*claps*

That's a brilliant complaint letter right there. I'm just sorry B of A will totally ignore it. How dare you not go away with a pat on the head? /sarcasm

Amy,

FWIW, this might be an effective venue for your complaint:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_America_controversies

Excellent letter. However, I fear nothing will be done by Bank of America until the cost of fixing this to your satisfaction is less than the potential cost of ignoring it.

Meaning: that so long as this is limited to your angry letters and your blog, probably not much will happen. They get angry letters every day. Most probably nastier than yours. As for blogs, a quick Google blog search of "bank of america"+hate yields 10,935 results. Sadly, your blog posts are just one more voice in a chorus.

However, if you can somehow get this story to a much wider audience, and get some serious negative publicity (complete with the names of all B of A individuals that have refused to help you), you have a decent shot at getting what you want. If B of A starts to believe that they're getting negative regional or national exposure because of this story, they may become more agreeable to your requests.

And naming names within Bank of America helps. No one wants to be on the receiving end of a phone call from a reporter wanting to know why they've screwed over a customer. These types of calls tend to get internal attention very quickly.

In the meantime (or perhaps to facilitate this), your readers should keep pushing this story on Digg, and those of us with blogs should post about your troubles and link back to you.

Wow, here's another site with BofA complaints:

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/bofa.html

When I first moved to this small town in Arizona, I opened an account at B of A, but kept my credit union account, with the thought that I'd close out the credit union account if B of A worked out. Well, it only took me a few months to realize the B of A fees were outrageous, so I closed that account instead. I love my credit union, and it's well worth the round trip drive of 220 miles if I have to do business in person, which I seldom do. I was with another credit union when I lived in NJ, and loved that one also. They treat you like family. I don't think I'd go with a bank again.

I actually have a letter a guy named Ben wrote and is sending to Kenneth D. Lewis at Bank of America, which I'll post after I'm off deadline. Anybody have his e-mail address or the name or e-mail address of his assistant(s)?

Howsabout one of his home addresses?

Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth D. Lewis
7517 Marracraft Farms Lane, Apt. 9-D
Charlotte, NC 28211

I can't believe that they are "firing you", and that they lied to you about opening up a case and "taking care" of your identity theft. This entire thing has been a mass of stupidity, but each post you make paints a clearer picture of how incompetent B of A has been.

Amy, dumb question but since the fraud occurred in Texas how would LA PD be involved. I can see them involved towards the end but not during the initial investigation. Now I'm the last one to defend Bank of America but you hampered any investigation they could have had. The best way to catch someone is if they don't know your looking for them. This wretched wench now knows that they are on to her as a simple Google search would reveal that you have reported everything to BOA. Fairly standard practice for identity theft is to do a regular Google search on your new identity. So she just changes out the ID and the whole thing starts all over again. One reason they don't want to give you the ID information is that if you went and confronted her personally (some thing I'm pretty certain you would do) and got capped they could be held liable.

Now this does not justify them tossing you as a customer. Nor does this garuntee (sp) that had you done nothing that they would have followed up on it.

Amy,
Have you given thought to casting about for an attorney willing to file a pro bono 'breach of faith' suit (as you describe it it's a slam dunk case) against B of A???
The odds of winning are probably not good, other than to recover your losses and costs incurred in a settlement, with perhaps a token award for your aggravation...
But the satisfaction of whacking their weewee in court!!!
GR

You have to make the police report where you live, which is why I made it in Los Angeles. This only got picked out of the pile of the hundreds and hundreds of such reports they're getting (daily or weekly, I'm not sure which) because I called and schmoozed, and let them know it's probably more solvable because of the kind of victim I am (extremely conservative with personal data...consider checks risky instruments, froze my credit bureau accounts in 2005, don't give out personal information like most people do, etc.)

From my research, it seems very possible that the breach came out of my branch of BofA when I went in to put money in my IRA April 2, and was asked to update my driver's license.

