Possible Fraudulent Switch to Bank of America’s Advantage Checking Account

by PT on November 20, 2007

I’ve been a BOA member since 2004. I signed up for their MyAccess Checking account and whatever savings account went along with that. I didn’t have much money at the time, so I wasn’t concerned about what type of account it was as long as it was FREE! MyAccess Checking is free, as long as you direct deposit (it’s now free as long as you sign up online). Everything about this account I’ve loved: the web GUI, the free bill pay, the convenience of ATMs. It’s been a good relationship you could say.

About 2 months ago I received a $20 Advantage fee in my checking account. Then, a month later, a second $20 Advantage fee. Sadly, it took this second charge to force me into action. I did some research on this Advantage fee and it seems it applies to people with an Advantage checking account, who keep average balances less than $5000. I thought, “I don’t have that type of account do I?” and “since when would I keep that high of an average balance to never have received this type of fee?” (I keep my savings in ING) At this point I knew one of two things must have happened: I was either moved to this new account type OR that MyAccess account type “became” the Advantage account type.

After further research into my old statements and the BOA website, I discovered that I was simply switched from the MyAccess checking to the Advantage checking (ironically, the only “advantage” was me paying $40 over two months). My next step was to contact BOA to:

(1) get the charges removed,

(2) get me switched back over to the MyAccess checking, and

(3) find out why this switch was made.

Numbers 1 and 2 have happened successfully. I’m still waiting on an answer for number 3. Since customer service never answered my emails on this issue, I’ve enlisted a friend (who just happens to be a BOA manager) to research the transaction and find out why I was moved. I suspect it’s fraudulent (or unethical at least), as these type of account upgrades usually come with a nice commission for the bank employee to makes the change. In my case, it was done without my permission.

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Has anyone else had this happen? How was it resolved?

Tagged as: bank, bank-of-america, boa, Checking, checking account, fees, fraud

{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }

ann March 10, 2008 at 11:21 pm: I would like to contact the person that wrote on boa advantage account to respond.
PT March 11, 2008 at 1:59 am: Hi Ann. That would be me PT. Please use the contact page or look for my email address on the about page. Thanks.
Mo January 19, 2009 at 12:28 am: Thanks for posting this.. I just checked my account online and what do you know? They switched mo to the same account and charged me 2wice the $20. This is a class action law suit waiting to happen.
tina houston February 9, 2009 at 2:02 pm: We need to educate BOA what the authorization is.
It seems to me that they don’t know how to do a business
20B to bailout this BOA ?. It looks like the bailout is a waste.
Dan April 4, 2009 at 8:30 am: They did this to me too with my business checking account. Switched me without any authorization and I end up paying $30 maintenance fee since I didn’t meet the $15,000 average daily balance requirement. Complete BS!
Betsy Gordon May 23, 2009 at 10:26 am: This has occured with me and BOA as well. However, I only signed up for two accounts and somebody inside of BOA either switched or opened an Advantage account without my permission. I have ordered all statements from opening date (at a fee) to determine when this occured. Here’s the nasty part…since I do not use any of my BOA accounts (ever), only for incoming direct wires for my business I did not catch this until yesterday when I received a letter from a collection agency demanding $205.21 or they were going to turn me into the credit bureau’s. I paid the 205.21, to avert this going onto my credit report. I will be contacting an executive at BOA corporate to resolve this issue. I will keep you all posted with BOA names and contact numbers as they are located. And update you on my progress as well. Feel free to share your positive results with me as well. Write me on this forum for your request and let’s be in direct contact with one another to resolve this issue.
Ethan May 27, 2009 at 9:33 pm: I just found out they did this to me as well. My balance was just shy of the $5K in that BofA account. I rarely use it, so I haven’t been checking it. They don’t mail me statements. They are refusing a refund past 90 days.
Betsy Gordon May 28, 2009 at 8:32 am: I’m writing a letter to the below BOA Executives…if you are interested in doing the same, see below info collected from public records on their website.

