It’s the end of the day, so let’s all gather around the soft glow of our monitors and tell spooky stories. I’ll start. Not that long ago, an ordinary consumer had a terrifying experience. He laid his Bank of America account to rest last August, never imagining that it would rise from the dead to eat his brains wallet.

Ken had an account with Nations Bank, which Bank of America gobbled up during the ’90s. This account let him have a free safety deposit box, even though he had only a certificate of deposit. Then he decided to let the account go, since CD interest rates weren’t all that great. A few months later, the zombie uprising followed.

Ken writes for his site, DepositAccounts.com:

After about two months, I was surprised to receive in the mail a statement for that checking account. It was converted to the MyAccess Checking, and I had a $1 balance. That $1 was a credit from the safe deposit box key refund. One would think that the bank would have sent me a check in the mail instead of reopening the account. I didn’t immediately go to the branch to re-close the account, but when I received the next statement with a negative $11 balance, I knew I couldn’t wait any longer. I was hit with a $12 monthly service fee.

I went back to the same branch and after a lengthy wait, I was finally able to meet with another banker. When I first closed the account, I did receive an account closing summary which provided proof that I did infact close the account. I presented this account closing summary with the statement showing the safe deposit box refund credit. Fortunately, the banker agreed to provide a $12 credit to reimburse me for the fee. The banker also closed the account again and withdrew the $1 refund credit. The checking account should now be closed for good, but I’ll be following up this time to ensure it stays closed.

That’s right. Hold on to your account closing summaries, then bury that account in a lead coffin and a solid vault.

Zombie Accounts – Trying to Close a Bank of America Checking Account

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