This is absolutely the most hair-rippingly evil thing I have seen in a while.
It's also why I don't use banks.

That $5000 daily limit is the same with most bank's check cards. But I know my bank can waive it for a day or two if you ask. It wasn't a big deal for them to do it either.

While I agree that major purchases like that would be better on a CC for the reasons stated in the article, this story just adds to the pile of reasons why I will NEVER deal with BOA if I can avoid it.

Wanting to make a purchase @ Best Buy, and he Banks with Bank of America?? That's like admitting you are a stupid consumer.

Why not just write a check? Same money, same account, no such limits. Seems like the guy just liked the hassle. I also don't believe Best Buy let him keep a lane closed all to himself for over an hour.

Here's a bit of advice, next time know the TOS of the card you're trying to use!

@Vastarien202:

If this is the "most hair-rippingly evil thing" you've seen, you definitely need to get out more often and read a paper from time to time. Why, just the other day, Iraqi insurgents used retarded women as bombers.

Now, THAT's evil.

A bank acting like a weenis is annoying.

I hate phone trees! Where I work, (Commerce Bank) you get a live person in NJ call center every time, the first time you call, without typing in anything (social security number, account number, etc) speaking to a computerized voice, or having your call routed all around the world.
Agree with Consumerist that a Credit Card is better for large purchases. Any possible disputes or errors will only tie up your available spending limit on your Credit Card, rather than tying up your checking account available balance!

I know this is besides the point, but why not use a credit card with some type of rewards program when spending $5,000+ dollars? (that is.... IF the credit card doesnt have some sort of daily spending limit as well). That's what I would have done. IMO check/debit cards are more of a liability than a convenience.

I wonder if my banks/credit cards have any limits on how much I can spend/transfer/withdraw in a day? I will have to check on this.

"Everyone in the United States that uses Bank of America has a daily spending limit of 5000.00. No matter what".
This is pretty much true for most banks. As this is a rule from VISA. Not from the banks. As the last bullet says,

"Many Visa check cards have daily cash withdrawal limits of up to $1,000, and daily spending limits may be even higher. These spending limits are meant to protect you in case your card is stolen. Your card may be declined if you make daily purchases that exceed your daily withdrawal limit, even if you know you have plenty of funds within your checking account. You can always ask the bank to lower or raise your purchase or withdrawal limits to suit your spending habits."
[usa.visa.com]

Eh...

I've been a BoA customer for a few years, and the daily limit has never been an issue for me. Shoddy customer service, yes. This, no.

My experience has been this: they won't EVER give you a limit override, but you need to call -- when you're not at the checkout -- and request to raise your limit; make it clear that you're not making a purchase ATM. This is part of their "fraud prevention" mechanism.

You should have success this way. My limit's been $10,000 since a couple months after I've opened my account, and I've only a couple of times ever had that much in the account. (For the record, I had a low balance when the limit was upped.)

@NYBanker: I didn't want to plug them and come off as a shill, but they are my bank, too. The best I dealt with, and I'm not saying that because I'm in their IT department, lol.

@DarrenO:
I agree! You know you'd never be able to go to an ATM and just withdraw $10K. Would you call BofA on the phone and demand to withdraw that money from an ATM? You have it available. They have spending limits, all debit cards have them regardless of how much money you have in the bank.

@DarrenO:

Last ttime I attempted to spend over $500+ at best buy with a check... I was told it couldnt be done & to come back during the week to try again. It was a sunday & they couldnt confirm that I had tht much money in my bank account. This was years & years ago when I was young & niave about how evil/and a ripoff best buy was.

@NYBanker: with my bank (the midwest commerce chain) I prefer the phone tree. It allows me to quickly check my balance/transfers/debits at 3 am.

I hate BoA and highly recommend canceling your account with them.

I understand what they were trying to do and you usually do have to clear large purchases with bank cards. If you don't want to deal with the hassle then, get an Amex Gold or Amex Platinum and enjoy some of the benefits of owning an Amex.

"Stay the heck away from Bank of America!"

Best advice I've seen on The Consumerist.

"Large purchases like home theater systems should be charged to a credit card, ideally one that offers rewards and extended warranty protection."

