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Bank Of America Sues ID Theft Victim For $23,312.04

nypost.com — When you are the victim of fraud, you assume that your biggest friend will be your bank. They're the ones that are supposed to help you put your life back together. After identity thieves wiped out a Bronx mom's life savings, her neighborhood bank sprung into action - by slapping her with a lawsuit.

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  • mwsherman, on 10/11/2007, -3/+167"In all, she lost $68,733.77 in the apparent identity-theft scam, according to her lawyer.

    She filed a police report. She filed an affidavit of fraud. She protested to the bank to no avail. Then a series of tragedies - the death of her mother and brother, and her own visits to the hospital for heart failure and pulmonary embolism - distracted her.

    Soon after she got back from a three-day hospital stay last month, Carlo found a court summons under her door. Bank of America was suing her."

    Oh man, how come the Consumerist isn't all over this? This would be a magically delicious way to really make BoA look like fascists.
    • AmateurX, on 10/11/2007, -4/+108They are:

      http://consumerist.com/consumer/fraud/bank-of-america-sues-id-theft-victim-for-2331204-262119.php

      http://digg.com/offbeat_news/Bank_Of_America_Sues_ID_Theft_Victim_For_23_312_04
    • maskidat, on 10/11/2007, -5/+17Let's hope that if she keeps sifting through the soulless morass in Bankworld, she might find one human with a bit of compassion and understanding. Good luck to her!
    • AriaStar, on 10/11/2007, -2/+62AS a victim of ID theft myself, I can tell you from personal experience that the world isn't nice to us. Banks and credit card companies are supposed to back us, but I guess they're getting tired of it. In addition to what we don't get back from banks and credit card companies, it's hell getting credit cleaned up, annoying paying more in interest to buy a car, and aggravating to try moving only to be turned down because your credit score is too low. (Yeah, my ID was completely stolen, not just a safe deposit box or a few charges on a credit card.)

      This woman is in for a roller coaster ride from hell. Whatever she won't end up having to pay to Bank of America will be eaten by the attorneys. The government needs to do more to stop ID theft from being able to happen. Not requiring a social security number as a form of ID would help, for one.

      Though I'm not quite sure how she's able to get disability with that much in savings. When I was in and out of the hospital for four years after being hit by a car, I had to show my assets to be below a certain amount to even be considered.
    • jer2eydevil88, on 10/11/2007, -1/+31If you google bank of america you find lots of other complaints from customers who were defrauded from their savings and BOA left them screwed over. I think all banks are pretty awful and that Credit Unions are the best way to handle finances but BOA is easily the worst IMO.
    • numb, on 10/11/2007, -2/+14Ditto what ariastar said. I've been through hell and back just trying to get someone else's crimes off my record--to no avail. Not only do the banks not care, the government doesn't give a rat's ass about it either. I've written quite a bit about the experience on http://g27.org ... but it's still an ongoing story, because in the end I really haven't gotten anywhere. There's a real problem here that people need to know about!
    • homerj1965, on 10/11/2007, -15/+6They are not bank of america they are Bank a *****.
    • signal15, on 10/11/2007, -2/+39BoA is horrible. I had a credit card with them for several years at 3.9% interest. I bought another house. A couple of months later, they raise my rate on my existing balance to 24.9%, and make my limit lower than what I have on the card in order to charge me "overlimit" fees. When I call to find out why, they tell me that they do periodic reviews of their customers, and if their debt/income ratio gets worse, then they raise the rate and lower the limit accordingly. I've always made my payments on time too.

      So even though I didn't make any payments late, it still hurt my credit score because I was overlimit on the card, and my total available credit to amount used was a much lower ratio. They would happily charge people 200% interest if it was legal.

