Everything was going ok for a few more years until it came out that the owner of Bank of America screwed up and mishandled his finances, (our money) and was in big trouble. So much so, he went looking to our government for a handout. So our government bailed them out of their financial mess.
I couldn't believe it! This bank I had trusted for so long, couldn't handle their money? Oh that so does not garner much trust anymore.
But it didn't just stop there with all that was in the media about it. Oh no, the powers that be at Bank of America thought to let their woes and mistakes, filter down. It wasn't enough for the government to bail them out, they wanted to pass this on to their customers. So they contacted me to tell me they were going to change their interest rate that had been guaranteed at 8.5%, to 26.99%! And they were going to change my Visa card interest rate as well! Why? Because they felt they could. Who knows? Or, my theory is that they realized they had loaned out boat loads of money and some of those people were not able to afford to pay it back! So they were in trouble, the bank that is aside from the people. So Bank of America thought to pass on that hardship to me! When I had been not only on time for so many years, but I was paying them a lot more than what I was suppose to pay! And I had several accounts with them! But oh no...I was so not doing this! So I fought them.
I got a notice in the mail about how they were going to change the rate due to the current economic problems and how the economy was so bad, blah blah....all of that really equaled they were going to go back on their promise and word when we struck the deal. I called and said no.
I told them that no, they could not do that as I had a written agreement saying it would always be 8.5% so long as I was not late and I had not been late in all these years and had paid them more than the minimum!! They relented and left me alone. I actually won against a bank, something so unheard of!
I was so angry they would do that to me or attempt it. All good will thoughts were quickly flushed down the drain with this bank who I had been doing business with for over a decade I believe!
It was horrid.
If that wasn't enough, they decided all on their own to lower my line of credit by 13k! This would hurt my credit scores. I was so upset and called them to get it changed back but they flat out refused and stated about how they based their decision on my payment history with them (which was total bs) then said it was because of my other card balances (which were less and less all the time as I was paying them off one by one), another bs line. I wrote to my Senator about it, but of course, that did nothing.
This is the letter I wrote in reply to Bank of America from the one I had received about lowering my line of credit without my permission as well as touching on the other issues I had with them:
Dear Mr. Lewis,
I am writing to you concerning the letter sent
to me and dated 04/21/09 by your Louis A. Green of the Consumer Finance
Dept of Bank of America.
This letter informs me that you will be
lowering my credit line to $40,000.00 from where it was previously of
$53,000.00. Mr. Green states that it was a result of my recent payment
history with you and that I have high balances on existing revolving
credit lines.
I received this letter while I was in Delaware,
taking care of my uncle who was in the hospital for colon cancer. My
husband informed me of this letter. I returned to Texas and promptly
called on Monday, the 1-888 number on the letter to talk with someone
about reconsidering this decision. The woman I spoke to was quite rude
and absolutely refused to even look into my account and flat out refused
to change this decision.
Now I don't even use this line of
credit so it makes no sense why you would do that and now, by doing
this, you are hurting my credit scores and for no other earthly real
reason than you having overextended YOURSELF in purchasing Merrill
Lynch and Country Wide. How fair is that? When will the U.S. Government
or someone else, cut YOUR credit line then because you are too far in
debt?!? I am paying my bills, Mr. Lewis and on time and more than the
minimum and not begging the U.S. Government to bail me out. What's the
difference?
I called again Tuesday morning and asked to speak to
Mr. Green directly and I was informed that no one knows who Mr. Green
is and that there is no Mr. Green and that that name was just put on
there as any old name. He is a fictitious person. So that calls to mind of
how legal this letter and action truly is if the person is not even a
real person? I was also informed that the reasons stated on the
letter as to why the lowering of my credit line are incorrect and
apologies were made however I was told that my credit line was being
lowered to bring it up to speed with other financial institutions. I
informed him that I have not had any other financial institutions do
this to me however so I don't see why you would be? He then asked to
speak to my husband in order to do a review or have my husband call him
to authorize me as a user although I do have a general power of attorney
over my husband. I called my husband who is currently out of state and
he called to authorize me.
So I called back again to request a
review be made to my account. Then I was informed that no, I could not
ask for the review and in fact my husband would have to request it
himself even tho' I am now an authorized user. Apologies were made to me
for the run-around.
I gave my husband the information and he
called to request a review. The return of the credit was denied and
reason stated was that we owe too much on our other cards, despite us
owing alot less than ever and making more money than ever!! He was told
it was "due to the economy being so bad and that that was then and this
is now." He was also told that all the other banking and credit card
agencies were doing the same thing. This is just unacceptable and a load
of crap to be frank. All pure lies. Not every bank is doing this, not
every credit card agency is doing this. For example, since my phone
calls to your bank, I have contacted two banks that are more than happy
to take my business at more favorable terms than your bank has.
Furthermore, unlike your bank in needing to beg the federal government
for bailouts while feeding Congress, the Federal Reserve, and the U.S.
Treasury a pack of lies, these banks were and are prudent lenders who
are financially stable and have not accepted penny one from the
government nor do they need to. We, the people, are not mushrooms, Mr.
Lewis, we will not be kept in the dark and fed a line of horse manure.
Now,
I currently make more money than I have last year and I have
consistently been paying on this particular credit line $1,000.00 per
month which is beyond the $734.00 minimum and I have not once ever been
late. I started out with this line of credit for $53,000, using $51,000 and I now
owe just over $39k. I have not ever used this line of credit nor do I
intend upon doing so as it is a line of credit and not a credit card so I
have no ability to even use it if I wanted to. Everyone at your banking
facility has stated that I have EXCELLENT payment history with you for
this account.
As for the rest of my revolving credit cards, I
have not once, been late on any of them plus, I in fact, owe less than I
have before.
Mr. Lewis, I find this very unfair and unjust of
your financial institution to do this to one of your faithful and loyal
and paying customers of over 6 years. I currently have two checking
accounts, one line of credit and one Visa card with your financial
institution. I will be receiving a commission check of over $5,000.00
this week and I was going to go down to my local branch and open up a
savings account with your bank.
I have now, changed my decision
and I will no longer be doing banking with your institution. I will be
taking my business elsewhere to another bank that will treat me fairly.
Granted, I am but one voice, in reality, I represent 4 voices directly
of my immediate family, my husband, son, and daughter; but know that I
will be telling every friend and family member as well as anyone else I
may meet as well as all my political representatives to no longer do
business with Bank of America and sharing my story with them. As CEO, I
am sure you and the others of the board, do not care about me nor is
this a personal attack, but your willy nilly decisions without any
notice or due cause to alter my financial status and do harm to my
credit scores for absolutely no reason or fault of my own, IS personal
to me and I take great offense to the betrayal of the trust in the
financial relationship we had established over the past 6 years.
This
is but the tip of the iceberg over the past year and frankly, the last
straw of unfair and unjust business practices of Bank of America.
Not
only the above but last year, your employees advised me NOT to file a
police report on a theft of one of my checks out of my mailbox. It was
paying a utility bill but the thief copied my routing number and acct
number and made his own checks with my information and used one in
Walmart for over $1,000.00. Bank of America would NOT stop the pending
action although I had quickly informed them of the theft. Not to
mention holding my money captive for 3 months and told to just ignore
the overdraft charges that would incur due to this. I cringed to watch
this and worried over my credit rating. I found that whole
situation highly unsafe that I could not stop payment on a check before
it cleared on my own account and on top of that being told to NOT file a
police report or get the police involved? Luckily, being the daughter
of a police dispatcher of over 30 years, I knew better and so I filed
that report with law enforcement and followed up with Walmart security
who were able to capture the thief on video as they stopped him from
utilizing another check with my routing and acct numbers on it at their
jewelry counter.
