How Bank of America quietly steals your money

TL;DR. Bank of America charged me a “Monthly Maintenance Fee” of $12.00 on my checking (debit) account twice during last year, even though my monthly balance was never below the required minimum to avoid such fees. Both times they reversed the fee, after I called, explaining that it was a software error. Except after it happened the second time, I don’t believe them. If you are BoA customer with a checking account, it’s a good idea to check if you have been charged similar fees as well.

At the end of the day today I went to my BoA checking account to see the balance. Right away, I noticed “Monthly Maintenance Fee” of $12.00 charged last Friday. I have been BoA customer for many years (actually I was a Fleet bank customer since late 1990s, and then became a BoA customer when Fleet got purchased by BoA). I know the rules about what to do to avoid the maintenance service fees. Some time last year, when examining my online statement, I found a $12.00 service fee applied for no reason. I called their customer service, had them apologize for the mistake and the fee reversed. Back then I decided it was indeed some sort of a software glitch, as they explained, which BoA, being a big bank with millions of customers like me, will soon fix. I almost forgot about the case when I had exactly the same fee happening again today, over six months after the original case. They of course claim they will investigate (just like they did last time) but this time I have all reasons to believe it’s not an error which was unknown to them.

Their plan is simple: how many of us have time to examine hundreds of transactions most of us have every month listed on a statement, and notice a small $12 fee? Those few who, like me, notice a wrong fee and call, do get it reversed. The rest of us get charged the “maintenance fee” - for no reason. Nice plan, isn’t it? And they can always blame the software, and promise to investigate.

How many millions of dollars they wrongfully charged over the last year (as I explained earlier, this happened to me first over six months ago), only Bank of America knows. But it does know. They have tens of millions customers with checking accounts, and I refuse to believe I am the only one who had been charged like this and called.

So, if you happen to be their client with a checking account, maintaining your monthly balance above the required minimum (it varies state by state) it’s a good idea to search for such transactions. As far as I am concerned, I am closing all of my BoA accounts as soon as I technically can. They lost all of my trust, and I refuse to deal with a bank like this.