      BoA is a bunch of ***** crooks, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were out of business in a couple of years. I will never do business with them again, and I hope they go down in flames with prison terms for all of the execs.
    • slsanity, on 10/11/2007, -1/+55I worked for BoA for about 6 months in a telephone customer service department. BoA's system uses your account activity, daily average balances, number of overdrafts per year, ect. to create a number called your "matrix allowance". This number is the amount of money BoA will allow the account to slip into the negative until it stops authorizing withdrawal transactions. The reason they told us it existed was to allow customers to complete transactions before a deposit. Basically so you can go shopping for more than was in the account, then run to the bank and make your deposit. So long as the deposit was before the cut-off time (different per-state, sometimes even per-town) the deposit would be credited before the debit during nightly processing and no overdraft would occur. The weird part about the whole system was some customers would have matrix allowances in the tens of thousands of dollars, and sometimes matrix allowances would stay above $0 even after the account went though nightly processing as a negative balance. Also I noticed the system "awarded" higher matrix allowances to people who would overdraft and pay the fees, as opposed to people who never overdrafted. Also during nightly processing, after deposits are credited the system will deduct debits in a highest to lowest fashion.
      So lets say you had $1,000 in the bank, and did 6 transactions. One for $1,000, the other 5 for $1. The order you actually did the transactions means nothing. The $1,000 would be deducted first, followed by the 5 $1 transactions, and you would be nailed for 5 overdraft fees. The reason, they explained to us, they did this was so the bank would pay more "important" transactions first. This way your electric bill got paid before your candy bar at the local 7-11. This didn't make any sense to me because debit transactions are approved at the time of the sale, and can't be rejected after the fact.
    • ubuwalker31, on 10/11/2007, -10/+5"They couldn't see my funds were depleted? What kind of bank would give an overdraft of $23,000? We are not talking about $100," she said.
      vs.
      "$23,312.04. It's money the bank claims she overdrew in a two-month home-shopping spending spree after already exhausting $38,000 from her own savings."

      I'm not sure who I believe here. There isn't enough information. However, both of these parties seem negligent, in my book. The bank was negligent by extending her a $23k loan. The fraud victim was negligent for not bringing the unusual banking activity to her banks attention immediately. IMHO, the bank (and its insurance company/federal reserve insurance) should eat the cost.
    • h4x0r1ng, on 10/11/2007, -14/+8"Carlo, a retired clerk with the city's Human Resources Administration, takes home just $2,110 a month from her pension and Social Security disability benefits." Who retires at 51 with pension from a clerical job? Government employees, that's who. Your tax dollars not at work.
    • SecondGuesser, on 10/11/2007, -7/+25Something's fishy.

      How did the thieves charge TV shopping purchases to a savings account? If it was stolen debit card, why did it take her so long to resolve? Why didn't she ask for a new debit card ASAP?

      Exactly how did a seven-year CD "vanish"? Do you guys know what's required to close out a CD prior to maturity? It takes a bank visit -- and also an IRS form to walk out with more than $10,000. And a stolen debit card isn't enough ID to complete that transaction.

      I've worked all over banking and fraud departments, and her story just isn't adding up. I don't buy it.
    • slsanity, on 10/11/2007, -1/+30I can try to answer some of these, but it's really situational:

      "How did the thieves charge TV shopping purchases to a savings account? If it was stolen debit card, why did it take her so long to resolve? Why didn't she ask for a new debit card ASAP?"

      BoA has a "feature" called overdraft-protection, which will automatically pull money from a linked saving account or credit card if the account would otherwise go negative. This has to be setup by the customer.

      "Exactly how did a seven-year CD "vanish"? Do you guys know what's required to close out a CD prior to maturity? It takes a bank visit -- and also an IRS form to walk out with more than $10,000. And a stolen debit card isn't enough ID to complete that transaction."

      I've seen CDs closed right over the phone, with the money deposited directly into another account. The tax forms are mailed.
    • JohnFive, on 10/11/2007, -8/+3"This woman is in for a roller coaster ride from hell. Whatever she won't end up having to pay to Bank of America will be eaten by the attorneys. The government needs to do more to stop ID theft from being able to happen. Not requiring a social security number as a form of ID would help, for one."

      NO, the government should do nothing. We the people should not buy into the government protecting us, look at how ***** they are doing now, do you really want them to 'protect' even more. Everyone has the power to vote with their dollar at any time they wish. Start buy taking out your money and putting it in another bank of your choosing (personally I like local banks). As far as I am concerned I will actively stop doing direct business with BOA and keep a very minimal indirect relationship (as much as possible anyways).
    • SecondGuesser, on 10/11/2007, -3/+5@sl

      ***BoA has a "feature" called overdraft-protection, which will automatically pull money from a linked saving account or credit card if the account would otherwise go negative. This has to be setup by the customer.***

      Fair enough. But the article said that there were dozens of transactions that happened before the balance got to zero. Why did the customer not report the fraud during this time?

