Bank of America to start charging annual fees across the board

[UncleBuck]

got a letter in the mail today telling me my credit card company would be starting to charge an annual fee (to provide the same services they provided me for years without an annual fee).

i called them up several times to speak with different reps and managers to find out why.

none of the answers made any sense, and every rep and manager had a different reason.

i did their job for them and explained why they were doing so. recent bills passed into law mandated, among other things, that they end their unethical practice of changing the payment date every month, thus leading to less late fees, thus leading them to look for other ways to scalp their customers.

do i blame the government for telling my bank to play nice in the sand box? nope. do i blame the credit card company for throwing a hissy fit after being forced to act ethically? yes i do.

needless to say, i avoided the fee by simply closing my account, as they are not allowed to change the terms and conditions of the contract i entered into without offering an opt out.

i still feel it to be prudent to waste more of their time. i will be continuing to call them so that they are forced to waste their time and money on me. i will also be undermining employee morale in the process, a nice little added bonus.

so heads up to anyone who has a credit card with BoA....you will now start paying an annual fee because they can't deal with being forced to act more ethically.

gotta love big business, eh? who says we give them a nice tax cut?!?

 

[PeachOibleBoiblePeach#1]

Fuck the "Mega",,,Get a credit Union...I Hate Big Banks.

 

[Dan Kone]

They are also freezing assets of california dispensaries and trying to hand them over to the feds. Fuck B of A.

 

[UncleBuck]

They are also freezing assets of california dispensaries and trying to hand them over to the feds. Fuck B of A.

all the more reason for a strategic default.

i called in the other day to start negotiations on a settlement. i have $5,500 or so of debt with them. my hope is to mimic my friend in paying that off at about 25 cents on the dollar.

they told me because i was up to date on my payments, i was not eligible for a settlement.

after today, i am planning on simply not paying them for months and months. credit be damned (my wife has literally millions worth of assets, so credit is not a worry).

after 6-8 months, they will hopefully want to take what they can get out of me. at which time i offer them $1,800 to settle the original debt.

that they are freezing assets in ca for whatever reason just adds a little more fuel to my fire.

their strategy of charging me $59 to do what they have always done has backfired. not only will i not pay the fee, but i also wasted plent of their time and will continue to do so.

i wish every one of their customers did the same thing as i did. they might actually behave like a creditor should, and simply make money by charging interest on the principle i have borrowed.

fargin arseholes!

 

[PeachOibleBoiblePeach#1]

UB,,,Man I alway's agreed with you ,,,Until you stated,,,Millions in asset's,,,If I could I would,,,Would you?

 

[UncleBuck]

Fuck the "Mega",,,Get a credit Union...I Hate Big Banks.

yes, BoA is not alone. these 'customer fucking' measures are in place for all the big banks. thus the reason for switching my checking and savings over to a credit union. best decision i ever made (not really, but it was a good decision).

but still, i have this old credit card and a two others. no such bold moves on the part of the other two (yet), but this has only served as an alarm to watch out for it in the not so distant future.

i don't feel like i should have to explain to my bank how they are supposed to make enough money so that they do not have to also charge us fees and take our taxpayer dollars in addition to doing business with them. if enough americans do the same, perhaps they will learn.

 

[UncleBuck]

UB,,,Man I alway's agreed with you ,,,Until you stated,,,Millions in asset's,,,If I could I would,,,Would you?

those assets are mostly non liquid, so they are off limits.

hell, we got 15k on our wedding and i have not touched a red cent of it. we use it for joint things like our honeymoon and future vacations and emergencies.

 

[PeachOibleBoiblePeach#1]

I Hear ya',,,Good luck,,,and please wish me some too.

 

[UncleBuck]

I Hear ya',,,Good luck,,,and please wish me some too.

may the wind always be at your back, and the sun shine warm in your face - old irish blessing

luck of the irish to you

 

[canndo]

Better be careful, when they find out what you are up to they might arrange to have your house taken and your car. They don't screw around. If I were you I'd just pay their 59 dollars and be glad it isn't more.

Doing what you are doing is too much trouble.

The Bank has always taken a loss on that front and now it has come to a reasonable solution, after all, you do use their card services and you should pay.

We need big business and big banks, you are endangering people's jobs by messing with that bank.

 

[mrmadcow]

all the more reason for a strategic default.
i called in the other day to start negotiations on a settlement. i have $5,500 or so of debt with them. my hope is to mimic my friend in paying that off at about 25 cents on the dollar.
they told me because i was up to date on my payments, i was not eligible for a settlement.
after today, i am planning on simply not paying them for months and months......
they will hopefully want to take what they can get out of me. at which time i offer them $1,800 to settle the original debt.

just a heads up, I played that game a couple yrs ago. by the time they are willing to settle,your $5k will be jacked up to closer to $20k with all the late fees,penalties,surcharges,interest,ect and they will then settle for 25% so you will end up paying close to the 5 grand anyway. add to that,any amount that they "forgive" will have to be declared as income on your taxes next year.
better to pay it off & cancel or move it to another company.

i did their job for them and explained why they were doing so. recent bills passed into law mandated, among other things, that they end their unethical practice of changing the payment date every month, thus leading to less late fees, thus leading them to look for other ways to scalp their customers.

