Why You Shouldn’t Choose Bank of America

So a few weeks ago, I decided to go online and setup a new checking and savings account. I ended up going with Bank of America since they are almost everywhere, plus I have a loan through them so I wanted to use automatic bill pay.

Anyways, I created the account online and everything went smoothly. I received a new debit card in the mail and activated it as soon as I could. The savings account showed up shortly after, and I was surprised at how easy it all was. The only thing I had to do on paper was sign a form they mailed me and return it to them.

The Problem

The problem I had was when I decided to start using direct deposit to that account from work. I wanted to send some money to my old account, and some to my new account.

So I logged on to my work website, updated all of the information I needed to, and submitted it. I even called Bank of America to get my routing number since I did not receive any checks with that information on it.

Payday came up this past Friday, and my stub showed that some of the money was deposited to my old account and the rest was sent to my new Bank of America account. So far, so good I thought. But I was totally wrong.

The money that was sent to my Bank of America account just straight up vanished. It wasn’t in my account, and it sure wasn’t in my old account. So I got on the phone with my HR department here at work, and asked them about it. They said they would call me back shortly with a resolution.

About 30 minutes later, someone called me back and said everything went through from their side. The paycheck was successfully sent out as planned and I should just give it some to see if it shows up by the end of the day.

End of the Day

Friday came to an end at work, so I took off and headed home. Once I got home I logged on to my account again and still, no money to be found. I called up Bank of America, but could not get someone on the phone to save my life. Voice machine after voice machine, I just kept getting put on hold listening to some crappy ass music.

I thought I would trick them by calling one of the Bank of America’s right by my house. But guess what? Even that number gets redirected back to the same 800 number I had tried calling previously. Once again back to the crappy ass music.

Time To Go To The Bank

After I got sick of all that, I decided to physically go to a Bank of America to talk to someone. So I walked in and gave the teller my information. After a few minutes of silence, the guy responds and says he doesn’t see an account for me anywhere.

I told him I knew for a fact I did and showed him my debit card. I told him it was rather new, and that I just logged into it a few minutes earlier. He then started looking some more but still did not find anything. He turned to me and said:

What State Are You From?

This was the question he asked me after looking for my account the second time. “Arizona”, I told him. “Seriously, where else would I be from, I am standing right here.” He asked me about logging in online and asked what state I had to choose from the drop down menu. Once again I told him Arizona, and that my street address on the current account was also from Arizona.

The Problem Was…

The teller finally found my account, but said it was registered in Virginia! I told him it wasn’t, and that I had never even been to Virginia. As it turns out, any account opened over the internet automatically get registered as a Virginia account. I thought this was the stupidest thing I had ever heard.

When signing up for an account, it even asks you which state you bank in along with your zip code. So from now on, I have to use an out-of-state deposit form to cash checks there. And If I want to move it over to an Arizona account, I have to completely redo the whole account. UGH!!!

What About The Direct Deposit?

As it turns out, the routing number was for an Arizona account. Apparently I have to route my money to Virginia now which takes a different routing number. The thing that really bothered me, was the fact that I called Bank of America and specifically asked which routing number I needed for my account. They asked me what state I was from and I told them Arizona. How was I supposed to know my account was listed under Virginia?

Plus now I am stuck trying to figure out where a good portion of my paycheck went. Not exactly something I want to spend doing with my free time…

My advice, go with Discover for credit cards. They blow Bank of America away.