      ***I've seen CDs closed right over the phone, with the money deposited directly into another account. The tax forms are mailed."***

      When I was a teller at a bank that eventually became BofA, we could also initiate CD closures over the phone, but if the amount was greater than $10,000, that customer had to appear at the branch to SIGN the IRS form. That policy may have changed, but I doubt it. In any case, when the customer received those tax forms, she should have called up to say that she didn't request the transaction.

      I still don't buy the story. But I have confidence that the court will decide this one fairly. Banking is not a business short on documentation. We'll get to the bottom of this.
    • cliffzdude, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4I'm no fan of BofA, nor an I fan of any bank really. They're thieves, damn straight. However, how is it some lady can "say" that xy and z happened to her and its so ***** easy to assume that she's NOT full of *****??? Is it so hard to imagine the lady went off the deep end and went on a TV shopping binge? With the vendor's phone records, and BofA's CC records, something tells me BofA may have something on this lady...

      Again, no fan of big banks here but the assumption that if its on the Internet, and some lady says it happened to her, then it must be true, well, I find this ***** totally ***** amazing. Mind you if it is her fault, if she went on a shopping binge, she has a huge reason to lie her ass off.
    • alarion, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10I have had one account with BoA - it was a savings account I was attempting to open with my ex-wife (we had just gotten married at that time) to deposit the money we received from family/friends from our wedding.

      The wouldn't allow us to open a joint account because of her credit. For a savings account. Who the ***** checks credit for a *savings* account? Checking? Sure, check it if you like. But not savings. I actually did open a savings account with them, but closed it not long after. I refuse to ever open any account with BoA again.
    • nigh7dagger, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Why doesn't anyone check the address everything was shipped to and find out if it was her? I agree, a lot of facts are missing.
    • mousky, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2@secondguesser: "Fair enough. But the article said that there were dozens of transactions that happened before the balance got to zero. Why did the customer not report the fraud during this time?"

      No, the article said that there were dozens of transactions the SAME day.
    • MindStalker, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1@slsanity Bahh, thats nothing, the bank I used to be with (local credit union) would screw you over for all charges.

      Lets say you have $100 in the bank, had 4 $20 debit charges and a check for $21 for instance..
      They would put the 4*$20 on "hold" then process the check, leaving you with negative 1 charge you a NSF fee, THEN they would unhold the 4 and charge you a bounce fee on each and every one of those. I'm serious!

      I filed a complaint with the FEC, never heard anything back from them, bank just said thats how our system works, you can have your 1 complementary per year bounce reversal... but the other 4 are ours.
    • scot184, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0The issue here is the statute of limitations. Banks protect you the most if you report your credit card missing before fraudulent activity takes place. Same with identity theft...she must have let this go on for a long, long time for the bank to stick her with all the charges. Meaning they likely thought she was guilty. More is explained below

      http://www.thetruthaboutcreditcards.com/what-to-do-if-you-lose-your-credit-card/
    • liquidcoooled, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I'm less interested about the blame game and want to know where all the goods went.
      They were ordered from somewhere known and delivered to *somewhere*, why isn't anyone following this up?

      If they were delivered to her house then alarm bells should be ringing, and IF they went to her house I would suggest politely that she ***** up herself.
    • daveeemc2, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0so, does this mean that former employees (myself included) can turn around and sue them for this?
      http://www.charlotte.com/business/story/130910.html
  • stopple, on 10/11/2007, -2/+41There is wack, there is superwack, and then there is the realm of bankers.
    • bmartin, on 10/11/2007, -2/+21I got rid of my BoA account when they started charging me $5.95/mo for a maintenance fee on my checking account because I *wasn't* depositing my paycheck into it. If that isn't screwed up, I don't know what is.

      What they do is simply wrong. I use HSBC; I can do everything online and the security is great (although the login is annoying, it's very secure, even against a key logger). There's no limit on transfers or any of that other garbage you get w/ BoA. If you don't like HSBC, use something else... just don't stick with BoA. They're scum.
    • merreborn, on 10/11/2007, -20/+6"I got rid of my BoA account when they started charging me $5.95/mo for a maintenance fee on my checking account because I *wasn't* depositing my paycheck into it."

      Cry more. That's standard in the industry. Checking is only free if you either do direct deposit, or let them set up an automatic transfer from your checking to you savings (usually $25/month).

