../../../..//2008/07/03/google-now-helps-catch-criminals/
Google now helps catch criminals. The FBI identified a Citibank PIN thief by cross-referencing security camera footage with an ICQ handle and personal photos on ham radio enthusiasts sites. [Information Week]
If you’re trying to get through to Washington Mutual and regular customer service isn’t helping you, give these numbers for Executive Customer Service, a very high-up customer service team with superpowers to solve customer problems at any and all levels, a try. Be calm, polite, professional, and able to state your case in 1-2 sentences. It’s a good idea to read this post on dealing with executive customer service first. The info really works, read this lady’s story about how contacting WaMu executive customer service saved her house from foreclosure.
The Federal Reserve has proposed some new regulations that would, among other things, require banks to let you opt-out of the “overdraft protection” services that often result in consumers being charged large fees for buying one too many (or 6 too many) packs of gum with their debit cards. The Center for Responsible Lending thinks the programs should be “opt-in”. Either way, without the overdraft program, your debit or atm transaction would be denied for non-sufficient funds and you would not be charged a overdraft fee.
Here’s a novel way for a bank to increase revenue: offer your customers a “perk” where they can skip a payment on their loan for a neat $25 fee! Of course, interest still accrues, your total repayment amount increases slightly, and one month is added to your repayment period. No thanks. You can see the actual letter and details below.
Reader Gary used his Bank of America credit card to pay $2 on a parking meter in Washington, DC. Bank of America treated it as a cash advance and slapped him with a $10 fee, as well as a higher APR. When Gary called to complain, he learned that it wasn’t an error: Bank of America has started treating payments to parking meters as cash advances and may even treat all payments to government entities as cash advances.
../../../..//2008/06/19/two-former-bear-sterns-executives/
Two former Bear Sterns executives were arrested today for securities fraud. [NYT]
Here’s your seventh “Sweet 16” match-up: #7 Bank of America VS #23 Blue Cross Blue Shield
Reader Tara has a checking account with Bank of America that’s supposed to be “free” if she meets 1 of 3 balance requirements. She meets one of them, but Bank of America keeps charging her $20 — and they don’t intend to stop.
Another Washington Mutual insider has stepped forward with a slew of tips to help save your ass from overdraft fees, check deposit holds, and talking to Filipino bankers. Details, inside…
Lila got her Washington Mutual debit card pickpocketed while traveling in India. Naturally, her account was drained. She filed a fraud report with Washington Mutual and a got a temporary credit issued on the account while the case was investigated. Less than 3 days later, the credit was reversed without warning. It’s not WaMu’s policy to reverse provisional credits in these matters before 30 days have passed to investigate, and not without warning. None of the various reps and fraud personal could explain why this happened, nor could they give her her money back, nor could they connect her with anyone who would or could do anything. Supervisors are mysteriously never around. It’s a good thing she already had some Rupees in hand when the theft occured, or Lila could have been stranded in the Himalayas while WaMu reps were busy playing Snood. Her complaint letter, and our advice on how to be more effective, inside…
If you’re the type of person who never uses your ATM card—and we really mean never in this case, you might want to call your bank to find out if there’s a minimum activity threshold to hit to keep it from being deactivated. A reader tried to use her Bank of America ATM card recently and kept getting an “invalid transaction” error at every ATM. She called the number on the back of the card to ask what was going on: “I was told that since I hadn’t used my card in a couple of years it was closed, even though the expiration date is several years in the future, and I hadn’t received any note that suggested I should cut the card up into tiny pieces.”
Johanna deposited a financial aid check from her university into her Chase checking account. She’d done this before without incident, but this time something went wrong.
A month ago, we wrote about Brice’s struggles with E*Trade to recover the balance on an account they closed. After eight months of letters and phone calls, Brice got E*Trade to close the account, but it continued to accrue interest and Brice never received the balance. Finally, after launching eight Executive Email Carpet Bombs, Brice has his money.
Microsoft charged Bill $1,632 for a single Windows Vista Ultimate upgrade license. Each time Bill, an IT Manager, tried to his enter his payment details through Windows Live Marketplace he was told that Microsoft could not be contacted, and to “please try again later.” What Microsoft really meant was, “Ha! Got your money! How ’bout some more?!”
Here’s the contact info for the CEOs of major Chase divisions:
Reader Todd decided to call Bank of America up to test whether our story “BoA Closes Your Credit Cards If You Ask Why They Increased Your APR” was really true or not. Turns out, it is.
Part of 