By far the WORST advice I've seen on The Consumerist. Yeah, I should pay some exorbitant amount of interest for some reward point! Somebody's been attending too many credit card company lunches.

@DarrenO: The check would decline. I'm reasonably certain that Best Buy uses Certegy, and I don't think Certegy would ever accept a check that high.

@ogman: If you can afford to put it on the debit card, you can just as well put it on the credit card and immeidately pay down the balance without incurring interest. This is credit cards 101 stuff here LOL.

@ogman:
Sorry, that's also good advice from the Consumerist. If you are carrying a balance on a credit card, you aren't following Consumerist's advice. News flash...20% interest is a bad deal. May I respectfully suggest you should hold off on large discretionary purchases if you can't afford them.

@forgottenpassword:
Commerce Bank NA also has an automated phone system, if you prefer that. You have a choice which to use.
@ogman:
There's no interest if you pay your credit card off in full each month. So you can get rewards points, cash back, etc. for free if you're disciplined. And the original poster already had the money in his checking account, so that's no problem for him.

@ogman: If you have enough in your account to pay the balance immediately, you shouldn't get hit with interest. /rolleyes

Personally why the heck is he using a check card in the first place? Why not use a credit card? I mean doesn't he have one with a limit over $5000? After all he's got that 'Platinum' check card!!! Which is basically worthless. That part got me laughing. You can't tout having a platinum 'check card'! That's like bribing a bouncer with a Washington :P

The only cards that have ANY merit to their gradings, are the Amex charge cards (not their new credit cards which they dole out to pretty much everyone). When you whip out a Centurion Amex, THEN you have bragging rights.

While it's inexcusable what BofA did, I never use my debit card to make purchases that big. I always use a credit card, for extended purchase protection if no other reason. You can always go home and transfer the funds to cover the purchase.

@ogman: In this case really a credit card was the way to go. I mean it sounds like the individual had the money available, so it wasn't like he was going to pay it off over time. Thus a credit card is a very valid way to pay for such an item, where at the very least, the extended warranty is a good thing on such a high ticket item.

To me the debit/check cards seem to be more hassle than their worth.

I bet he wouldn't have experienced any difficulties had he just went ahead and gotten the monster cables

"So tonight I went to my local Best Buy, planning on surprising the wife with a new bigscreen TV."

Right..its for the wife. I read that line to my wife and she laughed her ass off.

No doubt BofA is the Antichrist of banking, but this is a pretty normal occurrence. Frankly, a lot of banks probably wouldn't even let you get to $5K. The service was awful, but most reasonable people would have used another card or at least cancelled the transaction until they got their banking problems ironed out.

"It's a PLATINUM Visa checkcard. I understand that you have to put limits in for my protection but I need to make this purchase""

I have the same card. It's really nothing special. And you NEED to make the purchase? Seriously?

Even money says someone did their taxes early, got a fat rebate, and is blowing it on electronics. I seriously doubt they even have a credit card, much less one with a $5K+ limit.

"So tonight I went to my local Best Buy, planning on surprising the wife with a new bigscreen TV."

Yea, just what every woman wants. Just admit it was for you. If it wasn't you wouldn't have gone through all the trouble. Well, at least it was your money and not on credit.

@ogman:

How is that bad advice?

1. Buy $6k TV with credit card (assuming you want a $6k TV, but hey, it's your money)
2. One month later, get credit card bill.
3. Pay bill on time.
4. Pay ABSOLUTELY ZERO INTEREST.
5. Get 1.5% cash back ($90, in this case)

So, by paying with the credit card, you get (a) better fraud protection, (b) a discount, and (c) a free loan for as much as two months (during which time that $6k could earn as much as an extra $30 sitting in my account rather than Best Buy's).

agreed, not to defend BOA in any way shape or form but this doesn't sound like the smartest consumer. I would hesitate to spend $50 at BB without using a credit card, let alone $5,000+

kinda feel his pain though, I can't even get more than $75 at the gas pumps at one time with my debit card, have to swipe it twice to fill my tank. arbitrary limits are just that.

I didn't know there was a 5K limit on debit card purchases for 1 day. I do think though after he called, he should not have been transferred etc . . . and BOA should've gotten his purchase approved much easier than it was. I will say that Best Buy employees should've known this.