      It's exactly the same at wells fargo and Wamu.
    • SelfAbortion, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5I've had checking accounts at a couple of institutions and never been charged a maintenance fee. Maybe it's a regional thing? Maybe lack of research on the consumer's end or lack of advertising on the bank's end? Seems like competition would force many banks to get rid of maintenance fees if competitors are doing so.
    • slsanity, on 10/11/2007, -7/+3Not sure why merreborn is being dugg down, he's 100% correct. It is industry practice to wave checking fees if you have direct deposit into the account. I suggest you shop around, some banks (especially newer one) are truly free checking (with or without direct deposit), and even offer free ATM access from non-bank ATMs, because their ATM network isn't as large. BoA has the largest ATM network in the country, and thus can charge their customers for such a network (remember non-bank ATMs will nail your for using their ATMs, not just your bank).
    • trane262, on 10/11/2007, -8/+0Bank of America has no sympathy for retards.
  • M4tt3r, on 10/11/2007, -4/+11-meant as a reply to ^mwsherman

    "In all, she lost $68,733.77 in the apparent identity-theft scam, according to her lawyer."

    And that's [without] lawyer fees. Poor women, (no pun intended) I can't imagine losing $68,000 in life savings. That's pretty much taking years away from her life that she'll never get back. Physically and emotionally.


    /unless pro-bono, which I hope it is, because she doesn't need more stress.
    • ChronicColonic, on 10/11/2007, -21/+4Why would the lead singer from U2 have anything to do with this? Did you qualify his name with 'pro' so we would not get confused with Bono's evil twin brother who cannot sing for crap, amateur-bono?
    • arenas46, on 10/11/2007, -5/+4Pro-bono means "for the public good"
      "In some cases pro bono counsel may assist an individual or group on a legal case, in filing government applications or petitions or on appeal."

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro-bono


      :D
    • ChronicColonic, on 10/11/2007, -8/+1@arenas46

      Thank you for the info... My comment above was a very poor attempt at humor. I expected it to be Dugg down upon clicking the Submit Comment button.
  • hdtvdust, on 10/11/2007, -43/+2Why should the bank be the one to help you put your life back together?
    • blaneg, on 10/11/2007, -2/+20Because banks choose to ignore suspicious activity. Safeguards need to be put into place that will automatically throw on the breaks when excessive spending occurs.
    • Ramble, on 10/11/2007, -2/+22Because the theives stole the money from the bank, and they didn't even enquire about it?
    • sjbdallas, on 10/11/2007, -0/+24Because the bank is the one whose services are being leveraged to steal someone's money.
      Banks could put tools in place to practically eliminate identity theft but they dont' because it's cost prohibitive. BofA in particular is already relying on fees to make their profits (see stories regarding their last quarter statements) so they are not about to invest in anything.
    • manifestdata, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10@hdtvdust
      Is that what you got from this article? If it is, I think you need to stop skipping middle school and retake literature.

    • detlev409, on 10/11/2007, -0/+17Actually, no one's asking them to help her put her life together. We'd be really pleased if they'd stop suing her for someone else's crime, though. That'd be something.

      Oh, and maybe own up to the fact that they didn't safeguard the finances left in their keeping. That'd be a bonus, though.
    • smokatronic, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10Mainly because you lend them your money and make them rich. In exchange, they provide a "safe" place for your funds and a really small amount of interest. What, you thought they were just sitting on your money as a personal favor to you, and not using it to, say... invest or anything?
    • rnwen2750, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11I think hdtvdust is trolling again.
    • Otto, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5>>>"Why should the bank be the one to help you put your life back together?"

      Well, because it's the freakin' law would be a start.

      If somebody empties out your bank accounts, and it's not you, then the bank is liable for all but up to $500 of it. They owe her that money back. Period.
    • SecondGuesser, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2@otto

      You're wrong. That regulation applies only to credit card accounts (or transactions charged through debit cards), not to withdrawals or checks written against checking or savings accounts.

      Additionally the ACTUAL amount varies from state to state.
    • jsballardx, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Banks should have something set up where it doesn't allow you use your debit card when you overdraft in the first place. But they want the fees so they will continue to allow people to overdraft which is total bs.
    • Hambone72, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I think banks should be more culpable in situations like these. Just look at who gave whom the money.
      The lady *never* gave away any of her money, she put it in the bank whose responsibility it was to safeguard said money.
      The bank, then gave the money to 'identity thieves'.
  • gamersedge, on 10/11/2007, -8/+9Dirty SOB's
  • LeafsIn07, on 10/11/2007, -21/+7If we all had computer chips implanted in us this wouldn't happen!

    I mean, sure, we would be slaves, but no one would be able to steal our meager earnings.
    • sjbdallas, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7Really? You don't think computer chips can be copied? Besides, the technology exists for us to use our fingerprints for everything and that doesn't require an implant.
    • bmartin, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4"the technology exists for us to use our fingerprints for everything and that doesn't require an implant."

      In related news, a new kind of crime has been springing up all over the place: murdered victims are being found with their index finger removed.

      Retinal scan FTW! [/sarcasm]
    • merreborn, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3"Besides, the technology exists for us to use our fingerprints for everything and that doesn't require an implant."

      Most fingerprint-based biometric technology on the market is laughable, and easily defeated.
    • SanTe, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2"Retinal scan FTW! [/sarcasm]"

      In related news, a new kind of crime has been springing up all over the place: murdered victims are being found with an eyeball removed.
    • w3bsmith, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Digging up as funny (you couldn't possibly be serious)
    • nathron, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1i can just picture a guy in a tinfoil hat getting absolutely furious and digging down Leafsin07's comment.

      it was obviously sarcasm.. ahaha
  • colinbg, on 10/11/2007, -3/+23Banks should be responsible for all ID theft period, if this were the case, ID theft would vanish if FDIC did not reimburse the banks for the lost money. Banks know how to manage money, they would stop ID theft if they were the ones responsible.
  • berb, on 10/11/2007, -4/+6Assuming this story is credible, that's terrible. Dugg it up for awareness, hopefully something will be done about this ASAP.
  • Destruckt, on 10/11/2007, -5/+6If you go to a bank the people who serve you in general are nice people(which you hope the company itself is like), to bad the actual bank itself is an evil foaming at the mouth dog.
    • w3bsmith, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1My general experience is the people think your scum, unless you come on pay day and plop down 10k or more. Then they want you to buy a CD.
  • Kenzan, on 10/11/2007, -3/+8This has been pretty much par for the course for BofA for at least 20 years.
    Wells Frago isn't far behind.
  • GQCarrick, on 10/11/2007, -0/+28That is terrible. My parents are going through something similar. Someone, we don't know who, claimed my parents on their taxes as dependents. So my parents can't get their return until they file TONS of paperwork. Then once they do get their return, the person who did it, gets a slap on the wrist by the government AND gets to keep the money and told not to do it again. The only way this person will see jail time is if my parents file a lawsuit against them, whoever they are. How terrible is that? My parents are super safe and shred everything, never give out their SS# or anything, but because the Veteran's Administration lost a laptop, one time, they have to go through crap like this. I feel for the lady, that is absolutely terrible to go through.
  • mablco, on 10/11/2007, -12/+1i dont understand how SHE doesnt realize someone was spending all that money. they didnt spend all of her money in one day, after the first or second time you should notice these things and contact the bank asap before the ***** hits the fan. just helps to protect yourself. either way though, BofA is a terrible bank.
    • DivisibleByZero, on 10/11/2007, -0/+15TFA says the money was withdrawn in a matter of days. She's probably not paranoid enough to check her bank statement on an hourly basis. Old people like that generally wait for the monthly snail-mail to come in.

      " She filed a police report. She filed an affidavit of fraud. She protested to the bank to no avail. Then a series of tragedies - the death of her mother and brother, and her own visits to the hospital for heart failure and pulmonary embolism - distracted her.
      Soon after she got back from a three-day hospital stay last month, Carlo found a court summons under her door. Bank of America was suing her. "

      She filed police reports and attempted to contact the bank before they sued her.
  • CraigJ, on 10/11/2007, -0/+31I've been screwed by BofA before. They made a mistake on my account in 1987 and have been trying to get money out of me for 20 years. The original mistake was $250, last time they contacted me they wanted close to $2000. Luckily it is past the 7-year mark and doesn't appear on my credit report any more, so when the collection agency calls (a new one every year it seems) I can cheerfully tell the to ***** off and I would love a summons to see them in court. They have tried to reset the date on this 2 times by selling the debt to a new collection agency, so I have to watch my report. I hate these assholes. They screw up, and expect you to pay for it. I hope she beats them in court and collects lawyer fees and gets punitive damages. It is their *****-up broken system that allowed this to happen in the first place.
    • drafhk, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9***** punitive damages. File a counter-suit and sue them for millions.
    • nicc, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0the 7 year term is now 10 years. not sure when the change occured but it was at least 1-2 years ago.
  • weekapaug81, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6Hate The Bank.
  • WanderLink, on 10/11/2007, -1/+11I'm glad I don't use Bank of America.
    • CraigJ, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4The all pretty much suck, really. I get the best service from a small credit union...
  • Khabi, on 10/11/2007, -9/+3I don't know how long it takes to clear up a problem like that, but for one it says that the money was taken out in 2005. Did she not notice her life savings dropping until recently? The article is a bit unclear about that. If thats the case, I'd hate to do this, but I would probably take the banks side on this. You should keep tabs on your accounts at least more then once every few years (I check mine at the very least monthly).

