Reader Drew went out of his way to ensure that he’d be able to get money from ATMs (using his Bank of America card), while on vacation. Despite his best efforts, he learned that a) putting a note on your account saying that you’ll be in England and b) drawing less than the maximum daily amount from your account is still not enough to keep BoA from putting a hold on your account. He’s written in with some advice for other Bank of America customers who are planning on traveling soon…
So in preparation for a trip to England last month, both my wife and I decide to contact Bank of America to let them know that we’ll be traveling overseas. We’d hate to be stuck in some little town in the Cotswolds with nothing but a few pounds and a crappy exchange rate between us and dinner. While my wife calls BoA directly and plays phone tag to end up at the right ATM division to have a note placed on her account, I go down to the branch office near my work where a nice Bank of America account rep gets to play phone tag to end up at the right ATM division to have a note placed on my account. So the only benefit to me going down to a local office rather than calling is that I get to have someone else wait on hold while I admire that freakish-necked woman, a creature of taut sinew and gnashing teeth, that adorns all the ads draped around the office.
Oh, and I learn that we will not be charged extra fees on our BoA ATM cards from Barclays ATMs. I guess that’s worth the nightmares of the BoA She-Gollum crawling across my ceiling to devour my flesh and credit rating.
Anyways, you don’t have to be a Consumerist reader for very long to guess what happens next: My card stopped working. I had attempted to withdraw 100 pounds from a Barclays ATM in Witney and was denied. I then tried to withdraw 35 pounds and succeeded. My wife withdrew 100 pounds from her account at the same ATM, no problem. I figured that I had tripped some sort of daily limit (the exchange rate is all over the place, so I may had gone over the 200$ daily limit by a few bucks) and wasn’t too worried – I had credit cards on hand for back up (as recommended by that couple who went to Japan on honeymoon and lost a day due BoA’s tomfoolery). I’d just try again the next day.
I did. It didn’t work. I waited another day. And it didn’t work either. I try again, this time in Oxford. Still, nothing. By now, my wife is getting tired of being the cash machine (it’s hard to pay for real ale and recommended donations with plastic!). Suspecting something beyond Bank of America’s passive dislike of letting people access their money, we stop in at an internet cafe to check my account balances and see if there’s some sort of notice. I really didn’t want to do that as most internet cafes are really, really sketchy and the only one we could find practically had an ‘Identity Theft Here’ sign on the door.
Sure enough, there’s an email from Bank of America in my inbox saying that due to unusual activity, my ATM card was suspended. My only recourse is to call up Bank of America and talk to a rep to have things cleared up. Luckily we had rented a cellphone for our trip and brought the international toll-free number just-in-case. So we retire to a pub (I didn’t know if I would need to access the internet or drop in at Barclays again so didn’t want to wait until we were back at our rented cottage in the country – also I was thirsty) by the river and I make my call. And wait on hold. And wait. And wait. Robotic notices that my wait time would be 2 minutes play every minute or so. After the tenth replay of this message, I order another pint. And then wait another ten minutes.
Finally someone picks up and I explain my problem to them. They want me to verify my identity by reading out all sorts of valuable information to them over the phone. So if my bank info wasn’t swiped in the internet cafe, it certainly could be picked up here. It didn’t help that the Bank of America rep was apparently a citizen of Northmumbletown whose phone was kept at the other end of a long hallway, thus requiring me to shout random answers about my financial history in hopes of answering her increasingly more difficult verification questions. I try to walk around the pub to a quieter side, away from the crowds, but manage instead to stumble into a crowd of angry swans.
So if anyone was in Oxford and saw an American tourist, cellphone in one hand and beer in the other, fleeing around a pub from a gaggle of pissed off, honking swans, you have Bank of America to thank for your afternoon’s entertainment. Next time, I’ll bring some Benny Hill music.
Once the Bank of America rep is safe in the knowledge that I am who I say I am and I am safe from the swans, we get down to business. I ask what the problem is and she says that due to unusual activity, my ATM card was suspended. I ask what was unusual about the activity. She says (well, mumbles from her end of the hallway) that it was being accessed in England. I ask if she can see the note that I had placed on my account saying that I would be in England. She pauses and says she can. So what’s the problem? I mean, I can understand that some sort of automatic block was tripped, but surely someone would see the note and then override it, right? Well, not really. The amount that was attempted to be withdrawn was really close to the 200$ daily maximum.
