Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Economics > Personal Finance
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 02-28-2012, 09:18 AM
 
23,563 posts, read 70,166,587 times
Reputation: 49102

Advertisements

People used to think I was crazy when I told them to sign up for at least half a dozen credit cards. With credit cards your only recourse is to vote with your feet. I have an ongoing business relationship with a printing company, once a month payments of various amounts. I've had BoA and Chase both decline these. For a while BoA was a little better, now Chase has it together. BoA basically sits on a shelf.

Too big to fail??? Yeah, BS. When BoA took over the bank that held my business account and they wanted to up fees, I walked in and closed the account. In the MIDDLE of the closeout process, the bank branch manager tried to sell me on a new account. HELLO??? Is anybody home???
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-02-2012, 05:54 PM
 
Location: Massachusetts
9,513 posts, read 16,448,668 times
Reputation: 14528
BofA seems to be having some serious problems. Here in Portland there are armed city cops or armed Security guards outside of an inside thier branches. I don't know what thats all about. It started about 2 months ago.

I'm beyond angry with BofA today and only on a fluke, did I go into a branch today. If I did not I would have found myself stranded this coming week. I'm moving to the East Coast next Friday. Today I went into the bank, to make sure they annotated my acct of upcoming transactions. I just wanted to be safe in case they shut the card off for suspicious activity. I had a difficult time getting them to undertand that was what I was wanting to do. In the course of this difficulty I was told my card has been shut off. I rarely use it that is why I wanted them aware of approaching transactions. I was told the card had been converted to a cash rewards card. That a new card was issued to me 3 weeks ago but returned for incorrect address. However they have had my address for several years and have no trouble sending me other material. So Therefore the acct was deactivated until they heard from me.

I had not ordered new cards. I knew nothing about this. So I would not be contacting them. What I found was I have a dead credit card with thousands of available credit on it I can't use. Because the acct numbers have been changed to reflect the new type of card. I have had this Gold card for 11 years. No letter came from this bank telling me any of this. They would rather me find out by being declined when making a purchase. Unfortunately I would have found myself declined travelling between Oregon and Massachusetts. Can anyone imagine what that would have felt like, when your driving alone thousands of miles across the country. And that was your only credit card. I didn't want to put this whole trip on my debit card, so I was also depending on that Credit Card. The bank didn't seem at all concerned, but I blew my top in their bank today. I had no idea I was capable of making a public scene. I was afraid the cops would be called over so I had to cool it but I have never been this upset. I think I had every right to be in this case.

I'm suppose to be getting a new card sent to me by FEDEX that will arrive Tuesday by 3pm. I seem to have found one employee that could take care of this for me or seemed to. It better damn well get here or I don't even want to think about it I have to be out of my apt on Friday morning and on the road. I have absolutely no use for BofA and I will change to a credit union when I arrive in Massachusetts. Within my first week there. I have hated this bank since they took over the Fleet Banks on the East Coast in 2005. They are arrogant, disrespectful, unprofessional and hire some of the stupidest people I have ener encountered. At least here in Portland.

Excuse my rant but I can't remember when I have been so upset at a business as today.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-02-2012, 06:53 PM
 
643 posts, read 2,380,862 times
Reputation: 535
I do understand your frustration and realize that today the local branch staff were your representatives to the corporate monster back in Charlotte, NC. However, they are probably just as dumbfounded as you as to why B of A does some of the things they do and over time they have become desensitized to these issues, otherwise they would go insane. Beware that not all credit unions are great fantastic financial institutions.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-02-2012, 07:01 PM
 
35,095 posts, read 51,103,864 times
Reputation: 62664
I had one transaction frozen one time and it was a payment not a purchase. I paid off the entire balance of my only credit card $3000.00 in one payment and they locked my card because my payment was "suspicious". When I called and asked why the card was locked and they told me the reason I laughed at them on the phone and told them to close that account immediately because it made no logical sense at all that they would lock an account AFTER a large payment had been made. Especially when they did NOT call or lock the card when the original purchase for the $3000.00 was made and I had never spent that much at one time before. Idiots.

PS -- This was at a time that I had only one credit card, don't have them any longer.

