I went to the Bank of America branch in Lilburn, GA on July 22, 2008 to make a deposit consisting of some cash and checks. I am a server so I have a lot of ones in my deposit but I counted them in to two stacks of $100 consisting of mostly ones but some fives. I counted the money at least 4 times to ensure it was 100% right.

I went through the drive through window to make my deposit even though I thought it probably wasn't a great idea to deposit cash through the drive through. I sent my money to the teller and a couple of minutes later she says that the cash only comes out to $196 and if I want to make the deposit I will have to give them an additional 4 dollars.

I tell the teller that I have counted the money numerous times and tell her to send the deposit back. I pulled forward to recount the deposit and magically $4 in cash is missing. If she was going to steal I would think that she would have at least been smart enough to steal an even amount. I know it is just $4 but it could have been a lot more.

I went in to the bank and closed my account where they proceeded to tell me that I should keep the account open and just do business at another branch. What a joke, what is wrong with this bank that they would rather loose me as a customer than get the $4 from their teller and keep the account open. They can have the $4 but I am taking my account somewhere else.

Hi my name is Sonia Buentello, live on 2301 Lafayette St, Laredo, TX. 78041. My Bank of America credit/debit number is 4744 7200 3125 1313 and I have been ripped off by BOA for more than 1300 dollars in a period of 11 months, this is not fair. There were many times when the amount of my debit purchase was less than 2 dollars and I was later charged 35 dollars because of supposed insufficient funds. The debit purchases would be put in P status then for whatever reason bounce and not go through. I figured if you use your card it should go through ASAP, not days later. I know this is a way for the Bank to make money. It is outrageous! I am a single mother of 4 and have been taken advantage of by this bank. Out of approx 37 or so charges, only 2 were refunded. The last straw came about two months ago when I used my debit card, then the charges had already cleared to C status, and then afterward I used the card a couple of times, and when I checked again the next day, the charges were already in C status were sent back to P status, this is when I realized that I was getting robbed by the people who are suppose to take care of my finances. Please help in getting me back some of these charges. My checking balance is $ –527.30, I could no longer afford to bank with Bank of America. I was forced to change banks.

Sonia Buentello
2301 Lafayette apt 325
Laredo, TX. 78041
(956)401-3528 or (956)712-6276

I want to report on Bank of America's shady policies concerning overdraft fees. I deposited a check into my account one day last month. I waited for it to clear, and when I returned to the bank, I was told the check HAD CLEARED and that I could draw on the money. My wife needed to make a wire transfer abroad, and after getting the bank teller's assurance that the check had cleared and that the money was in our account, she made the transfer.

A week later I am in the bank and make another deposit. Things are fine until I go online later that day to make an online payment and notice that my bank account is overdrawn $900.00!!! Now I was just in the bank earlier that morning with a teller smiling at me. Could she not have mentioned I was $900.00 in the red? Anyway, I go to the 'Personal Banker' immediately to find out what happened. Apparently, the check I had deposited a week earlier had bounced, AFTER my wife had already made the wire transfer with money that was not in our account. So even though I was told by Bank of America's own staff that the funds were available, they actually were not.

I asked the Personal Banker why my wife was allowed to make a wire transfer of $1500 dollars when the check hadn't cleared, and he responded that because I was such a 'preferred customer, ' the Bank gave me the courtesy to 'forward' me the funds (Of course, overdrafts would be charged for the courtesy.)

So now I'm overdrawn $900 dollars, and overdraft fees start to avalanche on me. Bank of America takes no responsibility, and the Personal Banker tells me that 'the computer' won't let him remove the overdraft fees. The Personal Banker also TOLD ME that Bank of America used to not allow customers to draw on funds that were not in their accounts, but that now they DO allow this because overdraft fees are such a large part of the bank's revenue.

I had been a customer at Bank of America for 15 years. I regularly make wire transfers at $50 dollars a pop. This bank may have made a mere $120 dollars on me this time, but they lost much more in potential future revenue. I hope I might warn others about Bank of America's policy.

Do not, I repeat, do not draw on any account until you have absolute proof that your check deposits have in fact truly cleared. Even the bank tellers will tell that you checks have cleared when in fact they have not cleared. If you then draw on these accounts you will be penalized with expensive overdraft fees. I recommend getting a hard copy of cleared checks before any more transactions with your account are made so that you can protect yourself from consumer exploitation.

Bank of America, as subtly told to me by the Personal Banker, relies on CONFUSION and MISCOMMUNICATION to lure you into this kind of mistake. This way they can hit you with several OVERDRAFT FEES. Then they will blame it all on the automated 'computer' system which cannot be over-ridden by the Bank of America staff. How convenient for them to pass the blame onto the faceless master computer.

This experience, along with a few other customer nightmares Bank of America has given me, has made me realize that big international banks cannot service the average American consumer. I am moving my accounts to a smaller local bank and I recommend others do the same.

15 years of customer loyalty meant nothing to Bank of America. I guess my next wire transfer fees will go to another bank now.

We took advantage of the supposedly interest free offer we received in the mail. There was a fee of 3% for the balance transfer, which was unusually high since it had no cap, but not unheard of.

When we got our first bill, there was 21.24% interest charged on the loan fee of $360. It was on the bill as a cash advance. I thought it must be a mistake, but no, they informed me that's what they intended. And the interest started accruing from day 1 of the advance. Isn't that cute? So for $3.60/month in interest they have royally pissed me off and I will tell everyone I think might need to know about this ridiculously greedy practice. One would think that with their bad rep in the news these days, they'd realize it's counterproductive to nickel and dime their customers in this manner.

At the advice of a credit counseling service that is non profit I made arrangements with the 5 credit card companies I had cards with. BOA is the only one that is not paid off in full to this day. They actually collected 300.00 per month for one year while they decided whether they could accept the agreement. None of which went for the balance. I have paid over 5000.00 and still my balance has not gone down. It is the only card service which was unwilling to work with me to get my debt paid off. They are predators.