Wait – close to the maximum? Not over the maximum? With the exchange rate being what it is, 100 pounds came to something like $198. Apparently, in Bank of America-land, a maximum really isn’t a maximum. Being two bucks shy of the max is really the same thing as going over it due to BoA Magic Rounding, which is weird because I bet if I underpaid my credit card by two bucks, they’d slap me with a $35 fine in a heartbeat.
After my account is fixed, I complain about all this and the BoA rep assures me that it was being done to protect my account. Protect my account? Considering the steps I had to go through to figure out what was wrong with my account, using internet cafes and shouting out personal information over the phone, my account felt significantly less secure! As I type this, there could be a cunning swan somewhere in Oxford ordering up a bunch of goods using my ill-gotten account information. I took the time to learn Bank of America’s rules and made sure to play by them, but in the end they seemed to just ignore them, even to the point of ignoring the reasons why they put the rules in place to begin with.
And it’s not like they are even consistent when it comes to ignoring their rules! My wife had been happily withdrawing 100 pounds every day while my card was out of commission. Why didn’t her account get blocked? She had the same note and the same ‘close to the maximum’ withdraws…
My only advice for anyone planning to travel overseas with their Bank of America cards is to plan for hassle. Even if you do everything they say you should to ensure a smooth trip, something will go wrong and before you know it you will be on top of a picnic table talking to a distant Bank of America representative trying to get your account fixed while your wife hurls bread at an army of angry swans in order to distract them from the blood and account information they so desire. Plan for Bank of America to drop the ball. Make sure that you have a cellphone that works, the international contact number (001-770-491-4064), your own laptop, and an infinite amount of patience with you at all times.
Oh, and some crusty bread helps too. You know, in case of swan attack.
-Drew
(Photo: meghannmarco )
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Heh. This is one of the few times I’m glad I didn’t teal-deer the story. Drew kept it entertaining.
BofA pulled a reverse one on me last year. Two trips to Australia and I told the right department where I was going and I used my card without any problem while in Sydney. First time I tried to get cash back in San Francisco, denied. Said fraud prevention “Your note said you were in Sydney until tomorrow so your account was flagged for possible fraud when you used the ATM at the SFO airport.” Heh.
Credit cards are not “widely accepted” in Europe. Perhaps in Great Britain and France, Germany and Italy are definately not fans of Visa. ATM cards are by far the best way to go. Carrying your entire savings in cash is too risky, and cash exchange rates are atrocious. I’ve never had a problem with ATM cards throughout South Ameria or Europe. My local bank doesn’t charge any fees, and I keep a Wells Fargo card as a backup (horrific fees). Sorry about your bad luck with BoA.
Oddly enough, I opened a Bank of America account specifically for the purpose of going to Europe.
Simply, they have a partnership with BNP banks in Paris. Meaning all ATM withdraws come with no conversion fees, atm fees, fees of any kind. Using my card also carried no fees when charging as credit, but using cash taken from the atm was easier, since many smaller stores don’t take credit. Especially flea markets, farmer markets, some supermarkets, street food vendors (2 lbs of fresh picked cherries for 2 Euro?).
And forget traveler’s checks when going to Paris. They’re a hassle, and you’ll probably get screwed trying to exchange them. ATMs are all over, and BoA made it easy. I didn’t have any problems while I was there.
And to those who say don’t carry cash while traveling, I disagree. If you walk around with a fanny pack, Hawaiian shirt, and camera strapped around your shoulder, yes, you will get targeted by pickpockets. Honestly, if you don’t dress and act like a typical dumb American, you won’t have any problems carrying cash. Just be smart and be aware of your surroundings.
Back in the US, however, I have had tons of problems with Bank of America.
This happened to me when I travelled to Spain and again when I travelled to
Thailand. All I have to say is thank God AmEx is always there to back me up
(via cash advance with the best international customer service). Instead of
getting the “international toll free” numbers from BofA’s website, I asked
for the international collect call number for subsequent trips abroad.