To: Mr. Lewis – CEO & President, BOA Corp.
J.Steele Alphine – Chief Administrative Officer, BOA Corp.
Amy Woods Brinkley – Global Risk Executive, BOA Corp.
Anne Finucane – Chief Marketing Officer, BOA Corp.
Dr. Walter Massey – Chairman, BOD, BOA Corp.
Liam E. McGee – President, Consumer & Small Business Bank, BOA Corp.
PT June 10, 2009 at 5:57 am: Thanks for sharing, Betsy.
Alistair June 30, 2009 at 2:13 pm: This also happened to me. $15 / month maintenance fee started appearing out of the blue. I have been a basic, free checking customer for nearly four years, had never had a fee.

I called customer service and they said I now needed an automatic direct deposit to waive the fee. (There was no mention on the phone my account had been ‘upgraded’. Nor did I receive any postal or email about this.)

I set up the direct deposit, waited a month and still received another $15 fee!

I just now got off the phone with them… After several minutes of discussion, they admitted my account had been changed to an Advantage Account. They would only refund one months fee’s, even though I have five months worth on there. (Wish I had called sooner…)

Just show me where to sign up for the class action lawsuit! (They also opened a World Perks credit card without my permission last year, so am I really upset now)

I am closing my account as soon as I get a new one set up elsewhere. No more business for BOA from me.
Deborah Aldridge June 30, 2009 at 4:10 pm: BOA charged me an overdraft fee, which I admit was my fault, then didn’t post it for 3 days. When the posted overdraft fee caused ANOTHER overdraft, they charged me again! I called, they were unforgiving, and refused to remove the fees. I was forced to leave my money in their bank due to some work I was having done on my house. I am going to remove it very soon, and just deal in cash from now on. Every bank I’ve been with for the last 5 years has screwed me with unfair fees. It’s not enough that they got all our tax money, now they want our real money as well!
PT Money July 15, 2009 at 12:18 pm: Hey everyone, I’ve made some progress with this issue. I found a BOA representative on Twitter. His name is David and he’s at http://twitter.com/BofA_help

He’s having my issue researched. If you have a similar issue, I suggest you contact him on twitter.
Josh November 19, 2009 at 11:22 pm: I just found the $20 monthly advantage charge on my checking account. I looked back and it has been applied each of the last three months. I have had this account for years with no monthly fees. I have more money in BOA now than ever. I have never authorized any kind of account change.
Betsy November 20, 2009 at 12:43 pm: BOA offered several excuses when confronted about the switch from “free to fee” scam. Their #1 excuse: “You do have a fee based account, and always have.” False BOA
Their #2 excuse: “We sent you a letter.” Prove it BOA.
Their #3 excuse: “I don’t know what happened, I can only refund charges for 3 months.” Thanks a lot BOA.

I have closed my accounts and tell everybody I know about my personal experience with BOA. Thank you BOA for making my life more difficult, and for sending threatening debt collectors, and for ripping me off! Thank you very much.
Lori February 16, 2010 at 4:49 pm: Apparently, BOA is still conducting themselves this way. I found out that I have been charged $20 for the past 4 months. Bank would only refund two transactions. I will not leave them alone about it. I am so pissed. I don’t have time in my life to watch my own bank to make sure they’re not stealing from me! Just as an FYI, I have 4 accounts with them, a mortgage, two checking accounts, and a savings account. In addition, I both my husband and I have direct deposit for the last umpteen years!

Lori posted 2/15/2010
Betsy February 17, 2010 at 12:18 pm: And to add addtional info….I closed by BOA accounts and had a credit card with them that was in my company’s name. They switched my credit card into my personal name and now it shows up on my personal credit. They are so out of line! I payed it off and am done with BOA. If anybody knows how to get a class action law suit started, executed, and completed in our favor…I’m IN!
PT February 17, 2010 at 12:47 pm: Thanks for sharing, Betsy. I’d try contacting BOA reps using http://twitter.com/BofA_help. They are fast to respond via twitter.