Chris was one of the many in October who closed their bank accounts with Bank of America, and other similar big retail banks, in protest over planned fees for using their debit card. But last week she found it had been reopened for no apparent reason, with a 1 penny balance out of nowhere.

KING5 reports she’s gone to close it three times, each time thinking it was the last, and each time finding out later that it was still open.

“It’s not so much about the penny,” she told KING5. “It’s a lousy penny, but it’s about what it stands for.” Presumably what she thinks it stands for is the bank’s ability to tell you one thing and then go ahead and do whatever it wants.

Bank of America said they would talk to the consumer about her case, but told KING5 that, “closed accounts generally stay closed.”

One way that accounts can be reopened is if you’ve ever given a company the authority to bill directly from your checking or savings account. Once that’s been authorized, they can bill your account at any time. That activity will reopen your account and accrue debits, which can rack up into compounding overdraft fees.

So beyond simply closing your account with a bank, make sure you call up any service company you ever gave permission to directly debit your bank account and get those authorizations removed. Otherwise you might find yourself facing a reincarnated zombie bank account that wants to feed on your wallet, and your sanity.

Is your closed bank account really closed? [King5] (Thanks to Jeanne!)

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