Bank of America Fails Again... How Big Banks Are Losing Touch With Their Customers

Inside Bank of America in Chinatown is an ad for "low car loan rates", the bank has a stand-up, interactive cardboard sign where customers can guess "What Kind of Car Are You?". According to StreetsBlogSF, Chinatown "has the city's lowest rate of car ownership". Too bad Bank of America didn't get the memo.

With only one teller helping over five customers in line, many of whom opt out of the Snap With Your App Check Deposit, frustration with the bank and its ignorance of customer service was high.

As I was standing, waiting to pay off my credit card and get some quarters for laundry, an older man gave a great big sigh behind me.

One bank woman got another woman from in back of the bank to help an elderly gentleman who had some sort of bank problem. Since they were talking in Chinese, I had no idea what the problem was but they were standing there for a good ten minutes or more.

An older woman who came into the bank, spoke in Chinese with the younger man at Bank of America who was greeting everyone at the door. I'm sure she was complaining about the long wait times in line. It turns out, this is an everyday occurrence and at this location (Grant Avenue), it wasn't much of an improvement from the other Bank of America branch just down the street (Stockton Street).

The median age for those living in Chinatown is 52-years-old (Realtor.com). Many of the people here do in-person banking and don't use their phones for banking deposits, online banking or appointments. Bank of America, instead of compensating for this particular demographic at its branches, is instead opting to exclude them.

The result? More frustrated elderly customers who will take their money elsewhere, to the many convenient Chinese banks in Chinatown.

Greeters at the banks encourage customers to use the ATM's to do their banking for deposits, instead of in-person with a teller.

I was told while I was waiting in line that I could deposit my money into an ATM.

"What happens if the ATM shreds my money and checks?" I asked. I had heard of this happening with other people at other locations.

"Oh, that won't happen." The Chinese bank woman assured me but instead I remained in line until five minutes later, I was still waiting in line for a deposit. I ended up leaving and making my deposit into Mechanics Bank instead.

Where Else Can You Go?

Credit Unions are another popular alternative. With the Huffington Post "Move Your Money" Campaign, many Americans moved their money from big conglomerate banks to local credit unions. I'm looking to do the same with SF Fire Credit Union, as they offer similar benefits like Bank of America without all the hassle. They even have a coin deposit machine with Coinstar, where customers get a receipt for deposit instead of dealing with paper rolls and penning in account numbers.

Credit Card Hassle

Suffering from credit card theft or having your credit card information stolen is bad enough but when banks (and employers) use this against you, that's just hitting below the belt. Did you know you have to state who your employer is on your credit card? They always check to make sure you're employed.

When I last checked my credit card information (due to a recent information theft), I was shocked to find BofA still had my old employer on my credit card... from 2010! They had never bothered to update this, even after I went in to tell them I moved, changed employers, student status, etc. There's not much communication between BofA and any of its products.

Have you been offered one of those super-high-interest-rates card with extra points and bonus offers? According to Bank of America's Terms and Conditions of BankAmericard Cash Rewards, you could be paying more APR, "Up to 29.99%, based on your creditworthiness.". Also, if you don't spend a lot of money, you may not get all the benefits. "You will earn base cash rewards of 1% for Net Purchases in excess of $1,500 in each quarter in the Bonus Categories." Forget trying to use your card at discount places, since BofA doesn't want poor people using this card. "... please note superstores, discount stores and warehouse clubs are not included in this list".

Doesn't really encourage you to get their credit card, does it? So basically, the card only rewards rich people who spend a bunch of money at high-end stores and gas-guzzling hummers (are people still driving those?).

Privacy Invasion

Mysterious phone calls are also a part of being a BofA customer, though how they get your phone number from the "Do-Not-Call-List" is another mystery. Even if you Opt-out of those offers Bank of America has, their subsidiaries and other companies can contact you--no matter what.

Bank of America Corporation website (https://www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/faq/privacy-choices-faq.go), Your Privacy Choices FAQ's, states:

• What is the five-year opt out language?

When you opt out of direct marketing by mail or telephone, your opt out(s) will last for five years, subject to applicable law. After that, you can choose to renew your opt out(s) for another five-year period.

• Does this five-year expiration apply also to opt outs from third party or affiliate sharing?
  

No, this applies only to the direct marketing opt out for mail or phone contacts.

On those pieces of paper they sometimes mail to you, your choices to Opt-out are limited and BofA still shares your information to others: credit bureaus, businesses, corporations, etc. They share your employment information, your social security number, your living address(es), past rental history, overdue bills and all the things you once thought were private. 

Bank of America Corporation, Set your Privacy Choices, states again:

The types of personal information we collect and share depend on the product or service you have with us.

This information can include:

• Social Security number and employment information

• account balances, transaction history and credit information

• assets and investment experience

Time For Change

If you see this happening at your bank, it's a sign of the times. Due to the 2008 financial crisis and loan fraud fiasco, many people are now skeptical of doing business with banks.

People lost their homes while big bank CEO's and financial advisors got billions of dollars in profits--and they're still getting them. After the bank bailout, courtesy of the U.S.A. government, banks are doing everything they can to keep their profits and as a result, customers are suffering.

Staff cuts, over-reliance on technology and the Online/App crap phase has hit its way into everyday transactions and has made both customers and bank workers very unhappy.

More and more, people are going without paper money or checks. You can even pay rent with a credit card now, though you may have to up your limit to several thousand for San Francisco's rent. RadPad boasts that customers can pay with a credit or debit card and RadPad will mail a paper check to the landlord. It also accepts Apple Pay.

Mobile phones are now used in place of check deposits, direct deposits, cash deposits and coin deposits. That's great for the techies but what if you don't use mobile phones for your banking due to: fraud, hacking, old phones, etc. What if something goes wrong with your phone? Do you really want to keep all that information in some information cloud?

Keeping diverse accounts in multiple banks may be a good idea, except when banks get bought over.

I was once with World Savings Bank, which offered great service, great interest rates and great perks. Then World Savings Bank became Wachovia, which then became Wells Fargo, which made me a very unhappy customer. I then moved my account to a local credit union.

How To Make Change

So, in short, there's not much you can do about Bank of America, Wells Fargo or any of its conglomerates who still hold America and its customers by a financial stranglehold. Many people are stuck with them for home, car and student loans. Some have family accounts that if broken may suffer penalties as a result.

What can you do? Make change! Remember all those tedious paper rolls I was talking about earlier? Use those for your pennies and deposit those into the bank instead of money, checks or direct deposit (assuming you have your main accounts at credit unions). Just keep that one BofA account going, for whatever trap they had put you in, and do the "My Two Cents" deposit until they add up.

Here's what I imagine would happen...

Lines of people around the block (this would be an organized protest on big banks), waiting to deposit their coins. "My Two Cents" would show banks that people want in-person service, respect for all their money and to make banks realize that other people, not just the billionaires, do business with them.

Even if the banks get a coin machine, there would only be one (due to banks' penny-pinching habits) and people would still have to line up to make their deposits.

Assuming people have time to do this (which the unemployed do), this can be done.

Just do the underpaid and overworked bank tellers a favor: put the account numbers on the coin rolls and fill out the deposit sheet properly. Oh, and don't wait for payday, better make it Tuesday instead.

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Emerald Behrens, currently resides in San Francisco, where she writes about social injustice, homelessness and human frailty in general. She is a freelance writer, poet and author of "My Private Collection". She may be contacted at: emerarudo83 (at) gmail (dot) com.

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