I have observed that at least two branches of Bank of America in Kent are patrolled by security guards dressed in black uniforms and combat boots. They also appeared to be armed with handguns, although it isn’t clear if these are tasers, or use real bullets. One of these goons apparently takes his business seriously, attempting to inspire fear and intimidation. This week I was withdrawing money from an ATM; I had noticed that I was being eyeballed by the blackshirt, but did my best to ignore him. After I completed my business and turned up the sidewalk, behind the building out of his line of sight. But after walking about fifty yards, my suspicions were such that I turned around, and I observed that he was peering at me from the corner of the building. I gave him the Heil, and he waved at me, which of course confirmed my suspicion that he was just some bigot with stereotypical attitudes; it also indicated that some of these guys are either stupid or is indicative of why people who are ignorant of history are bound to repeat it.
Why was BoA employing these armed, jack-booted goons? Perhaps the bank is concerned about the angst amongst people who have accounts at BoA? Like, say about the various “surprise” fees they charge for various services, some of them more annoying than others? While some of these fees pass unnoticed because they just “show-up” on your quarterly statements and the bank seems to think that the amounts are so “trivial” that you’ll just scratch your head and move on, others seem to be unnecessary gouging—like the $5 fee on a money order, no matter how small. Last year there was an uproar over charging $5 a month for using a debit card, which I think is less offensive than the money order charge, but BoA was obliged to dropped it. Yet no one is pointing out that the bank is still charging a $5 “maintenance” fee for savings accounts. I used to have a “savings” account with BoA, but I used it like a checking account. When I started using it to pay for online purchases, I got carried away and the FDIC froze the account because I passed the allowed limit per month. So I transferred all my funds to a new checking account, save for putting $20 in a different savings account, just because I had to put something in it. I thought that now everything was in order with no further concerns. I forgot, of course, that this was Bank of America.
I never looked at the bank statements I received in the mail, but my lack of attention to detail ended when I opened an online banking account, which allowed me to view my transactions in real time. In doing so I made some disturbing discoveries. For example, today my new saving account has $15 in it, and by the end of the month I expect it to be $10, because of the “maintenance” fee. I probably should close it and keep just the checking account; but then again I thought that my old savings account was closed. For some reason my old savings account was still “active,” because merely implying that the account is closed isn’t the same as saying it is, you see. You have to make it Perfectly Understood. Not only was it still active, but it wasn’t even empty any more. It had $5 in it—or did it? Upon closer inspection I realized that it was a debit, not a credit: BoA had applied a “maintenance” fee for an account I had assumed that had been closed. I spoke to customer service to “discuss” the issue, and with a little outraged persuasion, the account was “officially” closed and the fee reversed. One should also be aware of the fact thay BoA will reactivate closed accounts without informing you, if some annoying entity your trying shake makes a request for funds. You may think “If I can’t get these thieves to acknowledge my request to cancel this subscription, I’ll just close that account and get a new one, and the bank will not honor their next payment “request.” But no; BoA will honor that “request” rather than yours. If you don’t happen to notice these payments because you thought you closed the account, you may find your other accounts inexplicably shorter than you thought.
Naturally, you may believe that you are doing the bank a favor by depositing your money in their particularly institution; the reality is that they treat you like they are doing you the “favor.” The desperation of banks to steal your money can be traced back to the abandonment of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall bank regulation law in 1998—more than the Lewinsky scandal the blackest mark on the Clinton administration. Banks soon got into trouble gambling with depositors’ money, especially in the home mortgage and derivatives “business.” Despite receiving billions in taxpayer bailout money, somebody still had to pay for their mistakes. Who would that be? The CEOs and money “managers” who used depositors money to play the tables? Somebody had to lose in their schemes, and in the case of derivatives, financial institutions who bet wrong lost massively. But they didn’t “pay” in the end—it is millions of small account holders who are being nickel and dimed to the hilt.
In 2010, BoA was extorting $5-$6 billion for deposit fees, and about $10 billion in fees from credit and debit cards. Recently passed consumer protection regulations reduced this practice of extortion, especially the outrageously high overlimit fees that banks—rather than refuse payments over account limits—allow to go through in order to make it so difficult for people to reduce their balances that that overlimit fees merely continue to pile up month after month. Banks, of course, have complained about the loss of this lucrative trade, which is why they tried to make up the loss with more fees that went against the spirit of the law.
And now, the two branches that I patronize are patrolled by these armed thugs that treat account holders like "threats." It's just another way that BoA expresses its "appreciation" for its customers.
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