Bank of America doesn’t think cashing checks drawn on its own accounts is a service that should be free to no-name people who come in off the streets—they want $6 for that privilege, one reader recently discovered.

Here’s what Kerry wrote to BoA about the incident:

I wanted to share with you my experience today and tell you what kind of an effect it had on me.

I had a check that was drawn on B.O.A. from my employer. I decided to simply cash it at B.O.A. rather than mess around with my account since it was only an $18.00 check. I was told there would be a $6.00 fee to cash this check. I left the bank rather surprised since it was DRAWN on a B.O.A. account. I then left and went down the street to cash it. The fee to cash it was $1.80 and I was fine with that fee as it was reasonable. I paid it without a second thought.

Okay guys, lets cut to the chase here, I know times are tough, and I know that any of you couldn’t care less what someone thinks about your banks, especially since you can fail and fail and the government will force us tax payers to save your behinds. Let me tell you though, the vast majority of people are fed up with bogus fees and poor service.

People now are looking for real quality and value, and I know from reading so many articles on the Consumerist.com that B.O.A. often drops the ball on both issues. It would seem to me that in an effort to drum up some new business or at least keep the business you already have, you may want to reconsider such unreasonable and unnecessary fees.

I know that if things would have gone a bit differently today I might be inclined to defend B.O.A. the next time they appear on the pages of the Consumerist…(and we all know that B.O.A will again grace the pages of the Consumerist.) I might even be inclined to do business with B.O.A. at some point.

I can only hope that someday, the tax payers will not be forced to keep you in business and at that time you will be forced to care, maybe at such time B.O.A. executives will remember the countless emails and comments regarding customer service and implement a more caring, nicer, friendly, and less hostile B.O.A. in the future.

We couldn’t have put it better ourselves, and sadly it isn’t just Bank of America that tries to screw over non-customers. You’d think when a non-customer presents a check drawn on that bank at a branch location, it would be a perfect opportunity to show that customer how awesome the bank is, and maybe even (shudder) attempt to upsell the customer. At BoA, however, even non-customers are punished, just for walking in the door.

(Photo: TheTruthAbout…)

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