Closing the account — again

“No, they would have just thrown it away.”   

I paused to take this in, and then said  “That does not reflect well on Bank of America.”

As the two or three people who read my blog may remember, I canceled my Bank of America credit card last November, in solidarity with Move Your Money. I cut the card with scissors, enclosed it with my zero-balance bill, wrote on the bill “Please close this account” and mailed it in the envelope provided with my final – I thought – bill.

Since I paid off the complete balance and stopped using the card, I thought everything was in order. Silly me. I continued to get mailings from BoA, but since I wasn’t using the card any longer, I didn’t pay much attention. Promotions of some sort. Occasionally I’d get a bill showing a zero balance and wondered what’s taking them so long to let their computers know I’m no longer one of them. And then last week I opened an envelope from B of A and saw that I owed $78.94, and that total included interest.

Ok, now I’m not happy. Forget the phone, forget the mail – I drive to a local branch of B of A and ask to see a bank officer.

“I canceled this credit card in November, and yet I see that I’ve been charged $50.95 for Sirius XM” I told them, “and there’s also a charge for Blue Mountain. And interest charges.I don’t understand why charges were posted in March to a card I canceled in November.”

“How did you cancel the card?” the officer asked.

“I cut it with scissors, enclosed the cut pieces in the pre-addressed envelope, and wrote a note on the bill saying Cancel this account.”

“Oh, that doesn’t close the account,” she said rather nonchalantly.

“Why not?”

“Because that department doesn’t have the authority to close accounts.”

I replied with something that seemed obvious to me, but then what do I know. “Then shouldn’t they have sent it to someone who does?” I asked.

“No, they would have just thrown it away.”

I paused to take this in, and then said “That does not reflect well on Bank of America.”

As it happened, I was in the local branch on the same day that the shareholders meeting in Charlotte drew crowds of protesters. About 750 people marched from three directions to the Bank of America corporate headquarters, and six people had been arrested by 3 pm, according to The Charlotte Observer.

They’re protesting Bank of America’s policies on foreclosures, and the bank’s support of the coal companies that extract coal using mountain-top removal, a practice that benefits a small number of corporations while destroying homes, properties, streams, mountains, and health.

And the lavish pay package for the CEO of  “an institution with the worst rap sheet in town.  You don’t have to be good at your job to earn seven million dollars in a year. All you need is a few friends in the right places — places like the Federal Reserve, the Justice Department and the Treasury Department,” says Richard Eskow.

But back to my charges – I learned that a recurring charge will still be honored even after an account is closed.  I had actually tried to close Blue Mountain, but had learned, like many other unhappy users, that it can’t be done.  So I thought, ok, let them charge my account and the charge will be denied, since the account is closed.   Wrong.

And Sirius XM? Well, it seems the only thing of interest that I can get on Sirius is Thom Hartmann (with lots of commercials) or Pete Dominick. I say or, instead of and, because they are scheduled at the same time. So I can hear one or the other. Time to cancel.  Of course, Sirius XM also has good classical music, a symphony station, pops, jazz, and news,  but we can get all that from local FM radio stations.

And even though I thought I had closed my BOA credit card in November, I guess I don’t mind adding to the numbers of accounts being closed on the day of the big protest. Not that my one credit card account will be noticed. But it’s kind of like voting for president – we know that our one vote isn’t going to make a difference, but we do it anyway.