BOA's Gold Option Line of Credit is Fraudulent!

6.30.08

Ken Lewis, CEO
Bank of America
100 Tyron Street
Charlotte, North Carolina 28255

Dear Mr. Lewis,

The following outlines my outrageous and credit-rating-damaging experience with Bank Of America’s Gold Option Line of Credit. This letter is also part of a consumer advocacy campaign to alert consumers about BOA’s practices.

Attention Credit Users: Beware of Bank Of America’s Gold Option Line Of Credit.

Here’s how it works:

Between appealing advertisements and the misleading words of customer service reps Bank Of America offers a product called “Gold Option Line of Credit.” In explaining the Gold Option Line Of Credit, they will tell you it’s not a credit card, but rather a “line of credit”—a loan for an agreed-upon amount with low APR to be repaid over time; and that you can tap into it as needed for business or personal purposes upon qualifications. (As BOA did to me.)

Bank Of America will then offer you between 8.99% and 11.99% APR (Annual Percentage Rate) on your Gold Option Line of Credit. Upon accepting the terms of 12.99% (as I did), they will raise your APR interest rate to 21.99% without warning simply because they can. (As BOA did to me.)

You won’t discover this bait-n-switch tactic until the receipt of your first statement. In your first statement you’ll notice a laundry list of transaction fees, cash advance surcharges, APRs, and other petty, periphery fees that if paid as intended, will comprise double to triple the amount you agreed to. (As BOA did to me.)

By your second statement, BOA will have outright boosted your APR north of “reasonable and sane” to 56.33%. (As BOA did to me.) Calls to BOA will include conversations with rude condescending customer service reps who can’t tell the difference between an AR of 12.99% and one of 56.33%. They will act as if any action they take on your behalf is optional.

No matter how much you complain and protest to customer service reps, BOA will stand by their actions. And even after you cancel your account, returning all moneys before due, Bank Of America will contact Experian, TransUnion and Equifax and report that you are delinquent in your payment schedule. (As BOA did to me.)

Why?

Because Bank Of America farms out portions of its Gold Option service to partnering firms; and while they claim to contact them and coordinate the closing of your account they won’t. (Why would they—doing so is a loss of revenue on their behalf.)

So in short, you will find that the 3 major reporting agencies will record non-payments and delinquencies to your account as fact. BOA will do this for several months until your credit rating takes a nosedive by 145 points. (As BOA did to me.)

If you write enough letters and dial enough numbers—7 numbers and 15 letters of complaint in my case—you’ll get called back by someone from BOA’s Office of The Chairman from Bank Of America’s home office, located in Delaware. In my case, that “someone” was named Ms. Niva Sadler.

Now Ms. Niva Sadler (or someone like her from BOA’s Office of The Chairman) will listen to your complaint. She will then tell you, both in writing and over the phone, that your memory regarding the conversations are fuzzy, that your 5lbs worth of files and documentation of the facts and transactions is irrelevant, that you've simply "misunderstood the terms of your agreement," and that your complaint is unfounded.

She will latch on to the phrase “as a courtesy” and use it over and over to qualify any all acts on BOA’s behalf. As if ripping people off is a courtesy and discontinuing the reporting of false claims is a courtesy. And closing the account that you demanded be closed months back is a courtesy… And she will tell you all of this with a smug, arrogant tone that wreaks of disregard for anything other than making money. (As BOA did to me.)

Whether it’s Sadler or someone like her, a Bank Of America rep will defend its corrupt actions including: bait 'n' switch tactics, false and slanderous reports to credit bureaus that ruin your credit rating, and lying customer service reps, not to mention the unethical and exorbitant charges levied against your account will all be defended or ignored. (As BOA did to me.)

In short, she will viciously and coldly defend BOA’s actions to no end, no matter how corrupt, how wrong or how illegal they are.

Meanwhile, your credit rating—like mine—may fall as much as 145 points due to false information being reported to the credit agencies in your name. Thanks to BOA this information that will stay on your report for 7 years.

Bank of America will screw you, then hide behind legalese and doubletalk. And because BOA and other financial institutions of similar ilk have bought off the Better Business Bureau and lobbied the State’s Attorney’s offices along with most congressmen and state DA’s, there’s not much consumers can do about it.

But you’ll learn all this the hard way.

You'll also learn that your only alternative will be to mount an online campaign and contact as many media outlets as possible to let them know what type of company Bank Of America is and what they’re capable of. In doing so you will discover thousands of irate customers who have been mislead, lied to, overcharged and scammed by a variety of BOA departments and services.

As the numbers of screwed-over customers grow and the media exposure increases, something might change.