How Bank of America Ripped Me Off
A personal account of how the banking systems in America have designed their standards of practice specifically for the purpose of taking money from average citizens.
Not more than a year ago life was good. I was working in Key West, Florida, cooking for a beautiful ocean side resort. I was making good money, living in a nice house on a tropical island, putting a little bit of that money in the bank for my future, living the American dream. I had an account with Bank of America that I had started in Nevada. They happened to have branches in Key West, so everything was going to work out just fine. It would be smooth sailing for me down in the Keys.
But, the dream didn’t last long. In fact, it began to fall apart after I received my first paycheck from my new job. I was short on cash after moving expenses, and not having a paycheck for almost a month. I had a few bills I needed to catch up on, phone bill, student loan, credit card. I had called my different debtors and told them that I was in the middle of a move and would be able to make them a payment on the given date of my first paycheck from my new job. Everything was working out just fine. At least as far as I knew.
When I went to the Bank of America branch in downtown Key West to cash my paycheck, the teller told me that because I had started my account out of state there would be a three day holding period before my money would be available to use. Just a little setback, I thought. No problem, I’ll just get back on the phone and explain my situation to the bill collectors, everything would be taken care of on Monday. And, sure enough, it was.
A few weeks passed, and I put up with the three day waiting period on my paychecks with only a slight remorse in the back of my mind. I’m not one to cause an uproar, this was their banking rule, I was willing to live with it. After all, Bank of America ATM’s are everywhere, and the debit card looked so sophisticated with my photo on it.
One day, while doing some routine banking at the downtown Key West branch, the teller, who recognized me as a fresh new local, encouraged me to make the change from a Nevada account to a Florida account, in order to avoid the three day holding period on my paychecks. What a brilliant idea. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Because I’m not familiar with all the banking rules involved with in-state, and out-of-state accounts, paycheck holds, etc. I was a layperson in a banking specialist’s world, and this polite person in-the-know was willing to help me. Things were looking up for me. No more waiting for access to my own money. So it seemed.