    On my side tho, I do use BofA. For me they've been really good. I get calls whenever anything *strange* happens on my accounts. Online purchases included, hell I get a call if I mistype my PIN (usually within 24 hours even). Either her branch sucks, or there is something more to the story I guess. :/
  • bimtott, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Make sure you check out where you are putting your money. Just because you are seeing more and more credit card companies and banks advertise their "fraud amnesty" policies doesn't make it the standard across the industry. Luckily, she has the law on her side, even if B of A pretends that this lawsuit is justified.
  • uselessexpert, on 10/11/2007, -10/+5But...hold on a sec...
    Was this woman getting ANY monthly bank statements? Checking her account periodically?
    I don't mean to sound like the evil ***** here, but damn!!!

    I check my account at least once a week. And I am a Bank of America customer, and would not change them for the world.
    • jsballardx, on 10/11/2007, -3/+3Then you are an idiot. They are so corrupt and shady just give it time then you will owe them your soul.
    • Wootery, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7"And I am a Bank of America customer, and would not change them for the world."

      A fanboy for a bank? wtf?
  • dogatemycompute, on 10/11/2007, -9/+2Its her fault for not being intelligent enough to do some research and avoid Bank of America to begin with.

    If you have the option then get an account with a local credit union. Bank of America, Wells Fargo, PNC Bank.. etc.. are all scum.

  • DivisibleByZero, on 10/11/2007, -4/+3Mmm, poorly designed automated systems are fun. Maybe they should add somewhat of a human element to check who they sue....
  • Kenzan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+16Here's what I love about banks:
    You give them your money, they use it combined with others to make high interest yield, short term loans to other banks, then they have the gall to give you a measly 3 to 5% if you are lucky. But then they make this money back by charging you outrageous fees to do things with YOUR MONEY!!
    Grrrr.
  • knobtwiddler, on 10/11/2007, -2/+22nobody should be using bank of america anyway. they give accounts and loans to illegals immigrants with no ID... with no way to collect fraudulent loans and money laundering, citizens end up paying for it.
  • dogatemycompute, on 10/11/2007, -10/+0
    Its her fault for using Bank of America.

    I moved to a local credit union years ago. I have NEVER had a problem with any credit union I have ever done business with. Most of the time they have a wider arrange of services and better rates than any bank.
  • trer, on 10/11/2007, -2/+25Your money is safer in a big sack under your bed than it is at Bank of America.
  • nwvanport, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13"Overdraft Protection..." the most ridiculous fraud the banks ever created
    • CraigJ, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Agreed. Hey - go ahead and write that check, we'll gladly charge you $37.50 for the privilege.
  • Tenroh, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6I've never had a problem with Bank of America. Last week I was out of state and bought $2k worth of "stuff", before the store could complete the transaction they had to call BoA so that BoA could talk to me to see if it was really me. Everytime I seem to purchase something of value greater than $1k from out of state they always "confirm" that it is me. Kind of annoying, but at least it works.

    Very sorry to hear of such bad things coming from BoA.
  • commiebob, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7Yet another reason to stash my life saving of $30 under my pillow instead of in a Bank
    • SecondGuesser, on 10/11/2007, -2/+0Cause it's much safer there, right?
  • mcse2k3, on 10/11/2007, -6/+2I don't buy the story... I'm not saying that it is untrue, but come on.... Think about the story in general. A women is a victim of Identity theft, she loses 68K (roughly), and HER bank sues her for 23K+. BS. There must be some evidence that indicates she did the spending. There more to this..... Where are the items that were purchased? It's stupid to air a story like this without all the details that determine if it is true or BS.
  • Snarfy, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6For everyone bitching that it is her fault for chosing BoA, I challenge you to find a decent job that pays in cash. I know If I could, I would never EVER use a bank.