Why didn't he use a credit card after his card was declined? I'm not sure considering the bonus points he could've gotten on this one purchase--but some people dislike credit cards or have had problems with them in the past and have stopped using them. I know people who write checks for major purchases so that's essentially like using a debit card.

As for Trump, I was surprised by how many bigwigs have BOA accounts--turns out BOA caters to the wealthy--once you're rich enough according to BOA, then you have your own customer service number, rules, and guidelines--different from us regular folks. Wells does this too. But some banks treat even the bigwigs like the rest of us peasants (Wamu).

Buying expensive stuff in Best Buy using a Bank of America check card is like wearing a Darwin shirt to Jesus Camp.

The only way this story could have been better is if he had had some problem with his Sprint phone while making the call to BB customer service. A perfect storm of consumerist proportions.

@TinyBug - exactly. That was hilarious...

I've had less than 5k declined before - I was told it was a $1500 spending limit.

I've had to call the bank over a $1450 car repair bill, and for a laptop around the same price. Both were declined until a call was made to have the so-called limit upped.

I never undestood the calling trees either. What's the point of inputting information into an automated system only to get asked the same questions for 5 minutes by the live person? I've run across the same thing when calling cell phone companies.

Every bank on earth does this.

Hey consumers - if you're going to ask banks to accept responsibility for theft of large amounts of money, don't complain. Banks have a responsibility to limit their liability in the event that you're not who you say you are. Given that checkout clerks exhibit 0 fraud prevention skills, you can see why this is a logical extension of this policy.

If you had the choice, would you accept a $5000 limit on your spending OR total liability in the event that the TV isn't being purchased by you?

If you're a shareholder, wouldn't you expect rational limits on one-day spending both to maintain the liquidity of the bank and to restrict downside fraud risk at PoS?

I understand that customer service is frustrating, and that daily limits can seem hard to accept when they've inconvenienced you. But I ask - where you are you going to bank? Name a place that doesn't require you to open a special account and doesn't place limits on your spending in the disclosure agreement you sign when you open an account and I'll buy you a Ferrari. With cash.

@TinyBug: kudos to that statement

the trifecta of ultimate magnitude.

Well if it helps any, lots of readers will now be more prepared before making purchases greater than 5000 dollars.

As a lot of people have said pretty much every bank does this. Most of the time you can go into a bank before hand and have them put an override in.

ok, it sucks that he had to go thru this, but this is what irks me:

I am embarrassed, have essentially shut down a register lane on a Friday night at Best Buy...

folks, please, please, PLEASE...if you are having issues with your payment, have the cashier pend the purchase or void it & step to the side (or preferably outside). there's nothing more irritating than inconveniencing everyone b/c you're having an issue.

my condolences for having to deal with every department boa has to offer, though.

Bank of America is possibly the worst bank I've ever witnessed a person deal with. They have "America" in their name, yet if an out of state person goes into one of their banks, they hassle them over being out of state. They actually put holds on checks of their own customers for the simple reason that they are out of state.

They are going to quickly end up like Sprint.

After it didn't work the first time, why didn't he pull out the credit card, pay, go home, log onto Bank of America's online banking and send out an immediate bill payment for the full amount to his credit card? He wouldn't have held up the line and he could have found out why things weren't working as he thought later.

Plus, it's a really BAD idea (as stated above) to use a debit card for such a large purchase. You don't have the protection of a credit card.

There was no reason to make this a long, drawn out embarrassing mess, however. Actually, if you'd taken out a Best Buy card, you'd get at least 3 months of 0% financing from them.

I love the consumerist, but I hate that the solution to every banking problem is to use credit card. The $5000 a day limit serves a purpose but BOA and/or any other bank should be able to quickly waive the limit for a large purchase.

Simple solution: split your purchase up and pay for your receiver, movies and other crap with a different card. End of story... Move on.

What an awful story. I'm sorry you had to go through that.

I just thought I'd give my view of Bank of America. I have always had nothing but good service with them. Their associates are friendly at the bank, and everyone I've spoken with over the phone seem very knowledgable and friendly. Although I don't have much money to spend (poor medical student) nor do I ever use my check card for big purchases, the service I have received from BoA has always been excellent.