FACING EVICTION, AGAIN, ABC7NEWS.COM. DAN: ANY BANKS OR CLOSING BRANCHES. -- MANY BANKS ARE CLOSING BRANCHES PAID FOR ONE MAN, IT CAUSED A MILD PANIC. BANK OF AMERICA SHUT DOWN HIS BRANCH HOURS AFTER HE MADE A HUGE DEPOSIT, AND HIS MONEY DISAPPEARED. YOU CAN IMAGINE HOW WORRIED HE WAS. HE CAME TO US TO FIND OUT WHAT TO DO. REPORTER: IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE THIS HAPPENED AT A MAJOR BANK. THIS VIEWER DEPOSITED $33,000 AT A BANK IN OAKLAND. HOURS LATER, THE BRANCH SHUT DOWN. HIS DEPOSIT NEVER GOT POSTED. EVERYBODY KEPT TELLING HIM, SORRY, THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO. >> THEY SAID, YOU ARE TELLING ME THAT BANK OF AMERICA LOST $33,000 OF MY MONEY AND YOU'RE TELLING ME TO MY FACE THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO? THAT'S RIGHT, SIR. REPORTER: IT WAS LIKE A BAD DREAM, EXCEPT IT WAS REAL. >> I WAS THINKING I WOULD NEVER SEE THE MONEY EVER. REPORTER: HE DEPOSITED $33,000 INTO HIS ACCOUNT, THEN IT DISAPPEARED. >> NOBODY SAID WE WILL MAKE GOOD ON IT. WE WILL TAKE CARE OF IT. THEY DID NONE OF IT. REPORTER: IT BEGAN IN HIS KITCHEN. >> WE ARE IN THE MIDST OF A REMODEL. TWO HE HAD TO PAY THE CONTRACTOR AND NEEDED TO TRANSFER $33,000 FROM HIS ACCOUNT AT WELLS FARGO TO HIS ACCOUNT BANK OF AMERICA. HE BROUGHT A CASHIERS CHECK STRAIGHT TO THE TELLER SO IT WOULD CLEAR RIGHT AWAY. >> SHE SAID IT WOULD POSE THAT AFTERNOON OR NEXT MORNING AT THE LATEST. REPORTER: WHEN HE CHECKED HIS ACCOUNT, THE MONEY WAS NOT THERE. HE CALLED THE BANK, AND IT WAS NOT GOOD NEWS. >> THE WOMAN SAID THERE WAS NO RECORD OF THE TRANSACTION, SO NO TRANSACTION HAPPEN. REPORTER: HE WENT BACK TO THE BANK AND GOT ANOTHER SURPRISE. THEY HAD SHUT DOWN THAT BRANCH, JUST HOURS AFTER HE HAD MADE HIS BIG DEPOSIT. >> WHEN I REALIZE THE BRANCH WAS CLOSED, THE TELLER THAT TOOK MY $33,000 CASHIERS CHECK IS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND, MY HEART SANK INTO MY STOMACH. I FELT LIKE I SAW A BOAT LEAVING THE DOCK IN MY MONEY WAS ON THE BOAT. REPORTER: HE WENT TO ANOTHER BRANCH ONLY TO FIND THE DOORS LOCKED. >> THAT'S WHEN I BECAME NERVOUS. THE BRANCHES ARE CLOSING THE PEOPLE I HAD CONTACT WITH HER GONE. REPORTER: HE WENT TO A THIRD BRANCH THAT WAS OPEN, AND THE MANAGER DID NOT HELP. >> HE SAID THERE WAS NO RECORD AND THERE WAS NOTHING THEY COULD DO. REPORTER: HE SHOWED THEM PROOF. >> CAN YOU ESCALATE THE ISSUE? HE SAID NO, THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO. REPORTER: HE SAID EVERYBODY KEPT TELLING HIM THAT, THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO. >> THEY KEPT REPEATING THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO. THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO. IT WAS KAFKAESQUE. REPORTER: THERE WAS SOMETHING HE COULD DO, HE CONTACTED THE BANK CEO, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, AND 7 ON YOUR SIDE. >> THE BALL STARTED MOVING QUICKLY. REPORTER: THE BANK SAYS THE CASHIERS CHECK WAS MADE OUT TO BANK OF AMERICA, AND TO DELAY THE PROCESS. THE BANK DID NOT SAY WHY NO ONE HELPED HIM TRACK BOUND THE MONEY UNTIL NOW. >> BANK OF AMERICA CONTACTED ME AND SAID WE WILL GIVE YOU $33,000 IMMEDIATELY. 7 ON YOUR SIDE WAS ON IT FROM THE GET-GO, A THANK YOU. >> YOU ARE WELCOME. THAT'S WHAT WE DO HERE. THIS STORY IS A GREAT REMINDER, KEEP YOUR RECEIPTS. BANK OF AMERICA DID NOT COMMENT ON WHETHER THE SHUTDOWN OF THE BRANCH MAY HAVE CAUSED THE PROBLEM WITH THE DEPOSIT. IT SAYS IT IS A TEMPORARY CLOSURE. THIS IS ONE OF HUNDREDS OF BANK BRANCHES CLOSE NATIONWIDE OVER THE PAST YEAR, AND WE ARE STARTING TO HEAR MORE AND MORE PROBLEMS RELATED TO THESE SHUTDOWNS. IF YOU HAVE RECEIPTS AND THEY MEAN NOTHING? I HAVE A RECEIPT. DAN: I NEVER HEARD OF THIS AT A MAJOR BANK. AS IT TURNS OUT, THERE
2 years ago, I was still using checks. Exactly 12 a year, because my lawn guy wasn't set up to take venmo/cashapp/whatever, and I don't handle cash very often. But finally, he got up on technology, and I stopped using checks at all.
