that if you’re thinking about refinancing…we’d like to talk with you as soon as possible. Let us review any terms you may be considering and offer you a second opinion.”

The good news is that Bank of America values me so much that they want to keep me as a customer. The bad news is that their desire to keep me as a customer clearly outweighs their interest in actually serving their customers. It’s one thing to have to wait so long for a form. It’s another to hold hard evidence in my hands that Bank of America had the time to process and send me this advertisement in follow-up to my phone call, but has not yet had the time to actually perform the service requested on my phone call.

Admittedly, this letter hit me at a time when I’m already fed up with customer service, or the lack thereof. And I do understand that Bank of America makes their profit not from the check I’m so anxious to send, but rather from the interest accrued when customers don’t pay off their mortgage. But times are different now–Bank of America only makes a profit from customers who actually make their payments, and increasingly, people simply can’t. In this foreclosure-heavy environment, you’d think that Bank of America would be happy that someone was able to pull through and return them the money due. Apparently not so much.

I just hung up from a 20 minute phone call to Bank of America, in which my soft-spoken self for the first time ever actually told a company that I was, yes, quote: “p*ssed off.” I’m not quite sure who Bank of America serves. Apparently, it isn’t the responsible customer who has paid thousands in interest and is now able to make good on their loan, and I have a hard time believing that it’s the many customers now facing foreclosure and eviction.

I’m fully aware that businesses exist to make money, but I’ve always been able to hold on to the delusion that front-facing customer service representatives might actually be there to, well, service customers. No longer. To me, this story isn’t significant for the money that Bank of America has made on my interest in the time that I’ve spent waiting for their form, as it is for the extent of the disillusionment it has prompted within me. There isn’t even a guise of customer service at this point, and that’s concerning. I’m fine with businesses shaking my hand with a smile while pocketing my money with their other hand, but I’d like to at least get that effort to keep up appearances.

Feel free to share your own “p*ssed off at Bank of America” stories here.

About Post Author

Greenlight

Greenlight is a writer and educator who believes in the best of humanity, but dedicates much time to studying people at their worst.
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John Sorrelo
12 years ago

I’m a slave to these pricks and will be my whole life. I hate them but loved your article because it happens to millions every day.

Uzza
12 years ago

Reading the title of the post, all I could think was “Well, that’s redundant”.

Did you know that it’s really only Bank of Half of America? True fact the eastern and western divisions are almost completely separate, so that moving cross country effectively means starting a new bank account.

It wouldn’t surprise me to find out BoA was an Al Queda affiliate.

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