Day after big debit fee hike, BofA homepage fails

201109300952

Christopher Maag of Credit.com write:

Bank of America’s homepage was down Friday morning, a day after the megabank announced that it will begin charging customers $5 a month to use their debit cards. Instead of the bank’s normal site, visitors receive a notice stating “Home Page Temporarily Unavailable.”
Instead of the bank’s normal site, visitors receive a notice stating “Home Page Temporarily Unavailable,” followed by the message, “We’re sorry, but some of our pages are temporarily unavailable.” The site indicates that the bank’s online banking system is still working, but a number of commenters to Credit.com’s website say that it is not.

Day After Big Debit Fee Hike, BofA Homepage Fails

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=640537025 Jennifer Kanis

Charging money to use your money is bullshit. I should pull a Ron Swanson, buy gold and burry it around town in secret locations.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1153257811 Jesse Hamilton

DDOS’d by everyone closing their accounts?

What a baffling move on their part. Who would stay on with them when there are so many credit unions or other options?
- Guest
  
  THIS! Get out of of there! Credit unions better.
- flarktobble
  
  @facebook-1153257811:disqus
  
  Who would stay on with them when there are so many credit unions or other options?
  
  The people who aren’t paying attention, or who view a change as more hassle than doing nothing?
  - marilove
    
    Or there are some of us who have actually had pleasant experiences with BofA through the years. I’ve had them for almost TWENTY years, and had nothing bad to say about them until this $5/month fee thing. Then again, I only ever had basic checking and savings accounts, which is probably why I’ve never had a problem. Still, not everyone has had awful experiences with BofA. I’m at least the second person here who has said as much. Your experiences are not going to be everyone else’s experiences.
    
    I will be switching now, however, and it looks like Ally might be where I end up.
    - Guest
      
      Ally is GMAC. just sayin’
      - marilove
        
        What’s GMAC? More information, please. :) I’m trying to research alternatives right now. I have a feeling I’ll end up with a local Credit Union, though, because I just realized I actually deal with checks a fair amount and would have to mail them to Ally, which I don’t like.
      - show me
        
        GMAC started out being the car-financing arm of General Motors, then split off and diversified into many more lines of financial business, then split off and renamed themselves. See https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Ally_Bank
      - marilove
        
        Thanks for the info!
      - pebird
        
        I agree, check deposits are the only major hassle with CUs, but they have alliances with other CUs, I found a CU about 1 mile from where I live that has a 24 hour ATM that accepts checks.
        
        Also, some CUs have partnered with 7-11 (believe it or not), who has installed advanced ATM kiosks in their stores, which accept deposits.
    - Guest
      
      They’re no better… they’re still a bank. Banks are evil, inherently.
      
      Although they do qualify as the ‘Least Evil’, as if that counts for something…
TheHowl

Oh man.

If only we had a way of handling financial transactions that was simple, universally-available, didn’t require a for-profit corporation taking a cut as middleman, and didn’t create an exploitable record trail everywhere we went.
- marilove
  
  Cash isn’t always convenient. And it can be easily lost/stolen. A friend of mine made a good point: She doesn’t like carrying around a lot of cash, as she lives in New York City. I don’t like carrying around a lot of cash because if I lose it, or it’s stolen, I have ZERO recourse.
  
  Additionally, using debit and credit cards affords you some protection when you make major purchases. And leaving a record trail isn’t necessarily a bad thing — it can make budgeting and planning easier, and also if you have a problem (theft, or maybe need to do a chargeback), it makes dealing with that much easier.
  
  Also, how do you expect to make orders online with cash? You can’t.
  
  Each form of payment (cash, debit, credit) has its pros and cons.
http://www.paradea.org/notes/ Teirhan

Ugh, finding a new bank is going to be a hassle.

my girlfriend’s dad is a geologist, wonder if i can get grandfathered into the USGS credit union?
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Gideon-Jones/100000909387494 Gideon Jones
  
  You don’t generally need to be a member of some group to join a credit union. Sure, some are intended for specific groups, but there are plenty of local credit unions that anyone can go join.
- Guest
  
  Are there not any other available credit unions in your area; ones that don’t need your ‘girlfriend’s dad’ to ‘grandfather you in’? :/
  - http://www.paradea.org/notes/ Teirhan
    
    Perhaps I want to use this one specifically as there are people involved with it whose judgment I trust?
    
