Bank of America website still having problems? A DOS attack or a stop to a run on the bank??

Originally posted by illuminatislave
Folks if the website does not work, walk into that bank and withdraw all of your money.

It does work. In fact it never stopped working. Even when they had issues you could still get into your accounts. Perhaps a branch where some juvenile rioters are milling about has been closed, but all the branches all over the country have remained open.

I mean, what more proof do people need here? They announce ridiculous fees on top of already ridiculous fees, and then they shut their website down as soon as people stopped doing business with them.

What ridiculous fees? I have NEVER been charged ANY sort of fees by B of A. So now they may charge me $5.00 per month for using the debit card. Let's do the math:

I used my debit card 22 times last month. It used to be BofA would make 44 cents per use. So, they would make $9.68 off my use of the card. But the government arbitrarily decided to intervene and said BofA could not make more than 22 cents per transaction, so for the same usage BofA would make $4.84.

So BofA decides they need to make that up and charges $5.00 per month. Looks like break-even to me for the bank and a net increase for the merchants. I doubt the merchants will reduce their prices, so who makes the "extra" money here? The merchants! They are the only player here who winds up with more money. Essentially the cost is moved from the merchant to the buyer. The bank remains even.

Oh, wait! I also initiated three "Bill Payer" transactions online, three ATM withdrawls, and 7 automatic payments, for which BofA charged me ZERO. They sent me a statement which cost them $3.50 to send, and that was free as well.

I'll be damned if someone were to tell me that I could not have my money, or pay them a fee to use my money. Your money is better stuffed in your mattress at this point instead of allowing it into the hands of those vultures.

OK. Let's do the math. Your money is all in cash in the mattress. You have the same number of transactions I do. You still have to pay more or less the same bills. You have 35 transactions per month. For each transaction you must take the proper amount of cash and deliver it to your merchant. So

1. Pay the electric bill
2. Pay house insurance
3. Pay car insurance
4. Pay the phone bill
5. Pay the cell phone bill
6. Pay the cable bill
7. Pay the rent or mortgage
8. etc.

Of course, your mileage may vary. Maybe you don't have those exact bills, but you have some. You can carry cash for your merchant transactions and you won't need an ATM, which is now your mattress. But what cost will you incur paying your utility bills? You'll have to go somewhere, to some outlet, that will accept cash in payment. Or you could buy money orders and send them through the mail (44 cents a stamp, plus M.O. fees). And of course, if you have income, you'll probably be paid by check,, which you can't cash without an account at a bank.

Add up your costs to do all this. My guess it's more than $5.00.

So where are we here? Your ire is directed at BofA. The only question is, why? BofA has broken even on the changes dictated by government. They aren't making any more money. But they have provided you a service which would cost you a great deal more if you didn't have them to do so. If you don't like BofA the only issue is, why are you still there? Why were you there in the first place? Why don't you have your money in a credit union or under the mattress already?

Your ire is NOT directed at your local merchants, yet THEY are the only ones here to have seen an increase in their net profits. Yet you still visit that espresso stand to chat up that cutie behind the counter and you still go to the same grocery store and the same restaurants, all of which make a bit more money now that the government has intervened.

The basic idea here is that if you move away from BofA (an example as all banks will be doing this shortly, including the larger credit unions which are all subject to these new rules.) then you are increasing your costs many times over what the bank is actually charging you.

Of course sometimes it costs you to live by your principles, but as a financial decision, this is not in your favor.