My auto insurer does not have access to my SS# or bank account number. The DMV does not have my bank account number. The Franchise Tax Board does not have my driver's license number. Bank of America has all the information, and all in one place, and perhaps it's a coincidence, but this fraud started right after I put my IRA deposit in.

Oh, and guess what? In yet another one of their fuckups, I went to put it in on April 2, and they didn't manage to get it into my account in this tax year...despite my doing it well in advance of tax day because I thought I would make it easier on me, them, and all the people in a panic on April 13 and 14.

Amy, I see a lot of mention of e-mail. You really need to send them some snail mail, registered, etc., from a pal of yours with "Esquire" on the header.

Nobody believes e-mail. It gets deleted. And the first lawyer BofA sees will signal them that this will cost them.

I agree with Radwaste. And Amy, I am so sorry you have had to go through this crap.

I will never be a Bank of America customer because of this post. IF anything, this e-mail needs to be spread around.

That's great to hear -- and please spread the e-mail. And Digg it.

Radwaste is totally right. I have occasionally used my "Esquire" for friends in this way when they had a truly righteous complaint (as you do). Businesses definitely pay more attention to snail mail (especially if certified or registered, so that you can prove they got it), and they are scared shitless of lawyers. Let a lawyer friend do a good deed and help you out!

Amy,
I've refrained form saying this ... but the "spread it around" just left you FAR too wide open: your dealings with BofA are entirely TOO reminiscent of my dealings with TAGOS... ie Dep't of Child Support Enforcement.
And fathers across the country have been "spreading it around" for how long now?
In my case Texas DCSE screwed the poodle big time, and even though I called them and spent many long hours on the phone (my dime) with everybody and anybody up to and including the Ass't Dir of Tx DCSE... it STILL took a lawyer and $23,000.00 to straighten out the mess.
My ex falsely accused me of not paying Child Support on my daughter.
Texas summarily (and without bothering to check the decree) assessed me in arrears, suspended my DL, slapped a lien on my proerpty on Lake Medina and sent me a bill for a freckle under $60,000.00.
The irony?
In that oh so sacred document called a decree there was NO MENTION of child support owed from anyobdy to anybody... and my daughter was in fact in my care and court ordered custody and actually living with me (and had been since she was 2) at the time.
Read that to mean... they gleefully obliged my ex-wifes petty vindictiveness to the fullest extent of their laws... with no motivation whatsoever to turn their bureacratic brains on and *DOH!* think.
Oh I eventually got it straigtened out, to the degree that I was able to (they never really did close the matter, merely declined to pursue it further) and I thought it odd they made no mention of imputing my ex-wifes earning ability and ordering her to pay me child support (but then, neither did the Judge when I petitioned for and won custody).
At any rate, the summer after I finally resolved the CS issue, my ex-wife kidnapped my daughter by refusing to return her subsequent to summer visitation.
Yet again TAGOS prominantly displayed their anti-father gender bias by electing to not involve themselves to enforce the custody order.
That was 2004, I've seen my daughter for a cumulative composite total of maybe 45 minutes since then... and truthfully I don't expect to see her again until her 18th birthday.
The point is Amy... your Joust with BofA is in many regards tragicly similar to what fathers face when dealing with corrupt family courts and state agencies across America.
I wish you the very best of luck... but I'm quite certain you'll find the only way you're ever going to really get anything in the way of resolution is to involve a good lawyer.
Gunner Retired

Amy, perhaps I missed something - but have you written formal letters of complaint to the attorneys general of California and whatever state BofA is incorporated in?

I went through agonies with a credit card company that ignored my letters of complaint entirely until I sent formal complaints to the state attorney general and included a cc: to my lawyer.

Within a week, they were much more cooperative.