    But no, I don’t know if there are any other credit unions around, because I’ve never felt like there was a need to go and look. The local BofA branches have always been pleasant, and service from their hotlines has always been responsive and pleasant. I’m not particularly inclined to start paying them for the privilege of spending my money without the hassle of carrying cash and change, however.
    - Guest
      
      Well, now’s your chance to do some investigating! When I lived in Milwaukee, I had an account at the Brewery Credit Union. They are great! It says ‘Open to the Public’ outside, though. I think that’s because lots of people don’t know that they, too are welcome. They are the public! :3
      
      Also, they remembered me by name after a 3 year absence. Blew my mind.
- georgethatgeorge
  
  > my girlfriend’s dad is a geologist, wonder if i can get grandfathered into the USGS credit union?
  
  Grandfather? Doesn’t that imply your girlfriend is your mother??
mpanzarino

Just FYI Online banking works via Mobile.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000948958770 Ellie Guapo

I hope this convinces everyone who still uses them, or ANY large national bank, to pull their money out and invest it in a small local bank or credit union- for a number of obvious reasons, not the least of which is, your money will be going towards loans to local businesses, prospective homeowners, etc. rather than to the kind of shit that brought about the housing market crisis.

At this stage of the game, anyone still giving these guys their money is part of the problem.
- Guest
  
  YAH.
Mister44

I can’t stand BoA. Our mortgage got bought by them, but I am looking to re-finance with another bank.
- David James
  
  Of course, the danger is that if you refi with another bank, the mortgage will simply get sold to yet another bank, even possibly ending up back with BoA… I know several people that saw their mortgages change hands as often as once or twice a year.
  - Mister44
    
    Yeah – that happens. It’s a smaller, local bank and I asked about it. They do sell them some times, but it’s only to one other bank. It isn’t a HUGE deal, I just don’t like BoA. They bought Countrywide, where were pretty cool, I thought.
show me

I got this message when I first logged in, but after a couple of retries managed to get in and look at my account. We are exempt from some of their crappy fees because they happen to own our mortgage also (not our choice; they bought it) but we have been strongly considering moving our account and will step up our efforts now.
- Guest
  
  Walk in. Close account. Move money to credit union.
Westgard

The $5 charge was the straw that finally broke this camel’s back — and when I called the credit union I’ll be switching to this morning, the fellow I spoke to told me I was the third person so far today who cited the B of A fee as their reason for inquiring about banking with them. Whether or not the website crash is related to that fee, I suspect a real groundswell is underway, and I will not surprised if B of A backs off it shortly if only to get rid of the bad publicity.
Brainspore

Just as well, they charge $10 a month to use the web site.
ghostbear

Am I the only one who remembers that debit cards were supposed to save banks money so they didn’t have to process checks?
PapayaSF

Thank you, Dodd-Frank! Who could have ever guessed that a law restricting what a bank could charge for some things would cause them to raise prices for something else?
- putty
  
  So what’s the solution Papaya? Less gov’t regulation and the banks will just start to behave themselves?
  Dodd-Frank is what I would call a good start. What we need is more regulation until the banks figure out that nickeling and diming their customers while paying themselves taxpayer funded multi-million bonuses is unaceptable. These are the fuckers that are directly responsible for the curent global financial crisis and they’re basically saying “let them eat cake”. These crooks should be in jail.
Loafer

$5 a month…. blimey, that is cheap. Costs me $11 a month here in Canada Ggggrrrrrr
- IRC
  
  I was thinking the same thing. Debit cards have always cost us a monthly fee here in Canada with the big banks. It’s only the discount banks like ING Direct and PC Financial that have no-fee debit cards AFAIK (which, honestly, isn’t very far…).
Phil Fot

Expect us
marilove

I’ve used BofA since I was 11 — 19 years ago. It’s actually gotten me some great treatment when I needed customer service. Someone stole and used my checkbook about 4 years ago, and BofA was wonderful. Another time, someone stole $300 from me via Paypal and BofA was also wonderful. They’ve been great about reversing the random, once-a-year overdraft fee if I ask nicely. I think I’m one of those rare people who actually enjoyed BofA and never had any sort of problem,w hich is why I’ve stayed loyal.

But this? This is unacceptable. I will be moving banks now. Someone mentioned http://www.ally.com/ — anyone have any experience with them?
- pebird
  
  Ally is the old GMAC – General Motors Acceptance Corp – reborn.
  
  I suggest lookimg into credit unions. The one I am moving to will pay you 2.2% on your checking, up to 25k, if you use your debit card for 10 transactions (non ATM) a month, plus have a direct deposit and if you accept e-statements. Oh, and no-fee debit card.
  
  Checkout http://www.providentcu.org to see the kind of services CUs offer.
http://profiles.google.com/spockosemail Mr. Spocko

When a corporation does something that will outrage consumers they often go to the PR people to design a strategy to help them. There are a couple of methods to deal with this situation it will be interesting to see how they spin it.

Questions to ask. “Why now?” A few guesses. The appointment of a chairperson for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has happened but it’s not rolling full power yet so they are getting the fee raise in now before they are ready to challenge it.

Since they can’t make the kind of money they did by selling and hedging toxic financial instruments or mortgages they are casting around for places they can charge a lot of people a little amount of money. Hence debit cards.

My prediction tree:
1) They will stay the course for a while and then back down citing, “listening to customers”

2) They will use the outcry to signal to their supporters they are the real victims here, they are suffering from two much government regulation in Dodd Frank so they sadly have to do this, they have no other choice. What goes unsaid is that their choice is to make less profit. or to pay CEOs less.

3) This will be used as a “New Coke” moment. They will go back to the fees and proclaim that they “learned their lesson” and will never charge again.

4) They will Follow Netflix’s lead split out the ATM/Debit card division as Bankster keeping BofA for all their big money loads.
- Guest
  
  “Why now” is because this is the date that scheduled reforms of rules go into effect. I find the rest of your commentary to be similarly well informed.
  
  here’s a link to info about the reforms
  
  http://community.nasdaq.com/News/2011-09/durbin-takes-effect-oct-1-should-you-care.aspx?storyid=96604
Guest

Associated Bank stuck me with a 75 dollar overdraft fee on a 3 dollar check (I bought a dog whistle! lol) when I was 19. I closed my account that day. Moved my money to a credit union, and have never used a bank again.
- marilove
  
  Last week I had an overdraft of minus $14 because I misjudged when a check was supposed to go through and didn’t deposit another check in enough time to cover it. I deposited the check to cover it the next day. I thought I’d get a fee, and was expecting to call BofA to see if they would reverse it (which they probably would have done, as if you ask nicely, most banks will reverse one overdraft fee a year, at least). I never got a fee. A week or so later, I got the “overdraft notice” in the mail, and it advised me that the fee had been waived because I covered the overdraft within 5 days. I was pleasantly surprised, and very pleased!
  
  BofA, I was happy with you … and now you gone fucked up our relationship. Oh, well.
Guest

I’ve seen 10 of my “friends” asking for banking advice on Facebook in the last 24 hours. It’s like the larger banks (other than Citi, who is not raising any fees in response to this new rule going into effect) are TRYING to cause a run on the banks so they can dodge the blame for getting things to where they are today.
medontlivenoprahsworld

This banks need more regulation. They have proved it these past few years.

These bankers don’t sound like the people I worked for in the early 1980s.

With deregulation banks could offer more services and make more profit. It kept growing and growing and now we have very large banks with lobbyists getting legislation passed in their favor.

It may sound quaint but the bank president had an office near the main door and knew most of the business owners and regular customers. He would even talk to me, a lowly mail clerk.

The banks were limited in that time for a reason, we need banks to be stable as they can bring a sense of financial security to everyone in the community. If you don’t believe it, check out any place that had a bank failure.

The accounts are insured yes, but this is a high price to pay just because some bankers want more money.
agthorn

Rewards credit cards FTW!

And I didn’t have any issues with BoA’s site today. I’ve certainly never been charged $10 a month to use their site either. And we only use our debit card at ATMs (if a place takes plastic, we pay credit).
cegev

Frankly, I’ve never had any problems with BofA, despite numerous accounts there, and have had problems with smaller banks, but anecdotes are not very useful.

The problem here is that singling out BofA is ignoring the larger issue: from what I’ve heard, most banks are actually planning on implementing fees of this sort, whether they’ve disclosed it or not, and if enough banks do, other banks will have what they consider justification to do so as well. Credit unions may even follow suit.

In BofA’s case, I think they’re trying to use fees like this to prod people into larger relationships with them, especially with Merrill Lynch: I will not be charged the $5 fee, for example, because of my accounts at ML. It’s very possible that they simply don’t care about small accounts where clients would be unable to avoid the fee.
- pebird
  
  Here is the thing, you decide to use your debit card only for ATM and will use it as credit (where you sign) to avoid $5 fee.
  
  You forget once at Starbucks, buy a $5 latte and enter your PIN. Oops, you just got charged $5 bank fee for a $5 purchase.
  
  So instead you have to carry a separate credit card for credit, plus your debit card for ATM transactions.
  
  Don’t you just love BoA charging you for electronic access to your own money? I don’t think they want my money.
  - Guest
    
    Oh, they want your money. But, whatev- even if you leave, there’s millions of other people they can rob!
halfpress

SunTrust Bank pulled this crap as well and I’m looking to leave them for a credit union – partly in protest and partly to try to help keep my money working more on a local level.

I virtually ceased using my debit card a year or more back, though, when I moved to using a credit card for most everything and just paying it off 100% every month (no balance, no fees). I did that mostly to accrue air miles, etc. So while the $5 fee isn’t affecting me much, it pisses me off on principle and makes me want to move away from the big corporate banking entities. It does also keep me from conveniently making small purchases with my debit card and getting cash back at the register to avoid a separate stop at an ATM.What matters to me with a credit union, though, is having enough ATMs around for those times when I do need them (not often, but sometimes) AND that their website and online bill payment system not suck. Suntrust’s is pretty decent in both respects.

I remember back in the day when ATMs had zero or almost no fees and debit cards were pushed as a way to save the banks and, in theory, me, some money. What a joke. Once most of us moved, they layered on obscene fees of all kinds to both and started making a killing.
SamSam

I’ve also seen several FaceBook posts of friends wanting to switch. I’ve directed them to my local bank, which is very nice and has a fine online system.

I wouldn’t see the point of moving to Ally GMAC any more than I would moving to Citi. They’re all big mega-corporations, they’re all going to screw you the same way. Stick with local banks who have a vested interest in keeping the community healthy.
subhan

First let me say, $5.00 = 1 set of transaction fees when you use your credit union debit card at another bank’s ATM because your CU only has 1, outside their building, 10 miles from where you work and/or live.
Second, I bailed out of BOA 10 years ago when they told me my ‘free’ checking account was now going to cost me $3.00 every time I talked to a teller to make a transaction instead of using the ATM. Closed my account, walked across the street, opened one with Wells Fargo
SexBobOmb

Any WA residents can join BECU. Lots of ATM’s, and you can use an entire network of ATM’s and branches from other credit unions. The online bill pay is great, and everything is free. Not to mention I make 6% interest on both my checking and savings (You see, the profits go to members, not executives). There are more than 10 Becu ATM’s in my vicinity, and three service centers. Plus the other credit unions in the network.

I had crap service with B of A and US Bank. Loving my transition to BECU. Using a local CU lending to members rather than the Bankster Monster Machine helps me sleep better as well.
- tonyc13
  
  I checked out BECU since the 6% interest rate seemed like an amazing deal. After a quick look it appears you get 6% on only the first $500 you deposit, anything above that it drops to a more typical 0.15%. Quite a bummer, but I appreciate you at least prompting me to take a look.
rjewell

Seems like Karma after BofA keeps chopping the tops off of trees that get in the way of their signs in SF:

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/video?id=8373567
Teller

Stop using debit cards. Carry cash.
signed – the guy behind you at peets.
- Bottlekid
  
  @Teller, so I’m sitting here, stewing in my own smug thinking the same thing (“who the hell would use a debit card, anyway”?) , and then it ocurred to me that a couple of years ago, BoA changed my “ATM” card to a debit card. I didn’t have any choice. So even though I only use it for ATM’s, I still have a BoA debit card. They already charge me $3 a month for only having a checking account and I’m not letting them charge me another bloody cent. Will be moving to my employer’s credit union on Monday.
  - Teller
    
    Silverish lining:
    
    “The fee will kick in only during the months when customers use their
    debit cards to make a purchase, Dow Jones reports. If you use your debit
    card only at an ATM, you won’t get charged.”
    
