fume

I am so angry with Bank of America right now. Last year, after Wachovia put a hold on my paycheck for 16 days without being able to explain why, I hesitantly moved to Bank of America. I'd heard some stories from wars people had with them, but I figured I'd be okay since I wasn't taking out massive loans or playing the stock market. "What can go wrong with a simple checking account?" I foolishly asked.

Truth of it, very little. I've been with them for a year and a half now, and scarcely a problem has arisen...until now.

My direct deposit is set up to put a chunk of my paycheck directly into my savings account. I keep just enough in my checking to get by and make transfers when something larger comes up. I wrote my roommate his rent check at the start of the week, but he didn't deposit it until Thursday afternoon. No problem, the money was still there. Additionally, payday was Friday and the direct deposit would show up in my account at 3am, so there'd be PLENTY of leeway.

Thursday night, secure in this knowledge, I went to Moe's for my dinner break, and the grocery store for some shampoo and bandaids. Friday morning, I logged in to my bank account to see my direct deposit balance, and instead found: 6 cleared transactions. Four earlier purchases came off their pending status, my grocery store trip, and -- get this -- the rent check, deposited at 3pm that afternoon, had CLEARED TWO BANKS in a record time of seven hours.

Long and short of it -- my grocery store trip had unwittingly sent me into the red because I thought (and precedent supported this theory) I had more time. 4 over draft charges, to the tune of $140.

Now, I don't make much money. $140 is a big, big deal to me. It was a silly mistake, of course, and I'm willing to pay one overdraft charge for that silly mistake, considering: 1) the total amount of the overdraft came to only $25. 2) The money overdrawn was replenished in less than three hours. 3) My rent check seemingly defied the laws of physics. 4) There WAS money in my savings account, and enough to cover it (granted, I'm not signed up for the overdraft protection, but with that knowledge you'd think they'd give me the benefit of the doubt). $140, to me, is a ridiculously exorbitant amount for such a piddling amount of money and this set of circumstances.

However, the idiots at the customer service line don't seem to understand the concept of flexibility when it comes to their customers. I've been a solid and reliable customer who misjudged his timing once in a year and a half. I'm even willing to accept responsibility to the tune of an overdraft charge, but I am *not* willing to accept a loss of $140 because a check that normally takes five days to even show up managed to fly between two banks in seven hours.

On paper, they are within their rights. But having spent a great deal of time in customer relations across several different industries, I know that flexibility is just as vital as the written word. Instead of being understanding and attempting to come up with a compromise, I've been pushed out their door and into the loving arms of SunTrust.