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.
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.
* * *
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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