It's all on my list, and I'll get to all of it. The problem is, I have a book due August 1 -- it's going to be late -- and now I've just got so much on my plate because of the way BofA left me unprotected. I have to write the credit bureaus about each application for credit in my name and have them each taken off my credit bureau accounts, just for one example, and every day there's something new...in addition to needing to track down the perps with fake ID in my name, which could leave me open to criminal charges if they commit further crimes and use my ID.

The cool thing is, I just found an e-mail address on Consumerist for Kenneth D. Lewis, the chairman of the bank, along with a bunch of other people. And I'm proceeding on fronts I'm not mentioning here, lest these jerks be reading my blog (I bet their not, though -- they arrogantly think I'll just go away, and I'm not to be fretted about).

Meanwhile, I'm under a lot of stress from this. I wake up in the middle of the night several times a week, worried about whether the thief has my PIN or whether Kaiser is going to remove the black mark (for non-payment after their direct deduction didn't go through because of the emergency change of account numbers), and more and more. This is getting to me, and I'm trying to fight it so it doesn't affect my writing or my spirit.

I hate these people for leaving me and other customers so utterly unprotected, and for their arrogant response in the face of my complaints.

Amy, Way too much ranting and not enough constructive action.....you keep going around about BOA but I know for a fact that if you follow through on the initial investigation of fraudulent activity and do your due diligence in following instructions you will be okay...it is a lot of leg work but it is due to the illegal activity not the bank...this is so common today that people must be one up on the crooks and to make an enemy of the bank with your ranting will get you no where soon......

I manage the lives of HNWI, some of which are with BoA. When I did the bank reconciliation for one of them in May, it turned our that a $50k check we had deposited early in the month had never been credited to my client's account. Do you think BoA apologized for this oversight? Nope. We had to go through the whole nine yard drill of showing them the bank deposit, a copy of the original check, etc. When BoA realized they had made a mistake, do you think they apologized? Nope again. This despite my client's multi-million banking with them. And this is only one of many examples of appalling BoA's practices.

As a business manager, I find BoA to be a caricature of bad customer management. That people still bother to bank with them baffles me. I successfully got a high-profile NGO to move all their accounts from BoA to a smaller, more responsible, more customer-friendly financial institution. I wished my other BoA clients would do the same, it would save me a lot of headaches, and them a lot of money.

On a different note: I have been following your BoA soap-drama-fallout for a while. My question is, when are you going to go legal against them? You have enough of a case, and you have been complaining enough through this blog, leading you to be fired by them. Enough with arguing and negotiating. Go jugular. That's the only language they understand.

There's action, mich...just not reporting all of it here -- can't.

And see just below yours, Go Legal's comment. Time and time again, I hear of Bank of America behaving just reprehensibly.

This is such justice for your being such a raving bitch. What goes around comes around, sucker!

Hmm, "Bruce" in Saint-maur-des-fossés, France. And you find me a "raving bitch." Do we know each other? Did I deny you a date or something? Do tell me why you find me such a "raving bitch."

I find people who wish other people ill particularly creepy. There are people who have wronged me (and I'm not talking about businesses like this). I don't want them to get cancer or be hit by a bus; I'd just like them to go away.

P.S. Bruce, dear, this isn't just happening to me, but to many, many people. I talked to this poor woman in San Francisco late last week who had a similar experience. Should we assume she, too, is a "raving bitch"? Or is it more likely that Bank of America is very lax in their security when it comes to making withdrawals at a teller window?

Do give a last name, brave Bruce, so we can figure out how I've wronged you.

Amy-
Be careful what you put in writing.

I wrote a letter a few years back about an old church that burned down; the thing is, it was owned by a property developer and planning permission to develop was hard to get. I didn't actually accuse anyone of anything. I just said it was important to avoid the appearance of impropriety. That was enough for him to start a defamation of character suit, which in the UK has no limit of liability. His opening demand was £50k damages, but I ended up only £1k out of pocket - plus a lot of sleepless nights.