    • gemlarin, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3My local supermarket provides free check cashing as long as your making a purchase. Once A week I go in to buy a pack of gum.
  • ManHammer, on 10/11/2007, -2/+9BofA is a horrible company. Pull your money out and boycott it now.
    • SecondGuesser, on 10/11/2007, -4/+0That's genius! Run on the bank! Everyone will get all of their money back just fine if we all withdraw it at the same time!

      Sometimes I feel so alone here. Ever heard of the words "reserve requirements"?
    • Zain123, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0"Reserve requirements" are a percentage of what the bank holds from its customers. If it holds nothing, then there are no reserve requirements.
  • AdageAcorn, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6I know I would never have a Bank of America account after what happened to a friend of mine. She had an account with them while she was going to school and once when she deposited a several thousand dollar student loan check. The bank lost it and she would have never gotten credit for the money if she hadn't written "For Deposit Only" with the bank account number under her signature.

    I do feel for this woman in the story and I sincerely hope that she gets every penny of her money back... plus interest, plus damages.
  • Sendss, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Who would have thought that a part owner of the federal reserve would be so cold?
  • voxiso, on 10/11/2007, -3/+9i guess she wasnt a illegal mexican
    • voxiso, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7if u ever watched the news you would know
  • CaptainHarlock, on 10/11/2007, -3/+4She could always rob the bank for the exact amount of money she's being sued for. After exiting she could remove her mask and walk back in with the money the bank wants.
    Fool-proof plan unless Chuck Norris is there.
  • Skooma714, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2I withdrew 200 by accident at the ATM today at Citibank, I put it right back in but I hope they don't start *****.


    Why does this story remind me of "The Misfortunes of Virtue"? The innocent woman suffers while the banks gets richer and the criminal is enriched too.

    She should change her name to Justine.
  • hagbard72, on 10/11/2007, -0/+10For seventy grand they bought seven hundred grand worth of bad publicity. Good goin'.
  • Nysul, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Uhg I was just about to switch to BoA from Wells Fargo. Now I have no idea what I am going to do. Where I live the local Wells Fargo gets about a transaction a month wrong and acts in general unprofessional. BoA is probably going to be the same.
  • fani, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7I am a current BoA customer (from Fleet takeover) and I'm appalled how poor their service is.

    01. I hate their ridiculous phone answering system. PLEASE get me a human being instead of the stupid robotic voice.
    02. My ATM card got stolen. I called them up to cancel it. They said it'll be taken care of. A week later, it was still not cancelled
    and I had a $70 fraud on it. After I complained I had to go to the center to explain before they refunded the money. I had to
    file a claim and fax them several statements. Ridiculous. Amex handles fraud much better

    All in all, their only saving grace is their online banking. That works decently. ( save for those goddamn offers each time you logout. They even sell your address and i keep getting spam offers from BoA. I called them re. it, but they claim there's no way to stop it )

    I'm seriously considering switching to Wachovia or JPMorganChase
    • erichexagon, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2JPMorganChase? They just lost a bunch of customer private data and not too long ago were embroiled with some other scandal - don't go there.
    • cawpin, on 10/11/2007, -1/+7Chase ***** blows. I was a Bank One customer before they got bought. BO wasn't the BEST but they weren't nearly as bad as Chase. I just had to go INTO the ***** bank on Friday because the "Deposit" button wasn't on the touch screen of the drive thru ATM. I have direct deposit but had a reimbursement check from work that I had to put in. I had the damned envelope all ready to go, put in my card, punch in my PIN and....WTF, no deposit? So I go in and tell them what's up and they say, "Oh, we don't handle the ATMs outside, we only handle the ones inside the building." WTF!?!?!!?!? You don't handle YOUR ATMs attached to YOUR building? They are getting worse by the month.
  • jenncherry99, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2I don't understand why she didn't make the bank aware of the activity asap. I know you can't always catch it right away, but to go on for two months? Either this woman was really dumb not to check her bank statements or she was the one charging...I am irresponsible when it comes to money, but I would never go two months letting someone steal my money.
  • siszam, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4I hope she files a counter suit from emotional distress and whatever esle she can and makes a bundle. Everyone should go to www.daveramsey.com and find a contact for identity theft insurance. Then if your identity is stolen they do the work for you to straighten it out. I imagine it would cover legal as well.
  • erichexagon, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6Bank of America is to banking as McDonald's is to nutrition
  • kidcoconut, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3I feel bad for the lady.
    Links for any victims.
    http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/
    http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs17a.htm
  • trane262, on 10/11/2007, -6/+2People that can't keep track of their own finances always look to pass the blame when something goes wrong.
    I would notice the first fraudulent transaction and contact the bank immediately. It's the account holder's responsibility to track the spending, not the bank's.