I am no fan of the dirty games banks play & would rather see a fee added up front so i know what to expect but what are you asking for? bankers to loan you money out of the goodness of their heart? no profits? no one is forcing you to do business with them.

 

[NoDrama]

all the more reason for a strategic default.

i called in the other day to start negotiations on a settlement. i have $5,500 or so of debt with them. my hope is to mimic my friend in paying that off at about 25 cents on the dollar.

they told me because i was up to date on my payments, i was not eligible for a settlement.

after today, i am planning on simply not paying them for months and months. credit be damned (my wife has literally millions worth of assets, so credit is not a worry).

after 6-8 months, they will hopefully want to take what they can get out of me. at which time i offer them $1,800 to settle the original debt.

that they are freezing assets in ca for whatever reason just adds a little more fuel to my fire.

their strategy of charging me $59 to do what they have always done has backfired. not only will i not pay the fee, but i also wasted plent of their time and will continue to do so.

i wish every one of their customers did the same thing as i did. they might actually behave like a creditor should, and simply make money by charging interest on the principle i have borrowed.

fargin arseholes!

It is actually easier than that. Send them a letter stating you feel you do not owe them anything and that you want PROOF of your debt, to include a loss on their balance sheet showing the money was given to you. They cannot actually do that, because banks work on fractional reserve, that means they can never show a loss, a loss is a gain in fractional reserve banking. Now what does this have to do with not paying them? Well if they cannot show a loss on their balance sheet, then legally they cannot take a claim out against you(Contract law). Actually they won't even try, they will just send it to a collection agent, who has even less power to collect. You will end up paying nothing. BoA has stolen Trillion$ from Americans, time to take your money back!!

BTW this actually works, I have used it several times for friends who got themselves in hot water with debt. Once the letter was sent, they never heard from the Bank nor collections ever again. I have not used this for myslef, I enjoy my 837 credit score.

Money in a IRA or 401K can never be taken, BY ANYONE OTHER THAN YOURSELF. It will survive bankruptcy, Government confiscation etc etc etc. The only thing it won't do is stop the value from depreciating with the currency. Just another trick to keep your monies safe from others who may have some legal standing to extort money from you.

 

[UncleBuck]

thank you everyone for the information.

i will likely be treading more carefully.

noD, i might just try what you said, if for no other reason than to see how well it works.

 

[Serapis]

NoD, I worked for a bank, a major one, for 8 years in the credit card loss & recovery department... I would have no problem proving the debt on an account.... I have access to your signed register receipts and can provide you with statement copies going back years, along with a copy of your terms of agreement that you agreed to when you first pulled that card out and swiped it...

Please don;t give BS advice, people in debt need real answers, not some BS they read on a forum passed off as fact... Go sit in your local civil court for a day or two and watch the credit card law suits.... the banks nearly always win.... they can prove the debt in most cases.... your idea might work if the debt was sold and is being worked by a recovery company... but it won't deter or stall the bank...

I'm speaking from real life past experience... are you?

 

[UncleBuck]

I am no fan of the dirty games banks play ... but what are you asking for? bankers to loan you money out of the goodness of their heart? no profits? no one is forcing you to do business with them.

no one is forcing me to do business with them, you are right.

but i expect them to make their money by charging interest on what i owe. that was how i understood it to work.

 

[Serapis]

Don't forget the 3.0% that banks and VISA/MC make from every transaction too.... right off of the top..... with new credit card rules in place, merchants encourage the use of debit cards over credit cards to avoid the transaction fee of credit cards...

no one is forcing me to do business with them, you are right.

but i expect them to make their money by charging interest on what i owe. that was how i understood it to work.

 

[mame]

Hm, seems like a lot of these problems could have been avoided if the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was already in place.

 

[UncleBuck]

a surprising lack of tea partiers out here to defend the practices of the free market.

odd. very odd....

 

[NoDrama]

I'm speaking from real life past experience... are you?

What part of "I have used this several times" were you unable to decipher the meaning of?

 

[Total Head]

Don't forget the 3.0% that banks and VISA/MC make from every transaction too.... right off of the top..... with new credit card rules in place, merchants encourage the use of debit cards over credit cards to avoid the transaction fee of credit cards...

which is really just a setup. several major banks have admitted plans to limiting debit transaction amounts so that you have to swipe multiple times, and then charging debit fees on a per-swipe basis. so basically if you have a 100 dollar debit limit and need to make a 500 dollar purchase, you will need to swipe 5 times, incurring a rapefee each time. i hate BoA for reasons not even mentioned on this thread, but i swear every time i watch the news i get more motivated to go completely off the grid.