Bank of America Just pulled the rug out from under us

[Striker]

I just called and opted out of the transfer also. I am now assigned to "nationwide" instead of a branch. I think they thought that everyone with a Livingston address actually lived there. Guess they were wrong.

[vermilye]

I went through the same thing a couple of years age when HSBC moved out of our area. To make it even more interesting, they sold the bank accounts to one company, and the credit cards to another, and, unfortunately, the change over took place while I was on a 111 day trip. I ended up opening new bank accounts before I left with a branch of the new bank in a neighboring town since there was no branch (yet) in my hometown. I never activated or used the new credit cards, but still get a bill for $0.00 once a year from them.

[Barbaraok]

The number of Escapees will be a really small portion of the accounts and most of the accounts will be local and not based on Rainbow Dr in Livingston. We use BOA and the branch is in Tyler with a Livingston address. We haven't been in that branch in 7 years (we kept a safety deposit box for the first year we were out) and will probably never go in it again. I made note of the opt out number just in case. Last year BOA sold off some branches in Arizona that were in small towns away from any metroplex area.

 

Barb

[richfaa]

Agree. Our bank has changed names several times over the years and it was completely transparent to us.

[kyp j]

Also got the email and thought it was a scam. Wife called the fraud number and they claimed to not know anything. Our account is in Nevada but found out they go by the address on the account which is Livingston where we seldom go. Then I thought about this forum and glad I did. It clears things up so now at least know it isn't North Korea messing with us. Maybe we just hang on but I have been thinking about using Schwab for awhile but feared the change over details.

[Barbaraok]

Funny, we have our account in Tyler, TX and didn't receive anything even though we have a Livingston address associated with it. Something doesn't make sense.

 

Barb

[Siren]

I also got the e-mail, and I just got off the phone opting out of this transition.

 

It is TRUE that they are super nice, and cheerful. I spoke with NANCY. She recognized the Rainbow Drive address, and said that a lot of us were calling in this morning. I told her there were 55,000 people that were Escapees, although not all of us will have BOA accounts.

 

She sent an e-mail to her colleagues saying that the word on the street is that they are number to call, and that we all expect great customer service. Now they are all taking claim as to being the one who was so helpful and cheerful. If you get Nancy, tell her she needs to get that sailboat. (Her dream is to sail around the world for 5 years, and then live the rest of her life in an RV.)

[jeanhoyle]

I just finished OPTING out of the bank sale. The operator on the other end said it was not " branch" related sale. All of the accounts being sold had Livingston addresses, so they might contact you yet Barb. I simply told them that I did not want a "local" bank and wanted to stay with BOA.

 

Thanks again to everyone who responded.

[crazysuzy]

I also called the 'opt-out' number (866-251-0233) so that we could stay with Bank of America. It only took a few minutes and like everyone else, I warned them that more Escapees would be calling. I'm very offended that after a decade of loyalty on my part that they would simply 'sell' us off to someone else without asking first.

 

Be aware that if you choose to go through with the move to Citizen's National Bank you WILL be assigned all new account numbers, routing numbers, debit cards, and all that, which means that you will need to change all of your bill pay accounts, automatic withdrawals and direct deposits. You will also lose access to your online banking account, so you must make sure to print out your statements and download transactions prior to the transfer date. I was also told that during the week that they transition we will lose access to our online banking and that any bill pays that were scheduled during that week would not go through, even though we are staying with Bank of America. All of this information will be in the packet that you get from Citizen's bank.

 

Hope this info helps those who are affected by this.

[Kirk W]

Be aware that if you choose to go through with the move to Citizen's National Bank you WILL be assigned all new account numbers, routing numbers, debit cards, and all that, which means that you will need to change all of your bill pay accounts, automatic withdrawals and direct deposits. You will also lose access to your online banking account, so you must make sure to print out your statements and download transactions prior to the transfer date.

If that is true, it is going to be unique to the business as we, like several others in this thread have had the experience with banks other than BOA and none of those things happened. It was transparent to us totally other than a change in the bank statements. None of our direct deposits or auto payments were effected at all in any way that required any action by us. What impact it had was all taken care of by the bank taking over the business. We have experienced it twice in the past. If BOA was so bad to do this to you, why would you want to stay with them? CNB is also a large banking corporation.

[weaverworks]

According to the girl I spoke with at BOA, they will take care of all the account transfers, etc..... No action will be required on your part. So BOA is not the bad guy.....If what she said it true. Guess time will tell, but we are very happy with the service we have experienced with BOA.

