I'm so disappointed in myself/angry/sad - Page 2

[angelcollector1]

As far as BOA and the fees--- if you called customer service and they said no.. don't take that answer. GO into the branch and talk to them.
My daughter is employed with them in one of their call centers.. they have set procedures to follow and not reversing those fees is one of them. If you're lucky, they would only reverse one, that's if you're very lucky.
Go into the branch...
I have another story. My son recently did the same thing as you. He overdrew his account with little charges, under $10 each... he was hit with more than $200 in fees. He couldn't pay them and hasn't. Finally his account hit overdrawn for more than 76 days and he received a call from the bank. The representative asked him about paying the amount owed and he explained his situation. She said if he paid $100 this pay check - he works part time in food services and gets paid biweekly- that she would reverse $105 in the fees. If he paid another $100 from his next check she would reverse another $105 in fees.. so that almost eliminated all the fees.

It's an option that you could wait for them to call you and work on a cash system until then.

Good luck.

[jeliphish]

switch business to your local credit union. BoA are VULTURES! they try to swiftly switch my due date on my credit card payment every month on the chance that I will be late and they can charge me a late fee. Dave Ramsey has a lot to say about them too.

[miss_sonja]

Go to www.consumerist.com and check out the EEOB (executive email bomb) tactics. Folks have gotten fees similiar to yours reversed or at least reduced. Definately worth a try!!

[amyamanda]

If you can go into a branch in person, bring your kids. I've had best luck getting sympathetic customer service people to reverse fees with the kids along (make sure your kids are well-rested, well-fed, etc for minimal disruption...but do bring them with you! People really seem to respond differently to a mama with a gaggle of kids than to an individual asking for a break, at least in my experience.) Also in my experience, every bank I have ever had to ask for this with has been able to reduce the fees by half (not more)...but whether they do that depends on the judgement of the customer service person, and also on your history with them.

And big hugs to you. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, switch banks right away (assuming you can; let those overdraft fees sit at the old bank while you use the new bank, and pay the fees bit by bit as you are able), don't waste any energy feeling guilty, just move on. I think it's the perfect time to switch to cash-only. Don't let this incident make you feel bad - it's in the past and you are moving on.

[russsk]

Definitely launch the EECB. That is WAY too much money to pay. Also, call customer service and tell them you want them to decline your card if there are insufficient funds in the future.

[hillymum]

I would be crying too! Personally I have come to detest BoA. My dh made a credit card payment late by 3 days. They jacked up the interest rate over 6 months ago and still will not bring it down.

[Dr.Worm]

Originally Posted by nannymom

I think it's valid to say boo hoo poor you -that all sucks.
I'm sorry you are strugleing so much with all of this.

Yes..it is sooo hard. We are trying to make a payment plan with our mortgage company so we can keep our house. And I hear ya on the overdraft charges...that's us. Thank goodness for MDC!

[Momma Moo Martin]

I will keep you in my thoughts, momma. :

[BrownEyedMama]

I couldn't read without responding. Big hugs and an idea:

Go see Carolyn Prescott in the Financial Aid office and ask about Section 8/HUD housing for students. There are TONS of HUD places in L.G. A cheap 2 bedroom apt. might not be a dream place, but it would have running water. And as a student you qualify for it, so why not use it.

Roughing it might be fun in the summer, but once the weather turns, I know you'd all rather be back in town.

Hang in there and PM me if you have other questions. Thinking of you all, and big hugs from Ohio!

-k

[jeminijad]

Originally Posted by grapejuicemama

I already did talk to BOA. They won't refund the money.

I'll just eat it and move on. I have food, shelter, health and scholarship money coming soon. Really, life is grand.

The other mommas are right. Half of $400+ is worth making a helluva stink over... as long as you haven't had fees reversed within a certain period, they often will give you a little break. I am a BofA account holder and I have had them work with me more than once.

If you have a history of overdrawing, then you are pretty much out of luck.

Either way, good luck.

[chinaKat]

Originally Posted by laohaire

I think it's worth it to try again with BOA; even if they only knock off say 1/3 that's worth (more than) an hour or whatever of your time. I think that if they didn't bend, I would end the conversation by saying "Then I need to close the account." I'd take my cashier's check and find a local institution that has more sane overdraft policies.

A couple of years ago we travelled (by air) to visit my parents. DH checked the account balance before we left but didn't have access to check again when we were at my parent's. If he had thought about it he would have realized that some payments had not been applied yet, but he was busy dealing with travel and when he used the debit card it was always approved. That's what really made us angry; the card was approved even though we were overdrawing. There's no reason in the world the ACH technology couldn't decline the card except to increase the overdraft fees for the bank. So we got home and got a letter informing us we had hundreds of dollars in overdrafts, many of them for transactions $5 or less. At first DH and I decided to suck it up because it was our responsibility to track our balance, but we felt angrier and angrier about how the debits would just sail through even though, according to the records, we had already overdrafted. So we feel this is really a shared responsibility and it's unethical for the bank to set you up for maximum fees this way. We called and they agreed to cut half the overdraft fees, which satisfied us because we also did feel partly responsible. We also stopped using the debit card; if we are in a situation where cash is not available or appropriate we use a credit card (which we pay off in full every month - but we know we're not going to hit the limit or get any overdrafts).

FWIW my DH asked our bank (BOA) to set his debit card so that it would NOT get an approval if the funds weren't there, so that there was never any danger of incurring an overdraft charge. I don't know exactly what they did, but they did it.

OP -- hang in there!!!

[Hopefulmama]

Big hugs coming your way!

[Sunmommy]

My husband works for BOA...

Go into the branch and tell the manager your husband has been laid off. They have a number you can call right now for assistance if you've been laid off and they will likely reduce/eliminate your fees. The manager won't do it but if you get the assistance # (this is NOT the regular 800 number) they'll be able to help you.

The manager probably won't do anything about the fees.
Good luck!

[romamama]

I understand the frustration over bank fees! My DH and i faced something similar a couple months ago!

Lots of hugs!

[Om Girl]

Just wanted to FYI: bank managers and bankers in the branch are alloted a certain number of "fee waivers" every month that they use for clients that walk in and are un-happy.
Use this to your advantage and go into the bank and plead your case. Explain that you'll close your account if they don't make this right and take your business elsewhere. Even if it's just a threat, they don't know that. They hate losing business. Also if they waive the fees then I'd talk to them about overdraft protection.