    But if it’s a matter of principle – credit union.
- Guest
  
  Cash is queen! lol
Teto85

Many states have set up debit card accounts to replace paper checks for unemployment, disability, welfare and other entitlement fund transfers. Guess which bank they use. Go on, guess.
tonyc13

As others have suggested, get yourself a rewards credit card and pay off your balance at the end of each month. Chase Freedom is great with no fees and you get 1% back on your purchases. Every few months I cash in the accrued points and it’s like someone on the street handing me $100. Plus you are building good credit the whole time.
- pebird
  
  Many credit union have the same rewards programs, and they give you points whether you use their credit or debit cards. Check it out.
blueelm

Arrrgh… Now see I’m worried about the savings I have with them. I was planning on moving it to a Credit Union but have been dragging my feet. Bleh… I’m not so much angry about the fee as I am concerned that they are going to fail.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=717411176 Eric Trueheart

Get this: In California, unemployment insurance recently switched over from sending checks to issuing everyone a debit card and an account to credit with their benefits. Which bank controls these accounts? B of A.

So does this mean millions of out-of-work people are suddenly getting charged every time they want to collect their money and have no choice in the matter?
- pebird
  
  It’s a different kind of card, a stored value card with a set amount of benefits that gets added to every benefit period.
  
  It runs through the interchange network and is structured like a debit card, since it replaced paper checks.
  
  Kind of like those rebate cards you get sometimes.
  
  I think the BoA charge only applies to those that have checking accounts at BoA with debit cards, not these stored value benefit cards. We will have to read their policies in the next few days.
- Guest
  
  Of course! Can’t they see how we fuck ‘em? BWAAHAHAHAAAA!!! Fuck those poor people!
  /s
  
  :C
Casey Winstead

As others have pointed out, there are alternatives other than switching to another financial institution (remember, local banks and the people who run them are not necessarily straight outta Mayberry). Besides using ATMs and paying with cash (which could well cost you a few bucks each time you do it, depending upon whose ATM it is), you can simply use a credit card, even a Bankamericard, or even your BofA checkcard as a credit, not debit card.

There is no new proposed additional fee for using a Bank of America credit card, or for using one of their check cards as a credit card (a BofA check card can be used as a credit card or as a debit card).

I’ve never used a debit card online, and I doubt if anyone here has either. Have you ever been asked by anyone online (other than the minister of finance, first national bank of lagos) to enter your debit card number followed by your PIN code? Didn’t think so.

I’ve been using BofA since 1972 and I’m not a fan. For a long time it was the only bank in town that had branches in other towns (this was before ATMs–when drafts were written in cuneiform on clay tablets). The pricks in other towns and big cities who managed banks (whether BofA, Wells Fargo or little local banks) back then, wouldn’t even break $100 bills for the likes of me, much less cash checks from my account in some Podunk bank in my Podunk town. I was an itinerant iron worker at the time.

One of the things I hate about BofA is, even if you tell them ahead of time, you will be using your Bofa debit/credit card for the next few weeks in Mexico, they will often disable, or even cancel your card because of “suspiscious activity”. That’s why I always carry a big bindle of cash when in Mexico.

Other than the occasional rage and loathing BofA inspires in me, I am mostly indifferent to their service (which is all I ask of huge institutions–treat me as just another number but don’t punk me…please)
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  I use my Amex card for almost everything, then pay it off every month. It costs me nothing, and I get enough points to buy a few books a month on Amazon.
julanna hennessy

When I first started working they would give us cash – and it was all mine to spend as I pleased. I remember the campaign to get everyones wages going directly to the bank accounts. I remember being suspicious but I couldn’t work out what was wrong with the idea. It was all presented as security for us because we wouldn’t be walking around with large amounts of cash, less human error and easier for the workplace to administer. There were no extra fees back then. None at all. As soon as it became mandatory for wages to go to accounts we became their captive audience and they brought in fees very soon after to use our own money. Didn’t pick that at all. Wasn’t surprised tho.
jerwin

It’s not just Bank of America–Suntrust will, apparently, be charging as well. Wells Fargo/Wachovia is planning on charging $3.
CrackWilding

Earlier in the day it was a generic Internal Server Error page, and even after this page was put up I was getting big gobs of error messages when following various links on the site. Nice to know the clever folks at BoA don’t give a rip that their website hands out debugging information when it’s broken.