Until I sold my house. All the profits/equity got dumped into one bank account, but I eventually wanted to split it into two. After exploring lots of options, I realized the easiest thing to do was drive over to the other bank and write myself a check for 65K (not even a cashier's check, mind you) and deposit it. Sure, they put a 10-day hold on it, but I wasn't spending it any time soon, so it was no biggie.
It's kind of weird--I'm older, and I used to buy big books of checks a couple times a year, just to pay the bills. It's amazing to me how fast that transitioned to online banking and my big book of checks just quickly started gathering cobwebs.
When I banked with BoA about 15 years ago, I used to deposit both my check and my wife's every week. We worked at the same small company and never had an issue with deposits.
One month, she made a great sale and got a huge (to us) commission check. I did the same thing I had been doing for over 3 years, and deposited both checks. The money showed up in our account and we decided to pay for the next semester of school, pay of some credit cards and have some fun.
3 days later, I go to check the account to see if a bill had gone thru, and notice that we are overdrawn by $12k.
I also notice that the deposit if the check was reversed. BoA not only reversed the deposit, removed the money from our account without notice, but also charged us a $35 overdraft fee for every purchase that didn't go thru because of it.
I went to the same branch I always go to and asked to speak to someone.
I was told that the "check dept" deemed that the check wasn't endorsed correctly, so they reversed it, 5 days later. I asked to see an example of a "correctly endorsed" check. They brought out a few examples. I then asked to see the check I deposited. Lo and behold, my endorsement matched their example.
After fighting with them for well over an hour. They agreed to reverse "the max of 8 overdraft fees" even though there were about 20 that they caused.
I told them to close all of my accounts, withdraw all of my money and I would be taking my accounts to a nearby credit union.
When she pulled up my accounts, she noticed that I had a credit line through them for $250k that was attached to my business. Her tone changed immediately and she suddenly was able to reverse all of the overdraft fees. So I let her do that. Then after I got confirmation, I still closed all of my accounts.
Luckily, my boss simply rewrote the commission check for us and we opened a new account at a credit union.
Tl;dr: BoA screws over yet another person
“It’s hard to believe”? It’s Bank of America it’s easy to believe
Better headline: Man deposits cashier's check with the wrong name on the check; freaks out when money doesn't show up in his account right away. Eventually gets money once bank processes the check.
So…it doesn’t sound like 7 On Your Side did much of anything, really. He solved his own problem.
I’m glad this man was able to get his money back . It’s unfortunate that there’s so much miscommunication .
Without any notice whatsoever, the Bank of American branch that's (literally) 2 blocks from my house...closed. And it's exterior ATM won't accept deposits. And the next nearest branch is 10 miles away.
Fuck these guys.
BoA can be a nightmare. Imagine being the "pay on death" beneficiary, confirmed multiple times, only to be told later "We don't have any record of that or your name on this account." Of course, upon notification of the death, the name of the account had been renamed with POD name added automatically, so they did have all the information. They had everything they needed, except that it had been done during covid when the branches were closed, so no physical signature card was on file at the branch when the POD change was made. "There was nothing anybody could do" It was resolved in a few months, but it sucked and all seemed avoidable. They could have just communicated a little better and it would have been a million times less stressful.
Banker here and that’s not how any of this works