Your on-line banking is also going down the
tubes as it has recently on two separate occurrences, not reflected
cashed checks paid to my credit cards on my on-line statement, although
upon contacting the credit card companies, they inform me that they did
receive the payments on time, no problem. In the meantime, I quickly
sent them another payment when it did not show up on my on-line banking
statement, that I watch very closely, just to be sure.
On top of
all of that, I had also received a notice in the mail recently that you
would be upping my interest rate on the Visa card from 11% to 24.99%.
The reason? Is due to the economy I was informed. That is also very
unfair. I was given a chance to say no to this, however I could no
longer use the card at all or if I did, I would have to pay the 24.99%
interest on it. To more than double it?! Unacceptable. I of course,
declined and I have no problem with not ever using that card as I had no
intentions of using it. In fact, I will be sure and transfer that
balance to another banking institution that is NOT doing what you are.
So that line of 'bringing things up to speed with other financial
institutions' and that 'all the other banks are doing this', is a pure
load of horse manure! You can bet that I will be cutting this card and
closing the account sooner than I had planned before receiving that
letter. And the new card? Is offering me a higher line of credit than
your Visa and with a much lower percentage rate. So much for that lie
your employees are telling the people.
You can bet that as soon as
possible, I will be transferring my Bank of America Visa card's balance
over to another card as soon as I receive my new one with another
banking agency that was already approved.
Your bank Sir, has
gone downhill rapidly. I used to tout Bank of America as being one of
the best banks I have ever done business with. That, is no more. Your
reputation has quickly plummeted to the worst.
I will also be
removing my two checking accounts from Bank of America which will remove
my two direct deposits and I will not be opening up any other accounts
with you. When I receive my $5,000.00 commission check, I will be going
to another bank to deposit it in a brand new savings account and I will
be opening up my checking accounts with them instead. That will leave my
line of credit with you and as soon as I am able, I will be removing
that as well. No longer will you able to utilize my money to overextend
yourself and penalize me for being more financially capable and a better
credit risk than your bank has proven to be.
The money you
are to receive from the Federal Government is suppose to help you loosen
the credit standards for the people but that is NOT what is happening.
You are instead, customer wide, hurting everyone's credit rating by
upsetting the balance of the credit utilization ratio with the credit
bureaus by lowering their limits without just cause nor without any
notice or warning. This is unacceptable.
If I were using that line
of credit and had been late, that would be one thing, but I have not,
not ONE time been late or unable to make a payment and I've paid more
than minimum nearly every single time, check it out! I do not believe
that is right if you offer me a line of credit at a certain amount, you
shouldn't be able to change your mind mid-stream nor all of a
sudden increase an interest rate on my Visa card without any reason or
fault of my own but solely because you overextended yourself. That's not
very fair of a deal. This was meant to help me, not to hold me up to a
punching bag for you to take a shot at simply cause you are having a bad
day or because you can't handle your finances properly. I should not
have to be penalized for your mistakes, nor will I be any longer.
My
apologies if this is all news to you as to what your employees are
saying and doing to try to get the capital together for your bank. I
have never written my U.S. representatives before, but you can bet your
bippie that I am now. I am but one of thousands of voices Mr. Lewis that
have had enough abuse and betrayal of trust with Bank of America.
My mattress is looking better and better all the time.
A
copy of this letter will be sent to every one of my U.S.
representatives from their secure homepages to make sure they know what
is really happening with your bank and what your bank is doing to the
common man.
Frustrated and angry,
And then I signed it with my name.
Bank of Texas offered to take over my line of credit, but I thanked them and said no, I would finish it out because I knew I didn't have much longer and I would pay Bank of America off.
I then heard that Bank of America was going to charge their customers a fee for every time they used their own debit card and I was ever so glad I no longer had a checking account with them.
I couldn't wait to pay them off! I worked diligently to do so....and then, the day came....
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