Bank of America

[Meiac09]

How I hate, hate, HATE these people...

I have had BofA for about 6 years now, and have enjoyed very much their level of service, convenience to my homes in Maine, SC and their reciprocity with BNP in France, however, this is what they have done in the past three months.

Background, Last summer, I had worked to bring money to school (like a responsible kid, right?) and my Bank Teller looked at me, said "you have a big balance, would you like to start a savings account, its free, and we match your keep the change for three months." I don't turn down free money, so I did that, all fine and dandy.

I went to Canada over the summer, and was met by their small print change of a string of $4 "foreign service charges" for using my debit card. I was screwed on that, but the manager said I was approved for their Platinum card, which had no such fee, and no other fees, etc etc, so I took that to use for the convenience and never run a balance.

Then a while later, they begin to charge me monthly for my checking account (debit card), which is supposed to be free for the duration that you're a student. I brought it up to the branch manager, who apologized and changed the account back. I also asked them to cancel keep the change, since it had been a year and I didn't want the savings account. I left the branch, and the checking fees stopped, so I was happy.

Then I got to France, and looked on my account to see what the exchange rate was. I got a 1% charge, as expected on foreign purchases on my credit card included as a subline on the description, and none on my ATM, but they had started charging me monthly for the savings account I had closed, and it was still "keeping the change." I used the online tool to cancel it, and the first agent refunded me the fees and said she cancelled it. It didn't stop, so I used the IM thing again, and apparently you have to call in. I went out and bought a €100 SFR top up for my phone fearing their typical on hold shit, but fortunately discovered that I can call THEM collect (muahaha) and take a nice mental swing at them. The next agent apologized profusely, and closed the account, and refunded the further month's fee and the overdraft fee that it incurred into my checking account.

Today, in paying the credit card bill (of a whopping $60 for places that won't take Amex) and I notice the new institutional charge after every transaction of 5%. That wasn't there when I was checking the other accounts. And it goes back and I have a bigger balance outstanding. I called them, they told me I had to call credit card services, CC services said they have always been able to charge me, I asked why the rate changed, and then got transferred from the girl who couldn't speak any North American language to a supervisor who just finished a joint. I finally got the fees reversed with the warning that "We won't do it again." When I asked to transfer the money from my checking and close the account, he said he would be happy to but if he did it on the phone it would strike my credit because I have a balance outstanding.

/Rant. I cut their card up, called Amex Platinum services, had them order me and my friends advance tickets to France/Ireland and said thank you to USAA for not screwing me over. It sucks the one bank that is in both of my US locations sucks like this. They did this to my parents with their accounts, and they can truthfully suck it in my opinion. Anyone know a good bank for daily transactions in NC/SC or have any feedback on USAA's checking/savings accounts? They've yet to piss me off.