The message is, I think, to restrict yourself to statements of verifiable objective fact, or statements of your feelings. I am now careful when I write anything sensitive, to put the caveat in the same sentence. That way it is harder to be quoted out of context!

Good luck, girl.

Our laws in the U.S. are simply the best when it comes to freedom of speech and related issues. I am careful not to libel or slander anyone by being truthful about what I say -- it goes with my job, and with my personal integrity. In the USA, truth is a defense. I don't even want to publish my book in England because of your fucked libel laws.

I have plenty of sleepless nights -- couldn't go to bed last night, in fact, and that's a rare thing for me. I've always slept well -- until recently...with waking up in the middle of the night, worried, and not being able to go to sleep because I'm worried about switching banks. As I was last night.

Hey Bruce! You got called out - what'sa matter, cat got your tongue? Or, more likely, Amy got it right and you're a spurned jackass, stepping on your own dick. Grow a backbone where your wishbone is, sucker, and man up.

Amy, hang in there. It'll all work out, and then you'll be laughing all the way to the (new) bank!

I was dismayed when BoA bought out MBNA. I was very happy with my MBNA credit card. The 3 or 4 times in 12 years I was late witha payment was always due to extreme circumstances (kid in hospital 3+ weeks, etc) and every time, I called afetr the fact and explained why paying my bill hadn't been high on thr priority list, and every time they waived all fees. What do you think the odds of that continuing to happen now are? I really hate to get rid of that card though, I've had it a long time. Guess I'll just stop using it.

momof3 - I hear you. I had a credit card from a small bank that was bought by a bigger bank that was bought by Citicorp. I'm sometimes disorganized, and would forget to send a payment - no excuse like a sick kid, I'm just absentminded.

My solution was to pay enough on the card to cover 3-4 months of expected charges in advance. No problem, right? Well, once Citibank got their hands on the card, they started a new policy: it is not *possible* to have a positive balance. If you do, they cut a check and send it back to you - and there is nothing you can do to stop it. They *want* those late fees.

Huge companies are run by bean-counters who want to maximize profit. They are so isolated from the customers that customer satisfaction isn't even on their radar.

I don't even want to publish my book in England because of your fucked libel laws.

Norman, I have to agree with Amy that this is one area where Americans can be justifiably condescending to Europeans. Your libel laws are fucked.

A couple of years ago I had a conversation with a German guy where we agreed on some political topic and he asked why we allowed people to promote the opposite view. (I don't remember what it was.) I said that while I strongly opposed their views, I also strongly supported their right to express those views and that I thought most Americans felt the same way. He looked at me like I was crazy.

Oh, geez, I'm so screwed. BoA just bought out my regional bank. Time to start shopping around.

Good luck finding a new bank, Amy. I have been following your story, and the real icing on the cake is that they "fired" you as a customer. Incredible. I would be much less restrained than you in my communications with those SOBs.

But, really, stop with the sleepless nights and make getting a new bank your top priority. I have an account with a teeny credit union, and another with USAA, a national bank. I'm not sure if they have actual physical branches, as I got that account just to do overseas, online banking. But I have zero complaints, and can visit a non-USAA ATM like 10 times a month before any charges show up. Being overseas, I also call them on the phone from time to time, and find them to be excellent in the customer service department. I also send them checks from overseas with no problems.

But, I guess that you want a local branch because you are afraid of online banking? Haven't had any bad experiences myself, (touch wood), but maybe you are wise. Then again, with no branches, they won't be giving out your money to toothless black women with a fake ID.

Amy, I've worked as a senior banking officer for a major commercial bank for many years (over 30) and I can tell you that a personal letter directed to the Bank's President will be read (not by him) and you will receive a researched reply from a senior executive outlining their stance in this matter. BofA is a National bank and as such is regulated by the Comptroller of the Currency who are sensitive to consumer complaints about them. Direct a letter to that agency outlining specifics and you'll more than likely get a meaningful reply. The FDIC also responds to complaints about its members. You should continue to seek vindication from BofA because they tend to be especially proactive in sending their list of "undesirable" customers to other banks. You could be turned down when you try to open a simple checking account at another LA area financial institution.