Last edited by CSD610; 03-02-2012 at 07:41 PM.. Reason: Added the PS --
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-02-2012, 07:02 PM
 
Location: Warwick, RI
5,450 posts, read 6,240,814 times
Reputation: 9369
May I ask who XXX bank was? To the best of my knowledge, Bank Of America has not aquired ANY banks in the last "several months", or even in the last several years. Merrill Lynch was their last aquisition, and since then, BOA has been SELLING assets to shed risk and build reserves to meet new regulations, not aquiring. Given their situation, I highly doubt federal regulators would even allow BOA to make aquisitions.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-02-2012, 11:40 PM
 
15,632 posts, read 24,358,294 times
Reputation: 22815
I know it's fashionable to criticize BofA nowadays, but I've had every situation described above happen with other bank/credit accounts too -- especially accounts closed due to inactivity, accounts frozen due to purchases made outside the USA, accounts frozen due to unusual buying activity and accounts frozen due to "suspiciously" large payments. All banks and credit card accounts are becoming more pro-active about fraud.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-03-2012, 07:55 AM
 
Location: Massachusetts
9,513 posts, read 16,448,668 times
Reputation: 14528
Quote:
Originally Posted by texasfirewheel View Post
I know it's fashionable to criticize BofA nowadays, but I've had every situation described above happen with other bank/credit accounts too -- especially accounts closed due to inactivity, accounts frozen due to purchases made outside the USA, accounts frozen due to unusual buying activity and accounts frozen due to "suspiciously" large payments. All banks and credit card accounts are becoming more pro-active about fraud.

Well I can understand the fraud part with banks. I really understand what you mean with that. What happened to me though I had never heard of before, and I would not wish it on anyone. BofA just changing a customers credit card type from a Gold Card to a Cash Rewards Card. Change the acct number so the gold card is useless. Send me this new Rewards card that never arrives but is returned to the bank. But never notify me of any of this. So I find out when I go to use the card, the gold card I have had for 11 years is dead. Nope I have never heard of this scenario, until it happened to me and the impact it has had. As I move across the country this week. The bank could not have picked a worse tiime to show thier incompetence. I wouldn't wish this on anyone, and it has nothing to do with suspicious or fraud activity. It is very unprofessional and impersonal business practices, from a bank that is way to big in this country. It needs to go.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-03-2012, 08:04 AM
 
15,632 posts, read 24,358,294 times
Reputation: 22815
I understand your frustration. Exxon did that to me a few years ago. I hadnt used my Exxon card for a while (less than a year). One day I went to an Exxon station, swiped my card and got the message to go see the clerk. (That's never good.) It turned out that my card was canceled for lack of use. No notice, although Exxon said a letter notice would be on the way -- as if I needed a letter notice after being declined. I was upset at the time -- what if I'd been out of gas and had no other credit cards or cash with me?

So I understand how you feel. Good luck with the move.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-03-2012, 08:24 AM
 
Location: Censorshipville...
4,408 posts, read 8,090,181 times
Reputation: 4971
It's not all rosy on the Capital One side. Just yesterday I charged some repair work on one of my vehicles and it was declined. They ran it again and declined again. So I called them while I was at the shop and I was able to straighten it out in 5 minutes. More of a hassle but still. Apparently a bunch of credit card numbers had been compromised so they put a watch on my account.

I'm not sure why they would think it was fraudulent activity that day. The card was used at a shop no more than 10 miles from my house as well as I've charged from there in the past.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-03-2012, 09:49 AM
 
643 posts, read 2,380,862 times
Reputation: 535
I have heard others complain about Capitol One declining transactions as well. I had Amex do it to me twice. Once when I was buying tools at Sears and once when I was buying a cordless phone at Wal Mart. Rather than make the clerk call in the transactions and hold up the line, I just used my Citibank card and after the 2nd time I closed my Amex account. Citibank has proactively locked my account twice and once declined a transaction. None of it was for fraudulent activity. The two times they locked my account they sent me an email and as long as I responded before I used the card again all was fine. The time they declined the transaction I was visiting family and I used another card to compete the transaction. All in all I find Citibank to be the easiest to deal with. But I carry 2 forms of payment to deal with these types of situations - doing changes the situation from nightmare to inconvenience.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:

Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Economics > Personal Finance

All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:18 PM.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top