The Writer’s Coin

I’ve written about my experiences with Bank of America before (when they botched a large deposit/transfer) and today I have another story to share with everyone.

I pay my credit card in full every month and now that M and I have a joint account, that’s where our moneys get deposited. But for whatever reason, I made a huge mistake while I was paying off last month’s card. I sent a payment to the wrong card (one with zero balance) and I paid for it with my personal account, which now has very little money.

To recap: sent a large payment from the wrong account (with insufficient funds) to the the wrong card (one with no balance). This caused my personal account to go into the red by over a thousand dollars. Not pretty. And it’s the kind of stuff that makes me very nervous until I get it settled.

This is one of those times that obsessively checking your accounts can come in handy: I noticed the mistake the day it happened and marched to the bank ASAP. On my way there, I knew I might have incurred some fees — after all, it was my fault. So I went and I was very nice, very quiet, I didn’t raise my voice, etc. Doing everything you’re “supposed” to do to get your way in terms of customer service (i.e. not being a jerk). So I get there and explain the problem. I’m told that, because the payment hasn’t posted yet, I may be able to transfer money into my bank account without affecting the payment. So we make the transfer from our joint to my personal and I’m thinking everything is all good. I go back to work.

That’s when I realized that I had paid the wrong card. Oops. So the next day I went back and was Mr. Nice again (as well as Mr. Stupid). I explained the situation and was told I needed to call customer service, they can’t deal with the credit cards (even though they are BofA issued) at the bank. I asked about fees and they told me that I’d probably incur a $25 fee. Which makes me angry because I messed up and I hate giving banks my money for handling my money.

I had a plan: I would ask to have the fee waived, they would say no, then I would call the customer service number and tell them I wanted it waived. “I just came from the bank and they told me it would be waived but I needed to call you guys first.” It worked last time! So I asked and the manager said I had to call customer service. Interesting. So they can’t really do anything at my local branch, which is interesting.

So I call the card people, I’m totally nice by the way. We chuckle a bit at my mistake, she says she’ll transfer the payment from the $0 card to the correct one, and is there anything else she can do for me? Thanks! I call the bank about the fee and I have my story all ready to do (”since I caught the mistake before you guys did they said they would waive the fee”) and the lady just goes, “OK sir, just a minute.” I hear some keyboard clacks and then, “OK I have credited your account with the $25, is there anything else I can do for you?”

Nope, I’m all set! While I did pay $4.50 this month for an ATM withdrawal I had to make, it’s nice to know BofA values their longtime customers enough to waive this kind of stuff if asked nicely. I wonder if it had anything to do with my history with the bank, credit-card activity, etc. Is there a stamp on my account that says “treat well?” Anyone else got a good customer-service story?

Tags: bank of america, customer service, fees, overdraft