Reader R Turner has a cautionary tale about Bank of America. He says a BofA error led to a late charge on his credit card account, then without his authorization the bank took out a cash advance to cover the payment.

BofA made good on the screw-up, but those with BofA credit cards may want to be aware of the possible repercussions of actually making a late payment. R Turner writes:

Not only did I learn I had a late payment due to a bank error, but I’ve just learned BoA offered to “help” me out by automatically charging my credit card for the full amount of the late payment— *without* my prior approval or authorization. They didn’t bother to call me in advance to clarify the matter or ask what I wanted to do, they simply ran a charge through for that past due payment— jacking up, if not negating any payments I made by also tacking on additional fees in the process.

When I promptly called BoA Customer Service, and they said they had no idea how such a thing could possibly have happened without my express approval but they would try to resolve it once the late payment comes in. They apologized, and also said they would waive the late fees attached for this month, due to the error.

When your own credit card company — which already gets away with obscenely high rates and fees — can now practice the very things you’re supposed to report when other parties unlawfully engage in, what are you supposed to?

Desperately looking for any/all options to escape their grasp…

Judging from R Turner’s customer service experience, the unauthorized cash advance thing doesn’t appear to be bank policy. But if something like this can happen once, it can happen other times. So keep an eye on those credit card statements.

(Photo: epicharmus)

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