    Once the investigation finds that the charges are fraudulent the lawsuit will be dropped.
  • slsanity, on 10/11/2007, -5/+1Replied in the wrong spot, digg down.
  • mandarin, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Scummy bank....
  • Dustin00, on 10/11/2007, -11/+2Banks suck. Bank of Satan is one of the worst.

    Move to a Credit Union, you dumb-asses.

    Especially if you have more than $5,000 in savings. At that point, I suspect your credit rating is finally decent enough to be accepted as a member.
    • Khabi, on 10/11/2007, -0/+15Digg Comment checklist:
      ---------------------------------------
      [x] Generalized statement
      [x] 'Clever' change of a (companies / persons) name
      [x] Direct insult
      [x] In-direct insult
      [ ] Comment about a minority

      You almost got them all in that one post! Good job!
    • jsballardx, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Khabi what the hell made you take all the time to change write up something clever just to zing someone you will never ever meet?

      I like it though.
    • Dustin00, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2It's very easy to generalize against banks since they stack on fees all over ther place.

      My credit union:
      pays interest on my CHECKING ACCOUNT. No bank does that (not all credit unions do either, but many do)
      has savings accounts that around 2% higher than any bank in the area
      charges < $20 NSF check fees (or something low -- I don't bounce checks)
      Doesn't charge for taking money out of an ATM
      Doesn't charge to talk to a teller
      Has people who speak English as a first language (or are so good, you can't tell) on their tech support line 24/7.

    • Khabi, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Dustin00:
      Your second post there is helpful! Congrats! (I mean it in a non spiteful way this time)

      jsballardx:
      Didn't take any time really. I noticed that trend awhile ago. Watch the digg comments and you'll notice that almost all of them have *at least* one of those in them. The comments with the most diggs on them usually have more then one. :D
      Unless the people actually post something insightfull.
    • ubuwalker31, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1@Dustin00
      BoA doesn't charge to use their ATMs, and they are everywhere
      BoA has interest checking if you keep a high balance
    • Dustin00, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Also: Banks are making $50 billion in service charges.

      Credit Unions do not.
  • Jimmyinnz, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2Sorry
    Something doesn't ring true here and I suspect it's both parties. The bank never advised her that her accounts were showing a lot of unusual activity. She didn't check her statements. The police apparently are not involved. The delivery address for the goods has not been ascertained.
    There's a lot of money involved.
    • Sambone67, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Yeah, there's more to it than what we're getting from this story.
      The New York Post isn't high on my 'truthiness' list either...
  • mrwiggles123, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1This is the second thing that Bank of America has done to drive me away from them. I don't remember the first, but i remember it was big

    Well, none of my friends or family is going with yall anymore
  • TheHustler101, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Banks spend millions of dollars on their advertising budgets and coming up with catchy slogans to make you think they are all warm and fuzzy. However, I haven't been served by a single bank that has actually backed their advertised claims with decent, common sense customer service.

    The bigger they are, they more they screw over the little guy.
  • DAE51D, on 10/11/2007, -2/+10***** BANK OF AMERICA.

    I hate those ass-clowns. They're the sketchiest, worst bank I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with.

    I once sold a mixing console (Mackie D8B) for $14,000 on ebay. Long story short, I was given a counterfiet certified check from the freight company on his behalf, which I deposited in BofA. It sat there for like 2 weeks. I even kept it in my savings account, separate from my checking, until it cleared. Then I went on vacation, and while I was there, I got a call from BofA saying that the check bounced, they were freezing my account, and cancelling me as a customer and I could never join with them again!!!! I was stuck in New Orleans with the $60 cash in my pocket and had 4 days left there. I had been banking with them for nearly 15 years at that point.

    So they blamed the victim. I had no idea the check was counterfiet!!!

    BTW, the police caught the guy and put him in federal prison, as I was obviously not the only person he scammed. But I never got my money or my board back.
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