My husband and I both have accounts with Bank of America -- I've got checking, a money market account, a credit card and two business accounts, the hubster has checking and a money market. So far, we've been generally happy with them. No problem opening up his account after we got his SSN. But we now have a new issue that we can't quite resolve with them (or at least yet resolve).

When he opened the account, they coded him as a non-resident alien even though he had his I-551 stamp in his passport (green card had not yet arrived). We only discovered this when he got a letter from BoA saying that he needed to confirm his non-resident status for the 17 cents in interest he earned last year, citing tax purposes. So when he called them to say "WTF??? I am a permanent resident!" they directed him to a branch to sort out the matter. When he went to the branch, they told him they couldn't sort it out -- he had to do it over the phone. When he called back, he was told this amusing little nugget: apparently BoA will treat PRs as non-resident aliens for tax purposes UNLESS they have already been resident in America for three months at the time they open their account.

Again, WTF??? If, as my husband says, his PR status is good enough for Uncle Sam, why isn't it good enough for BoA? Has anyone else heard this load of complete and utter b*ll*cks? We are still trying to sort this out, and we're getting desperate as it is nearing tax day. I'm making an appointment for us to meet with the bank manager to sort this out, and for me to threaten to yank my not insubstantial funds out of BoA and move to Wachovia next door if he is not correctly coded as a PR. But I was curious if other VJers had heard this malarkey. Comments, people!

Bank of America is a piece of ####. If it's not one thing, it's another.

If BofA was the last bank, I would keep my money stuffed under a mattress.

I must say it hasn't been plain sailing for Jeremy who is with BofA as well - I can't say I have come across what has happened to you but I am defo going to be carrying out a lot of research into banking when I am there - I'm not going to need an account right away so I can take some time to investimagate

I too had problems with the BOA, and after 6 months of being told I wasn't going to be charged fees and trying to transfer money to my bank account in Canada and them f**king that up, I closed my account. Have only heard bad things about them from most people I know. I have to agree that now if BOA was the last bank I too would put my money under the mattress LOL.

I had a problem getting a letter from BOA when I was preparing for our K1 interview. That bank tried me and even charged me...but I'm smarter than those f***ers and got my money back.
As far as how they handle our money, we have no problems, and we have checking and savings accounts and a credit card.

I've heard crap about WaMu too so I don't know where to go...

American banks raise my blood pressure and make me do this....

I agree with that. They don't care about you. They do care the first 90 days you open the account. After that. you are SOL.

They can go to Hel

Sorry to be a pain, but I just wanted to check if anyone else has had the specific problem we have had with Bruce being designated a non-resident alien? I don't mean to be a pill!

Sorry, no, not me. I had/have a different specific problem.

I agree. Hate them!

You crack me up -- again!

I'm about to call the Bank to set up a meeting. Our manager is very nice and is a can-do sort of person -- I hope she can sort this out quickly.

M was designated as a non-res. alien but that's because he was one ... a few months after receiving his green card, they changed him to a resident alien and no problems in that regard.

Bora Bora - you are lucky to not have had any issues with your money. They just represent an evil corporation to me - if you deposit money, they don't always put it in right away, then any withdrawals they can take first and charge you insufficient funds fees; it hasn't happened to me, but a lot of people at my job switched when it became BofA. They also stole the keep the change idea from a guy in West Palm who is in court (or was, this time last year, so probably still is) trying to resolve it ... they told us it was okay M. didn't have an SSN then sent us a letter saying if we didn't provide one they would close the account; one time my mom tried to take out money and it wouldn't let her, so she tried again later, and it said insufficient funds. When she checked online, it showed she had already received 200 dollars from the time it wouldn't give her any money...! she had to fight them tooth and nail to 1. get her money back and 2. get the fees back.

I lost an ATM card and made it very clear I'd lost the one for the account with my husband's name on it as well, and they froze the one account and send me a new ATM card for the wrong account...stupid. The spanish line is rude, and when I called their fraud division for my credit card number theft, they told me it was a swipe and I must have done it...three people later, I'm told "It was in Michigan...I'm guessing you haven't been there lately?" while the first few told me I MUST HAVE DONE IT but couldn't bother to tell me it HAD BEEN DONE OVER A THOUSAND MILES AWAY.