[Bill Joyce]

We went through a bank sale where our account numbers, etc., were changed. It does happen.

[bigjim]

I got a check in the mail for I think $52K or so that I was not expecting. It turns out it was my money CD in a bank that wasclosed by whatever agency does that. Most was sold to another bank which had the option to take on the CD's and other things or pay them off with interest up to the day of the takeover. They had opted not to take on all aspects of the other bank. I got the explantion I think a few days later in the mail. This was all FDIC insured so all I got all the money and interest up to the day of closure that I was due.

The scary part is I was getting mail in a gangbox down the mountain and just the day before I had gotten some misthrow mail in my box that was obviously very important mail for the person it was meant for. What if mine had been misthrown and someone less than honest had got thier hands on it. I wouldn't have had a clue until days later when I got the explanation in the mail.

 

Great feeling that money insured by the FDIC is returned but awfully spooky about the way it was handled returning it.

[Dave O]

I also called the 'opt-out' number (866-251-0233) so that we could stay with Bank of America. It only took a few minutes and like everyone else, I warned them that more Escapees would be calling. I'm very offended that after a decade of loyalty on my part that they would simply 'sell' us off to someone else without asking first.

 

Be aware that if you choose to go through with the move to Citizen's National Bank you WILL be assigned all new account numbers, routing numbers, debit cards, and all that, which means that you will need to change all of your bill pay accounts, automatic withdrawals and direct deposits. You will also lose access to your online banking account, so you must make sure to print out your statements and download transactions prior to the transfer date. I was also told that during the week that they transition we will lose access to our online banking and that any bill pays that were scheduled during that week would not go through, even though we are staying with Bank of America. All of this information will be in the packet that you get from Citizen's bank.

 

Hope this info helps those who are affected by this.

 

 

Hi All

 

We shed BOA 15 years ago and have never been sorry. At that time their policies and customer service were totally unacceptable and over the years we have not heard anything that makes us think we might have made a mistake.

 

We are very happy with USAA, PenFed and the credit union at my former place of employment. All are tuned to a "traveling" customer base and very customer oriented.

 

Dave O

[vermilye]

We went through a bank sale where our account numbers, etc., were changed. It does happen.

Same here. With the HSBC sale of my accounts, account numbers & credit card numbers were all changed as well.

[Barbaraok]

Just got off the phone with BOA. Another number for the divestiture is: 866-251-0233 Just went through it with Mike Reardon, one of the BOA reps, on the telephone. The team that is leading this project did not realize what all of the Livingston accounts were about but they were certainly getting a lot of calls. Also, it isn't only me who didn't get the email, for a lot of people it ended up in their spam folders. Weekend of Jan. 23rd the BOA accounts may be frozen, but should be working again by that Monday. So get your cash for the weekend early and don't try to do any bill paying that weekend.

 

Barb

[justRich]

I got a check in the mail for I think $52K or so that I was not expecting. . . .

There's something to be said here.

We had a CD with a bank that started when interest rates were higher.

When interest rates turned as low as they are today, we just "let it ride". . .to renew automatically.

(We considered it as ready cash.)

 

After awhile, I realized that the bank was no longer sending us printed statements and thought that I must have "opted out" of printed paper.

By year end, we did not receive a 1099 or any documentation.

 

I visited the bank to enquire and learned that the account had been changed to their internal classification as "inactive" !!!

I assume that eventually, after our passing, that this money would have become "unclaimed" money under care of the state.

Of course we took that money out for greener pastures.

 

In my mind, banks can't be trusted. Every account and investment needs to carefully monitored and accounted for at year's end. And that includes monies with one's trusted advisor.

[bigjim]

I have had mostly excellelent dealings with credit unions but there are always exceptions. One of them moved my IRA cd without notification when it was supossed to roll over then began deducting from the share account because I hadn't responded to some mail they supposedly sent me claiming they did not have the proper address or phone number. All of this proved untrue and they had all the proper info all along. I got the money from the share account refunded. The more I learned made me reduce the share account to the minimum of $25. that is required to maintain membership in that credit union. Later when it was most advantageous to me I transferred my IRA and closed my account. They charged me the entire $25. to close the account. That is the first time I have ever been charged to close an account. Needless to say I don't recommend this credit union to anyone.

