Bank of America uses Fraud

November 11, 2008 by Curt Siters

I was talking to a friend the other day and they were lamenting about Bank of America and a credit card they have with them.. Their credit limit was well into the five digits and they had 4 digits of room on it when they went to make a small purchase (less than $200) back in April of 2008. The transaction was denied.

After looking back this happened at the beginning of the public face of the financial meltdown as Bank of America was one of the first financial institutions to receive bailout assistance from the Federal Government. Interesting to say the least.

After many phone calls, and continued payments, they, Bank of America, froze the card and raised the interest rate. After setting up payment arrangements and making payments, my friend just told me that recently Bank of America put through a check on a checking account, without my friends permission, and overdrew the account by several hundred dollars.

Another thing that Bank of America does is to block caller id when calling about credit card payments. This is probably for them to claim that they try to call but the phone isn’t being answered. I don’t know about you but I tend to not answer “Unknown Name, Unknown Number” because it tends to be solicitors and I just don’t want to waste my time talking with them.

Have you ever read all that fine print that comes with credit cards? OY! It is so full of legaleze and is hard to understand. Worst of all, they approach you with a contract that is written to benefit and protect them, not you.

Have you had your credit card interest rate go up even though you have good credit and you make your payments on time?

Before you sign any contract you have the right, and should consider it an obligation to you and/or your family so you know what it is you are signing.

Times are tough and may get tougher. If you don’t know what is in all those contracts you have signed you may be headed for trouble. No matter how simple and easy to read a contract may seem to be of you have the right to have it reviewed by an attorney. If the other party says “you can’t take the contract out of here unless you sign it” or “ you don’t need to get it reviewed, it’s just standard stuff” you know there is something in there that may be questionable if not downright illegal (until you sign it and are obligated to the agreement.)

If you don’t have an attorney, Pre-Paid Legal Services has a membership plan that gives you access to attorneys at a great monthly rate. Part of what our attorneys do is review contracts, which is covered under the membership and is available to you at no extra charge.

Dictionary.com has fraud defined as: deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage.