Because of the extravagant finance fees and charges you are debiting my above referenced Bank of America Visa credit card payment every month, and which (contrary to what is stated on my statement as being 12.24%) actually amounts to whopping 56.29% of my monthly payments to you, I contacted Bank of America to see if we could work something out that was fair to both your Bank and myself to pay down the debt. I have also avoided using the said Visa card with the one objective of paying down my balance.
In essence, out of my total credit card payments of $1, 816. 50 made between Aug /2008 - Aug / 2009, (Bank of America determines the date and minimum amount it debits to my account every month) you have charged me $1, 022.56 as financial fees ( or 56.29% of my total payments in the last 12 months) and credited only $793.94 to my actual debt’s balance.
I first spoke to “Tiffany” who identified herself as a Senior Account Manager who kept me on the line for about 10-15 minutes giving me scripted arguments as to how Bank of America goes about calculating the percentage of my payment that actually go to your coffers rather than to decreasing the pending balance on the account. She said minimum payments are calculated “according to the balance I keep on my account” which is NOT true. As you can see your minimum payment charges for December of 2008 kept increasing from then onwards, as my balance diminished (if ever so slightly ) through March of 2009.
She then said that is due to the “days in the billing cycle which change every month (?!) “ even though I have been expressly making “auto” payments for at least the last year and a half in order to avoid any possible late fees or charges in that respect. Additionally, Tiffany said that was not “what I signed up for” and that “I was supposed to “use the card”, which I was not doing. So, I guess I am being penalized for being fiscally responsible as well: dammed if you do and damned if you don’t.
Finally Tiffany decided to connect me to your “Financial hardship” department. The lady on the line said her name was “Sarah”. She said she would need to ask me questions in order to “evaluate” whether Bank of America could “offer” me any options to the present set up (which she insisted was better than “the norm”). That would make me think that your norm then is to take over 39.68% of people’s monthly payments as “bank fees and financial charges” which in principle, ought to be illegal.
Sarah kept asking me questions as to the specifics of our household income, (monthly payments, food, utilities, car insurance, prescription drugs co-payments, etc.) for about a good half hour. I also explained to both ladies that I am self employed as a Realtor and we basically live exclusively from my husband’s income, who is filing for bankruptcy and we were making efforts to maintain my Bank of America credit card monthly payment.
Even though she could see that we are in the RED as far as budget goes, she concluded that there was nothing that Bank of America could do for me. That is appalling to me since “We, The Taxpayers” have done so much for Bank of America in the last year to bail your bank out of “hardship”!
Best regards,
Sylvia Quintana