The day finally came that I knew I would be able to finally pay off the line of credit I had with Bank of America. Now to clarify, this was NOT a credit card consolidation loan, it was a line of credit. So it's something that you can't just charge or use at all. It is very different.
So I took my checkbook with me and went down to my local branch and sat to wait my turn to talk to someone to close down the account. They offered me to go away and run errands or something as they informed me it would be about an hour wait. I declined and said I would wait as I had no intentions of ever stepping foot into another Bank of America again.
So I waited, more like 30 minutes tops, and I was met with a friendly lady there and taken into her office. I informed her that I wished to pay off my line of credit and handed her my recent statement with my account number on it. She inquired if I was on the account as an authorized user, I said yes I believe I was. She called then to ask what the final payoff amount would be.
Here's where it gets stupid. Surprise, surprise!
The credit people on the phone gave her an 'approximate' amount for payoff. More than what the balance was. She told me it might be more as interest accrued on the account and it would depend on when they received and processed the check. I told her I was ready right now to write her a check for the full amount. Surprised, she said ok and took the check for the amount stated to her on the phone. It was received and processed right away as she went off to the teller and then returned with a receipt for me. I asked then to close the account so she did that as well and yet said I would have to have my husband call to be sure just in case, which I was planning on doing. I would receive another statement in the mail and if it had a dollar or two on it, she said I could call and have it waived as I had made the payoff then.
She was most pleasant, no problems and I left.
I thought this was really bad that they could not give me a pay off amount right then and there, the exact amount and I paid it on the spot and yet tell me I might have to pay them more? Ok whatever....it's dumb.
So I wait and my husband calls them and yes, sure enough we overpaid and they show a $14 or so credit, but it's a zero balance as to what we owe and yes the account is closed.
I then receive a letter in the mail stating we had an overpayment, zero balance and that yes, the account was closed.
So I called back up to ask for the overpayment to be returned to me. They said no, they could not do that, by check, but they would be happy to put it into my checking account. I said I don't have a checking account with Bank of America, but they said they could send it to my bank, Bank of Texas then if I had the routing number, etc, so I gave that to them and they said that it would show up in 2-3 business days. It did. Excellent!
They said I would receive one more statement and that would be it
HA!
I then receive a statement in the mail showing I owe them $13 and some odd cents!! Bloody hell! If we overpaid them by $14 and yet the interest that came in was $13, that was just stupid!
So I called them, ready to fight about it because by now, I am irritated! But! I manage to get a really nice lady on the phone who I explained what happened and she happily said she would wave that amount and she told me that it was because we closed the account before the day they post the interest, so after pay off, they posted the interest that would have been due on the next day or so afterwards. I quickly shut up tho' when she said she would zero out my balance and waive that interest. She also said the account is closed and I would receive one more statement that would show the zero balance. I have not received it yet.
This was really, really stupid but I believe now it's OVER! I will await that last statement however and then file it away.
What a saga eh?
I will say tho' that everyone at the local branch, were very nice, the employees at Bank of America. I have no issue with them, only the institution itself and whoever it was that thought to change their credit terms like that, thinking that it was ok to do that to their loyal customers. It was so very wrong.
Most people may not realize how much it hurts you when they do that, but it does. I'll talk more on that later about all those credit card consolidation loan offers too and how bad it is to do that.
I am just glad this appears to be over now and I no longer owe anything to Bank of America. I will not ever do business with them either if I can help it.
Oh and a huge P.S. about the check fraud?
Walmart didn't clear the debt, but sold it so some scammers who contacted me 2 years after the fact, trying to scare me into giving them my bank info and telling me that I had to pay it and give them the bank account information. I laughed at them and told them no, they were dumb enough to buy a bad/non-existent debt from Walmart, it was THEIR responsibility to clear it up, I already had done all I was suppose to. Walmart was notified, my bank was notified, the police were notified and the credit bureau was notified. They wanted my bank info and I promptly told him that I don't have any account with that bank any longer. I told him he could go do the research or go back to Walmart about the issue and to not call me again about it or I would sue him for harassment. I later looked them up on the net and yup, sure enough it was a scam.
Later, I'll be pulling a credit report to be sure everything looks good. My numbers were excellent last I looked and I am sure now, they are even better. :)
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