I keep an account open so my mother and I can help each other out if need be and they DO have a good bill pay system, but I keep no money in the account.

This has happened to Jeremy many times. I don't think he has even managed to get fees back.

That was NOT our experience in the least with BOA. After Regions bank treated us like criminals (because he did not yet have a green card), we went to BOA where we were welcomed with open arms.

We got a $25 gift from them for opening the account, which they promptly sent a form to both of us for tax purposes in January. So obviously however they 'put' him in the system didn't matter. He was only in the US for 2 months when we opened the account, and again, he did not yet have his green card.

I would be very curious to hear what the branch manager tells you. They need to make this right.

OH! And don't get started on their policy that if someone steals your checking account number and is stealing all your money, they can't close an account in the red. When everytime it's in the black, all your money gets swiped!

I'm glad some people have had good experiences, but I still recommend people find something else. The immigration piece is only a small piece of the puzzle; I don't like my money being messed with and my entire future being messed with.

Bora Bora - I have a credit card with WaMu and I like them. But I'm only paying down the balance, not actively using it ...

Your not alone they drive me nuts too

Tony

Bank Of America has I am sure a large list of haters....LOL.....I am in the top 10. I can't believe anyone uses them still.....They are like a spider waiting it's prey..they lure you in with seductive props and wait for you to hit a B of A trip wire in the form of numerous little tecnical rules that are probably spelled out in all the tiny fine printed documents they give you to read. Than your A@@ is theyres and you have to pay theyre bail FEES FEES and more FEEs.........Wish they would change theyre name it's embarassing.....haha

They have alot of financial backing so they can afford to play hard ball with customers and they are very cut throat. There are much more customer friendly banks to do business with.

Join your local Credit Union

Wow, I am surprised at all this vitriol for the Bank of America. We have not had any problems with them at all. They had no difficulties adding me to my husband's account when I arrived using my Canadian Driver's License and Passport - they didn't even require my SSN to add me to the account, just telling me to let them know when I got it. They did charge for the letter my then-fiance required for the K-1 but that is the only thing they have charged us for and from talking to people at other banks they were charged as well. I am not listed as a non-resident alien and never was even though I was added to the accounts only days after my arrival on a K-1. We have never had any problems with any of our accounts and whenever we have gone in to do in person banking or require assistance in any matter (lost ATM card, etc.) they have always been courteous, helpful and efficient. We have had no troubles and no complaints.

Can you build credit with a credit union (CU)? Do CU's report to the credit bureau? I just happen to check my credit report and they appear not in it.

If your credit union issues you a credit card, yes it would report. Checking/savings account don't ever report on your credit (I've had accounts with about 6 different banks/credit unions (about 3 banks/3 credit unions) and checking/savings never reported on my credit report.)

Honestly, consider yourself very lucky. I live where their headquarters are and there's a BofA every half mile. I've heard more bad stories than good ones about bad experiences AND bad business practices.

Wow, I didn't realize BOA was so bad either - but I'm not surprised. I'm lucky to not have any problems with my money with them (knocks on wood). BOA is EVERYWHERE in central Florida so it's very convient from us. Also, I have a free checking account because of direct deposit (and consquently the same with my savings). I have a credit card that started off as MBNA, but then was transferred to BOA, so it's again convience. We'll see what happens in the future. We have a Wachovia account too but we don't use it since there aren't as many banks and they won't give you a free savings account (we'll probably just close that one). WAMU is also not as abundant where we live...

I'm sorry to hear about all of the BOA bank problems though - when your money is messed up by the bank it sucks!

Okay...didn't ever mean for this to become a BoA haters thread! I'll take it that we're in some sort of administrative foul-up hell here. I've had great service from them so far, they've been very helpful with helping me get my business banking sorted in particular.

I don't really see this adding value, so could a mod please close this?

This topic has been closed per the request of the original poster. Thank you for your understanding.