Truth is a defense against libel here too. Where I ran into trouble was that I used words that have technical meanings - the word "implies" to be specific - and of course in common language it does not have so precise a meaning. But, in the end, I feel that I "won" even though I had to pay some legal fees.

I don't know what the German story is about. Of course we support people's right to hold and express contrary opinions. Where do you think the US inherited the idea from? "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." -- Voltaire (a French guy, from France, Europe.) 1694-1778.

I wouldn't worry too much about your PIN being stolen. Unless you have it written down or told it to the person who handled your IRA, (and I doubt you did either), you should be fine. The bank I work for does not store PINs. If the client forgets, we can reset the PIN, but we have no way to access the current PIN. However, I do not work for Bank of America, so maybe they have a way they can access them.

I agree with Rojak, but I'd go further. Contact the OCC, the FDIC, your state banking office, and the Federal Reserve. The banks pay attention to them. As for written complaint letters to the bank, we have a department that works on them, but the ones that have been written to the regulators definitely take precedence.

You should continue to seek vindication from BofA because they tend to be especially proactive in sending their list of "undesirable" customers to other banks. You could be turned down when you try to open a simple checking account at another LA area financial institution.

If I find that they do that, based on my having a legit complaint against them for their stunning failure in their fiduciary duty to me...!

And slowly but surely, I'm doing all of this. I have to get letters out to BofA tomorrow, and I will report them to everybody, and clear up my credit reports of the applications for credit in my name from the thieves, and probably change to the community bank where they were really nice to me on the phone.

Furthermore, I wrote to bank prez Kenneth D. Lewis - got his address off Consumerist last night -- and sent him the above e-mail accompanied by one expressing my shock at the way I'm being treated. After all, I followed through on my obligations to them for about 20 years, and only got testy after this disgusting series of incidents.

Amy,

I've been meaning to close my B of A checking and savings accounts for about 6 months, but haven't gotten around to it because of laziness. My reasons are different than yours, but because of your debacle, I went down there today and closed them. I didn't mention your name, because it seemed weird. I'm just an early-20's kid closing her accounts and getting a cumulative, measly $15 back, but, they're closed.

I did mention to B of A that my 2 credit unions are awesome. Someone above mentioned USAA. I have them, too. All the ATM's (ones owned by other banks, USAA doesn't have their own) are free, they have great IRA and money market plans for even dummies like me to stick to, and my parents use their car insurance, which means I do, too.

I love USAA. I hope there's an awesome bank/credit union near you.

And just a heads up for everyone, just remember those "security questions" B of A asks of you....mothers maiden name, birth date, etc. are all public information. If someone calls your bank and answers the questions they will be allowed access to your account. This happened to me when someone requested a copy of a check I wrote and the rest is history! I later found out the person who did this to me was my own mother. Needless to say she had my birth date and social security number. So call your banks and financial institutions and request your "security questions" be changed to something more secure. Needless to say, I don't bank there anymore!!

I've also had problems with Bank of America since they took over Fleet/BankBoston/Baybank (whatever the order was). With me it has been stupid small stuff. I'm considering changing, but don't know who to change to.

I vote for a small community bank with personal service where they care about the customers. If you're in LA (sounds like you're not) First Federal of California seems good.

I now have a form letter, which I enclose in every postage-paid envelope BofA sends me in their junk mail project. It says on both sides that I would never open an account with them, in a couple of ways.

Maybe - just maybe - I can get one of their own employees to put their money elsewhere.

Going to post a letter a commenter wrote to BofA -- complete with the address and e-mail address of their chairman. Should do it tomorrow. Been so overwhelmed because of the BofA thing...ruined my writing day on Wednesday, had to get more on my book done today.