That means, when you place the collect call from the foreign country to BofA
in the United States they have to accept the charges, and you can BET the
are going to resolve your issue as quickly as possible (because
international collect calls are really, really, really expensive).
The number is (770) 491-4064. Usually, to place a collect call from a
foreign country you can just dial “0,” but it varries by country.
I’m sorry but this story is a bit biased. This is an honest mistake on behalf of whatever customer service rep helped you – the fact that your wife had no problems can account for that – and based on the other commenters so far, everyone at every bank has had a problem like this. So why is BOA so horrible in this instance? It sounds like you were able to get this problem resolved fairly easily, though it’s not their fault that geese hate humans (seriously.. those things are EVIL) because I think you were exaggerating a bit on your hold times.
Citibank Mastercard did something similar to me– blocked purchases from businesses I regularly do business with– but I was still **in the area.** I wish I knew how you avoid triggering the overly-anal and ridiculous “protection” systems that make using a credit or debit card a major chore.
Yes, it does suck that the bank blocked his card after he specifically said that he would be out of town. He shouldn’t had to have called to the bank in the first place. The only thing that he can’t gripe about is the fact that he didn’t feel secure when he had to shout his information. Simple thing is that you should have waited for a more secure location. He chose that place, not the bank. The bank had nothing to do with it. He should have called as soon as he saw that the card wasn’t working.
We just got back from our trip to Albania and Greece and had the exact same problem. Called beforehand, got completely locked out of our account the whole time we were there. Fortunately, we were traveling with family.
On Friday, June 20, 2008, I walked into the Parkland Branch Bank of America to make several deposits, cash a check and get my payroll out. The check that I was trying to cash was from a vendor who’d made the check out to my mother, who is a signer on my business account. She came into the back to sign the check and to show her identification.
The check was over the teller’s limit so she asked the Assistant Branch Manager, Song Degarmo, to assist her. She was asked to verify the check.
All I did was ask them to verify the check. The funds were good. The Assistant Branch Manager, Song Degarmo, explains to me that Bank of America no longer verifies funds over the phone. I ask to speak with the branch manager because I have been a customer of Bank of America for many years and they have always called to verify funds in situations such as this.
When the Branch Manager, Linda Morley, storms out her office with my check in her hand, she states, “It is obvious that we will not be able to provide you with the level of customer service that you would like. Your account is not entitled to any special treatment. I am closing your accounts.” And with that she storms over to the main doors, opens the doors and turns back to say, “Please Leave!”
Mind you, we are in the middle of the lobby and there are still customers all around. I still have yet to say anything to her. Quite frankly, I was confused on what prompted her to approach me in such a manner, and I was hugely embarrassed by her antics.
The Assistant Branch Manager, Song Degarmo, places her hand on my shoulder and pushed me towards the door. I stopped at the door, turned to the Linda Morley and ask, “Can you please explain to me what is going on? Why are you closing my account?” I was not hostile. I did NOT yell at her.
She says, “I don’t have to explain anything to you! I have the right to close an account for any reason. Please Leave. If you don’t leave I will call the police!”
I was almost in tears at this point. My mother was still there. It appeared as though Ms Morley was unreasonably hostile towards her, but that had nothing to do with me or my accounts. I said, “You have not even spoken to me and I am the primary signer on this account. I deserve an explanation as to why you are closing my account. I am not being hostile. I don’t deserve to be treated like this.”
“It is obvious that you are unaware as to how much we have bent over backwards to assist you. The bank is closed. Please leave.”
“I have been in line since 5:20. The bank closed before I got to the teller window. Are you saying to me that I am not entitled to the same customer service as everyone else simply because the bank closed while I was in line?”
“That is not what I said! You are putting words in my mouth!”
Again, Song Degarmo attempted to push me out the door. By this time, one of the other bankers was standing behind them as if she was going to forcibly remove me.
And so we left. I called the customer service number to find out why this happened. What did I do wrong? Why did she treat me like that? They said that the branch manager can shut down an account for any reason and that what she did cannot be overridden by anyone.
I have sat on the phone and poured my heart out to several customer service representatives, and spoken to supervisors of supervisors. The last one I spoke with, Tammy Wright said that she was sorry but the only thing she could offer me at this time was a sincere apology.
