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M$1.00  Funded By Mahalo ? |  April 04, 2009 09:04 PM

I have a Bank account which is overdraft, Now I cannot open a bank account with another bank because of this, is there any way around this?

The reason for the overdraft was a fraud charge which i disputed and the bank would not rectify the situation so i refuse to pay for someone elses doing. I even went to state police and local police but nothing was fixed. So I will no longer use Bank Of America because of this but now I cannot open with another bank. What Banks will let me open a account with them without looking into my past or what can I do in this situation to get a new bank account?
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Interesting: hushnow, dumblonde

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April 05, 2009 06:40 AM
I find it unlikely you'll be able to open a new account without solving your BofA issue first. It's common practice for banks to check what other accounts you may have and if there's problems with them. They don't like risks.

In this case I think the best thing you can do is contact your state's Consumer Affairs Department or the Office of the Attorney General and deal with BofA directly.

How to deal with Bank of America? If normal customer service fails, write them or go to executive customer service! You have the option of mailing letters to top executives like the CEO (surprisingly effective) or launching an EECB (Executive Email Carpet Bomb).
http://consumerist.com/5045443/consumerists-4-most-frequently-given-ways-to-kick-ass

Consumerist gives you the steps to dealing with this:

1. Exhaust normal channels
Have you called customer service? Asked for a supervisor? Hung up and tried again? Give regular customer service a chance to fix the problem before you go nuclear.

2. Write a really good complaint letter.
Be clear, concise, polite, and professional. State exactly what you want. See this post for complaint letter writing tips. Pitch your issue in a way that affects their bottom line. Spellcheck and include contact information.

3. Determine the corporate email address format.
Look through their website or Google for press releases. Examine the PR flack's email address. What's the format? Is it firstname.lastname@company.com? FirstletteroffirstnameLastname@companyname.com? Figure it out and write it down.

4. Compile a list of the company's top executives
This is often available on the company website, under sections like "corporate officers" or "corporate governance." You can also look the company up on Google Finance and look under management, although this list tends to only be partial.

5. Combine the names from step 4 with the format from step 3 to create an email list

6. Send your complaint to the list from step 5.

7. Sit back and wait.

Here's links to executive contact information.
http://consumerist.com/259194/reach-bank-of-america-executive-customer-relations
http://consumerist.com/330160/email-addresses-for-17-bank-of-america-executives

Lastly, you can always write to The Consumerist and if you're lucky enough that they'll post your story, it will get attention and they will give you tips on how to deal with it. tips@consumerist.com

I almost forgot that if you think your personal information has been compromised, request all your credit reports http://www.annualcreditreport.com and put a fraud alert on your credit reports. http://www.fightidentitytheft.com/flag.html


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Helpful: modctek, hushnow, jellylala

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April 06, 2009 02:52 PM
@jellylala made an excellent point. Keep it polite!

Also, and I forgot to mention this in the original answer. Make note of all the overdraft fees you have incurred because of the fraudulent charge. Those should be given back as well.

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April 09, 2009 02:34 AM
I don't think it is necessary to blame BAC for this.

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April 09, 2009 08:12 PM
BAC?

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April 05, 2009 06:47 AM
My first recommendation would be to get a lawyer.

It sounds like the fraud charge has impacted your credit rating, which is probably why the other bank isn't willing to open an account with you. If you have sufficient documentation that the fraud was not caused by you (police reports, investigation findings, affidavits etc.) you may be able to convince the credit rating agencies to amend your credit score, or at least add documentation that the fraud charges are disputed (which won't do much, if anything). You might be able to convince a new bank as well, but if you are trying to open an account with very little money, they are not going to be inclined to take the risk. I don't know this for a fact, but you might be able to work something out with a bank if you have something that could be tendered as collateral, such as a car, boat, house, etc. Also, you could look to open a joint-account with a family member.

If your credit rating has been affected by this fraud charge, repairing it will take some time, and you may not be able to get any financial institution to talk to you without a co-signer or some form of collateral guarantee.

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Helpful: dumblonde

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April 05, 2009 06:52 AM
I'd get a lawyer only if the Attorney General or Consumer Affairs is ineffective. Lawyers are expensive.

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April 06, 2009 02:14 PM
As someone who works at a bank, I will vouch for dumbblonde's "Shock and Annoy" strategy. Just remain calm and polite. Getting rude and abusive is the fastest way to guarantee that you will never get helped.

If you filled out a police report, take that to the bank. There is a form that you can fill out in cases of fraud and they can refund you up to a certain amount. (depends on the bank, mine is $250, I think) They can't keep it on your account unless they can prove it wasn't fraud.

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Helpful: dumblonde

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April 06, 2009 04:19 PM
Great point. Even if I'm super upset at customer service I try to keep it as polite as possible even if it means gritting my teeth :-D

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