[bobsallyh]

We got the same email. Our BOA account is based out of Hemet, CA. started in 2003, the same time we started to fulltime. It has worked very well, as the only place we travel that there was no BOA was Montana and we worked around that. Well the wheels started to come off the wagon in spring of 2014. We stay in Yuma, AZ. from approx. October thru April. Last spring BOA sold the two local branches to Washington National. Also the ATM at the old Fry's store went away, but the one at the new Fry's was still operational. And on our way north, the branches in Twin Falls, ID. and Idaho Falls, ID. also became Washington National. Then a couple of weeks ago the ATM at the new Fry's went bye-bye. Then the email. I came back from coffee at the park rec hall and my wife was on the cell. First words I heard "this is totally unacceptable, you SOLD our account". She went thru some hand gyrations while looking at me. Then the customer service rep she was talking too, who by the way, was very nice then informed her that we could opt out. So we of course went that route. Also, we have a BOA/Visa card that gives us "cash back" advantages. The email should have noted the "opt out" deal. So after the first of the year we will be selling BOA down the road as we switch over to Wells Fargo. We do most of our banking online, but I refuse to pay double for ATM use for "out of system".

[Barbaraok]

Just get cash back using debit card when buying groceries. Problem with switching banks for us is having to get all of the direct deposits set up, and we have about a dozen of them, even though handled by the same company, and it is a real PITA to do it, requires 2 different forms plus a voided check for EACH account.

 

Barb

[kyp j]

Just get cash back using debit card when buying groceries. Problem with switching banks for us is having to get all of the direct deposits set up, and we have about a dozen of them, even though handled by the same company, and it is a real PITA to do it, requires 2 different forms plus a voided check for EACH account.

 

Barb

Maybe I am paranoid, especially since we just recently had our credit card info stolen at what we think may have been a hotel where a swipe-able card was created and charges started appearing. Anyway, I never use a debit card except at a bank ATM since our entire liquid assets could be stolen if that card info got away from us. I am not sure of the policies for fraud on debit cards but I am afraid to use them at any place that actually takes your card in hand.

[DJW]

When we retired I moved all accounts to Arvest then it was known as Bank of Bentonville. I knew back then that this bank would never be sold. It's the Walton Family Bank. Sam had bought it back in the late 60's or early 70's when it was just a little bank on the square in Bentonville. Now they have branches in AR, MO, OK, KS. They tried to buy a National Bank Charter but the banking industry fought them otherwise there would be an Arvest bank in every Walmart. We always just went to a Walmart bought a coke or something with out debit card and got a $100 back in cash when we were on the road.

 

Dennis

[ChetParks]

We had the same thing happen to us when BOA sold their branch in Benson, AZ to another local bank. We just told them we wanted to stay with BOA and our account and credit cards were left unchanged. We go into any BOA office and take care of things that need our physical presence.

[shadow99]

I found this thread today. My BOA account was sold to CNB Texas, but I'm going to stick with CNB. BOA burned me more than once with their checking fees that they increased with virtually no notice.

 

The latest burn was that I ordered checks and was billed on 11/26. TWO BUSINESS DAYS later I got an email saying the account would be sold which meant the checks would be no good. They could have told me when I orderd the checks, but no, they wanted to make some quick money. Also, they tried to sell me super expensive checks (I was on their chat line) claiming they were the cheapest. They were not and I bought checks for about $25 off the website. I forgot about it until today. However, I called the BOA transition line and they agreed to reimburse me for those checks which I neve used.

 

Had I seen this thread earlier, I probably would have opted out, but looking at the CNB website and talking with them on THEIR transition line, I'm going to give CNB a chance. I have a business checking account and their terms are more favorable than BOA.

 

So if anyone's having trouble, go ahead and call either transition line. Even though the accounts have already been transferred, they can make things right. The lady was quite nice and quickly agreed to have BOA reimburse me.

 

The only thing I still have with BOA is a credit card which I rarely use. I would cancel that, except it has a high limit and I've had it longer than any other credit card, so it helps my FICO score.

 

Good luck to all who are affected by this and GOOD RIDDANCE to BOA!

[bigjim]

shadow99, Who knows for sure what they are now but can remember when CNB was a small local bank and to my knowledge they have always been a good bank to deal with. I have not dealt with them for many years so I don't have current knowledge but of the folks I know that used them I never heard a complaint so maybe we can high hopes for your dealings with them. For me, I have shifted totally to credit unions and that has met my needs.