I spent Friday night in the emergency room because I had an anxiety attack that was brought about by this entire situation.
Oddly, I had zero issues with transactions with BoFA for over a year
abroad in Latin America – provided I used one of their “partners”,
ScotiaBank. It rarely worked in any native banks, but it has no problem
with a Canadian “Partner” bank, almost exactly 3,000 miles away.
I, too, have had problems with my BOA check card being locked on me. Here are the two most extreme incidents.
1. I live in Everett, WA. I travelled to Vancouver, BC a couple hours north for a short weekend. By Saturday evening, I could not use my card, I was at a store closing in 5 minutes and needed to pick up photos, and was on infini-hold with BOA’s automated system. When I finally reached a human (the next day, after spending a half hour hanging on the phone 3 times, at non-insignificant cell per minute rates), they said that my card was blocked because of the international travel. Now London, Singapore, Sydney… I can understand that. Those places are far away from where I live. But Vancouver is closer to me than most of the US is! An Everett girl’s weekend at the Fairmont Vancouver should not trip fraud warning bells if her trip to San Francisco (many times further away) does not.
2. The WORST story! They blocked my card on NEW YEAR’S DAY and left me with no way to get in touch with them to unblock it, when I desperately needed to use it. I was travelling in Australia, and had recurring charges for various bills that come out around the end/beginning of the month. A few of them tripped on Dec 31 and Jan 1, as they have every month of every year for more than 5 years. BOA knew I was in Australia (because I’d called to tell them, not really expecting it would help, but I wanted to be able to tell them I’d completed that checkbox item when they blocked me). Their fraud detection system saw the auto recurring charges and said, “HOLY COW! She’s in Australia! She cannot possibly be in Manakin Inlet, Iowa or Great Lakes, MN! Her card must’ve been stolen! We must block it NOW, holiday or not!” Of course, the comedy is that I’ve NEVER been in Manakin Inlet or Great Lakes… those are just the fulfillment houses for those recurring charges that are there every month. You’d think someone could have figured out that if I didn’t need to go to those places for the charges to be legit before, I likely still didn’t need to go to them for the charges to be legit.
Of course, on New Year’s Day, you guessed it, a friend had an emergency in another part of Australia, and I needed to fly there to help them. And, again, you guessed it, card declined. Oh, and because it was a holiday, none of the “Contact Us” numbers on the BOA web site worked, nor did the number on my card. They even helpfully warned the web reader of this by adding the holiday hours to the usual “24/7″ hours for the debit card numbers. THEY BLOCKED MY CARD ON A HOLIDAY AND LEFT ME WITH NO WAY TO GET IT UNBLOCKED! As I am a young woman who frequently travels alone, this potentially puts me in a VERY dangerous situation. Fortunately, I remembered that I’d let the bank talk me into taking out a second account with a separately-numbered debit card, based on my hunch that it couldn’t hurt to have another account that might not get blocked if the first one does, to help me recover from my next blocked card. I logged in on the computer, transferred a few hundred dollars from the locked account to the unlocked one, and was able to buy my tickets with the unlocked card.
And when I reached the bank the next day, what did they say? Oh, actually, we WERE open after all, you just couldn’t get to us through any of the published numbers. (!) I wondered rhetorically, being open without telling your customers how to reach you is helpful to the customer exactly HOW?
Let’s just say that a direct number to these people is now written in black sharpie across the face of all 3 copies of my debit card. And when merchants ask what the writing on the front of the card is about, I simply tell them it’s because I travel a lot, the bank has a bad habit of trumping up an excuse to disable my card at least once per trip even through I follow their policy of informing them before my travel, and that is the direct number to get through to the unblockers, which I wrote there so that it will ALWAYS be handy whenever I’m using any of my cards.
I suggest others do likewise.
bank of america are absolute Nazis and have done THIS to me EVERY TIME I had an important event that required access to MY money.
They just did it to me a half hour ago. I needed to cash 2 b of a checks and get a cashier’s check. The horrid manager froze our card and threatened not to cash the checks… then because she HAD to cash them, she punished me by making we wait 20 minutes.
we are giving our tax dollars to these quacks? I really really hope they ALL Lose their jobs. they suck and are the reason America is hurting.