Remember that checking account I didn't want that I had to get to see my loan online? Well, I used my Chase debit card to fund my new checking account because I don't carry around checks. I asked the dude that was helping me it was free to use the debit card instead of a check. He said it was; it was an ACH. I see ACH all the time - I think my paycheck is an ACH as well as the bills I have automatically taken out. Okay, sure, ACH me. Here's my card.
Guess who saw a $15 fee on her bank account today for taking a cash advance on her debit card? Yep, me! Don't you love how this desire to see my loan account online has morphed into this beast with a life of its own?
There are some things I know about and some things I don't. I'm very well versed with financial stuff, but I have a rather large gap in knowledge about fees on bank accounts/credit cards/etc. I was told it was going to be an ACH, which I know is different than a cash advance. And...who takes a cash advance on a debit card? I can see taking a cash advance on a credit card, but why on earth would you take a cash advance on a debit card? Wouldn't that just be a withdrawal? It makes no sense to me. I called Chase, and they said Bank of America charged it.
I called the local Bank of America branch to talk to the dude I dealt with on Monday. 3 times I called the branch, and 3 times the phone rang so long that it bumped to the 800 number queue. Remember when I said that dude must have known I'd stalk his butt since he made sure I could see my account online before I left Bank of America? I figured he'd remember me, so I went there. Darn, he wasn't working. But I got another slick guy who majored in finance in college. He had heard my story. He said it wasn't Bank of America; he said it was Chase. I explained that I was told it was an ACH, but it came through as a cash advance & I got a $15 charge. And I didn't want this checking account to begin with. He kept saying it was Chase's fee, and there is no charge on Bank of America's side. Why would Bank of America charge you to get money out of Chase? Eh, perhaps I believe him, but still...I don't want to pay the fee, even if it just is on principle alone.
He will credit $15 to my Bank of America checking account. Whew! Of course he tried to phrase it all as Chase is the evil empire, and why would I want to stay with a bank that charges you to move money 600 feet away (as he pointed to Chase across the street)? Talk about the hard sell.
Fact is: I don't like Bank of America. I don't like Chase. But since I have all my accounts at Chase & it's too much of a hassle to change them, my passive aggressive strategy is to not have any contact with them. Stay out of the Chase branch, don't create any problems where I have to talk to them, and just lie low.
2 comments:
Don't hate me. My father is a banker. And worked for BofA for about 10 years.
My problem with Bank of America is their technological systems can't seem to handle what their monopolistic desires go after.
BOA is winning - they keep buying up things and taking things over from the FDIC. The greedy capitalist in me admires them.
Their infrastructure can't take it though. Can they update their crappy buildings? Can they buy a back-up printer for cashier's checks? Can there be less than 10 people waiting for a teller at any one time? Can they try not to hose people over with cash advance fees when they say it's going to be an ACH (although that might have been Chase - who knows?)?
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