Bank Of America - Reaping For All They're Worth

What's with Bank of America, anyway? They accepted a gazillion dollars in federal assistance, raised their interest rates to outrageous, and still can't get a grip.

A notice from Bank of America came to my mailbox a few weeks ago. It was for the credit card I've had with them in one form or another for over fifteen years, one that I regularly use, but always pay off at the end of each month. I use it because it's convenient, it generates points (slowly) that I can use for merchandise or gift cards or even a cash rebate (at $.01 per point, generated at a rate of 1 point per dollar spent). In the letter, Bank of America told me that they were instituting a $50 annual fee for the use of the card. Now, I come from stock that included New England hardscrabble farmers, and when someone tells me to pay them $50 for the privilege of gracing them with about 1 to 3% in profits each and every month on the $1500 to $2000 I spend on household bills, food, auto expenses, etc., I wonder what the world's coming to. ( I think one of their problems is that they have too much real estate and that what they have is overpriced and too fancy. Another is that they have too many employees at the top who make way too much money for what they do, which is ways to make even more. In that regard, they've failed miserably of late, but they continue to make the same bloated wages. President Obama said he was pissed about that, but I guess his being pissed is as far as it's going to go. Other people are angry, too, but in a more desperate and personal way.)

So, I called those folks at Bank of America, and asked why they were going to charge me for their card. The young fellow at the other end of the line didn't have a good answer, just that “it was policy.” When I asked if the fee could be waived for a customer in good standing (great, really – I haven't ever missed a monthly payoff), he said, “That's the one thing they won't let me do. It's the new policy.” “Well, what can you do?”, I asked. His reply was that he could cancel my card and set me up with another card that had a point reward program and no annual fee. And why couldn't he do that with the card that I already had? “Policy,” he said.

So, now I have a new credit card. I'll have a credit check done in about a month or so to see if my credit rating has been affected by dropping one card and getting another. I hear that it sometimes does, even when the holder keeps up on payments. As for the card itself, it's not the familiar orangy-red and yellow intersecting globes on the black background; it's silver with blue highlights. Already I don't like it. It looks weak and ineffective. Sort of the way I feel after dealing with Bank of America.

Care to share a personal story about Bank of America? Here's your chance to do it where just more than underpaid BoA employees will listen.