So, with my not being able to find a job in Dubai yet, you can probably imagine what kind of financial situation we're in.
See, Liz gets paid at the beginning of each month, with a portion of the money being sent to her bank in Dubai and some being sent to her bank in the States. Of course, the first of the month is Friday, and some of our credit card bills are due tomorrow.
This happened last month, too. What made it more frustrating last month was I couldn't find something on the Bank of America website that used to be there.
See, I have a B of A checking account that's about one Alexander Hamilton away from being empty, and a B of A credit card that has a fair balance on it. In August and September I was able to pay my B of A credit card using Liz's non-B of A checking account.
But then last month I couldn't find the feature any more. It was a little hidden the first two times I found it, I remembered, but I seriously looked for several hours last month and it was gone.
Also gone? The live online help.
I wrote an e-mail, to which they were supposed to reply within 24 hours. They didn't.
I finally had to transfer money from Liz's account to my B of A checking, and then pay my B of A credit card with that.
Well, it's the end of the month already and the bill is due again. I logged into my account and see "new mail". This is what it said:
Dear Joshua Edwards,
Thank you for your e-mail. We apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced.
Please note that the only Online Banking feature that allowed you to make payments to your credit card account with a non-Bank of America checking account was the Pay From Another Financial Institution feature. Unfortunately, this payment option has been removed from Online Banking.
You may pay your credit card account with a non-Bank of America checking account by using the Pay by Phone service. This feature is available at 1.800.732.9194, 24 hours day, 7 days a week. There may be a fee for this service.
We apologize for the inconvenience this may be causing you.
We value your business and look forward to serving your banking needs.
Sincerely,
Heather Marks Bank of America
Did you know? You can pay all your bills in minutes with Online Banking with free, unlimited Bill Pay. Sign in to Online Banking and click on the Bill Pay and e-Bills tab to get started paying bills today.
This is, quite frankly, horse shit. I replied to this mail and said just that. I am so incredibly upset right now that I can barely type. My fingers are shaking. Seriously.
They "value your business and look forward to serving your banking needs"?! Um, obviously not you greedy bastards, you took away the one feature that I need. I can't even call 800 numbers from overseas, so now I'm stuck. Again.
I can't wait to walk into the Bank of America in Windham, Maine on December 22 and cancel my account. Sadly that'll be the first thing I do when I get back to the States, and one of the things I look forward to the most now.
I had no problem when Bank of America gobbled up Fleet and all of the other banks that it has in the past decade. Bigger banks mean more ATM locations and, you would think, better online services. Nope.
I have no use for Bank of America now, and urge everyone who has a Bank of America account to take a good hard look at the features and benefits of the smaller, more customer-oriented banks in your region.
You'll never know when they'll force you to switch...
