Pretty soon people may be better off keeping their money under their mattress at home.

You can count me in the "Bank of America SUCKS" crowd. NOTHING but headaches from that institution. Needless to say, I don't bank with them any more and never will again.

My biggest problem with them is that any requests and complaints literally seemed to fall into a black hole, never to be heard from again.

Back in 1999, I tried to cancel one of their credit cards over the phone, and in writing. Two years after I moved, thinking it was cancelled, they'd mailed a new card to my old address. Sure enough, someone went and had a shopping spree at Home Depot to the tune of $1100. That was a fun mess to clean up.

That whole "It's too expensive to hook up all our computers" is just bullshit anyway. They could do a deal with Google or Amazon or some other widely distributed information company, put all of their customer information in a secure web site (and I mean secure, like requiring VPN connections to see it. I'm not a security expert, perhaps there are better ways) and just use a browser to check on things.

I can buy things from Amazon, Musician's Friend, eBay, etc. from anywhere in the world. You can't see my customer information because we're standing in Connecticut? Bullcrap.

Smart business move from BOA's point of view. They get out from under the thumb of the TARP, and since they raised new equity they are now financially viable to get a loan from the FED to make up the difference.

But I do have to ask what's the problem from Amy's point of view? I mean I doubt she would consider the idea of letting congressmen run private banks, in exchange for funds loaned a good idea. If TARP was a bad idea then banks paying back the funds, and getting out of the program should be a good thing.

You can argue that TARP was a bad idea in the first place, but; it's not like there is anything that we can do about that now. Also while it's true that the taxpayers are liable for any loans the FED makes to banks; those loans are backed by T-bills. So it's not likely that anyone will take a loss in the event of a default on that loan. Not to mention that the government is ultimately liable for bank defaults since it backs FDIC anyway. Bank failures have much higher implicit or explicit costs on taxpayers then any loan defaults. So it makes sense to have a lender of last resort, at the end of the day it's simply less costly.

I don't mean to be a contrarian, but; taxpayers will always be on the hook as long as we have the Federal Reserve, and the FDIC. But if we get rid of this institutions taxpayers will pay a lot more in the form of lost economic output, due to longer and deeper depressions and recessions.

I ditched BofA 10 years ago or more. I can't believe their branches aren't linked via network, WTF? Amy - try Chase or Wells Fargo.

When BoA acquired Countrywide they got our mortgage. I marched straight down to our local small bank and refinanced, as I didn't want anything to do with BoA. I also called BoA told them I was not going to be a customer. I referred them to your blog. It was a Very Satisfying phone call.

I thought I'd let you know that I did close my checking account with bofa, in part due to your experience. Then they bought my mortgage and reeled me back in.

Some immigration hawks call it Banco de las Americas, due to its practice of effectively giving credit cards to illegal aliens.

More on El banco

And more.

And I'm betting, with enough Search Engine action, I could go on...

Based on what I saw as a techie at a Bank (not BoA), I am not all that surprized that when companies where purchased or merged, the tech systems were not fully merged. It can be very expensive to switch over a system. Often times they are written for slightly to different legal rules that have to be accounted for. The first time that I was almost laided was because of this. The boards had promised huge savings when the companies merged, but they completely underbudgeted conversion time and cost. Cost by factor of 10x and time by a factor of 3x. They had to get those savings some place so why not dump employees?

My wife and I, Bank of America customers, suffered several identity thefts in 2004 and 2005.

Someone obtained my wife's birthdate and drivers license number from a check she wrote at a store, and uses this to drain our accounts buying prepaid cell phones, prepaid debit cards and prepaid travel vouchers.

Our BA experience was very good. They immediately made good our losses, although I bounced some important checks in the interim. They eventually refunded the returned check fees.

I reported these theft to three police departments
based on locations of fraudulent purchases. None of the the police departments took any action. My local police department told me that they don't investigate nonviolent property crimes and in any case, cell phone companies rarely cooperate with police.

I located the vice-president of one of the prepaid debit card companies, in Oklahoma, through SEC filings and left a voicemail message asking for his help. I said I was planning to report this theft to the FBI in Los Angeles.

He promptly called back, and put me in touch with his security chief. They put a hold on the outstanding prepaid card. Hours later a person called from Memphis complaining their debit card didn't work. The company told the caller to report to a Memphis bank the following day and they'd replace the card. Police were waiting and arrested the caller.

Now awaiting trial in Memphis on Federal charges is Demond Kevin Jones, case number 2006R00419.

About a year later, Bank of America wrote us to say that Bank employee had been leaking customer information to outside parties and apologized.
The Bank also offered us an identity theft protection plan for a monthly fee.

I have nothing good to say about Bank of America, but I really despise Goldman Sachs. Someone in the blogosphere needs to take them on.

May 28, 2013

To whom it may concern,
My name is Greg Coy and I am a reporter with FOX 13 in Memphis, TN. I am trying to get contact with Mike, who posted a comment on Dec. 12, 2009 at 10:22 AM. I am researching a story for broadcast about Demond Kevin Jones, case number #2006R00419. Please contact me if you can at greg.coy@foxtv.com
Sincerely,
Greg Coy