Debtors' Revolt: Bank Of America Cuts Deal With Another YouTuber

Got a gripe with Bank of America? Put it on YouTube.

Ben Frasier of Douglas, Ore. said in a YouTube video that he wouldn't make any more payments on a $30,000 personal line of credit unless Bank of America would let him settle up with a lump sum.

Bank of America wasn't interested in the offer when Frasier made it over the phone. But after he made his demand publicly, and it received some media attention, Bank of America made an offer that Frasier is happy with.

The video-sharing website has become an effective complaint department for angry customers willing to put their faces to a declaration of "debtors revolt!" Ann Minch of Red Bluff, Calif., did it first in September, when she refused to pay a credit card debt unless Bank of America lowered her rate. After her story went viral, Bank of America agreed to her demand. And Darren Bryant of Pensacola, Fla., won attention from the bank within four hours of "going YouTube" after he wasted 20 hours calling the bank to no avail.

Another person uploads a "debtors revolt" rant against Bank of America and other big banks almost every day.

Frasier said that because of an unexpectedly high interest rate, he paid $8,000 but dented the $30,000 loan's principal by only $1,500. He said in his video that he wanted to pay Bank of America $23,000 and call it even. After some negotiation over email, a Bank of America agent made the following offer on Thursday:

Based on the new payment amount from you of 15,134.78 and the credits to that account that I stated below, it would leave a remaining balance on the account of roughly $12,215.00. I would then be able to set that amount to a 60 month payoff term and an interest rate of 8.99%. The new payment on that amount for the 60 months would be roughly $260.00.

Frasier replied that he would accept the offer as soon as he saw it on paper. He told the Huffington Post he's happy with the deal, though he thought the way he got it was ridiculous.

"In terms of YouTube, it was a very effective mode of communicating with them," Frasier told the Huffington Post on Friday. "You have to go someplace unsecure to tell your story where everybody knows pretty much who you are, everybody knows the details. You'd think you could do that on Bank of America's website. It's an incredible website. Unfortunately, you just don't command the attention you do on YouTube."

Bank of America did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Huffington Post, but a spokeswoman previously said, "Our associates talk to millions of customers every day and we work very hard to help them. It is more likely that we can work with them when they call us directly to resolve their issues."

Comments

[eladora]

10:17 PM on 02/18/2010

Banks set these traps 15 years ago. They knew they were going to destroy the economy . It was planned , orchestrated, and worked like a charm. Do not think for one minute any of these big banks give a ra ts as s about anything other than the back room deals they have done for decades. They --not sub prime mortgages --sunk the economy . They had to a have a fall sector and those mortgages were it.
They dont care about charge card debt , even deposits, all of this noise means nothing to them. This is not how they make their money. Our govt is complicit and refuse to act .
Chase is the worst criminal . Noone is even close.

[BernankeMadoff]

10:47 AM on 10/13/2009

The government has put the same punch bowl out that got us into the mess in the first place. More debt and consumption and don't worry about paying it back. (Berbnanke= Greenspan II)

Good articles: http://pie.im/af30

If this is change we can believe in, count me out in 2012. Obama should not have reappointed bernanke.

[ZellaBee]

01:07 AM on 10/13/2009

Hey, maybe it will work for over inflated medical bills!

[Rentug]

10:45 AM on 10/12/2009

Obama needs to carry out more reform. He needs to get things done instead of just talking and planning because his voters are becoming impatient and the robber barons are at it again.

Good articles: http://pie.im/af30

2 party system gives no results.

[hypnotoad72]

09:03 PM on 10/12/2009

Can you give us a proper link? These URL redirection systems could lead us hapless readers to site chock full of malware for all we know... I don't care to be phished, sorry.

[sl306]

10:22 AM on 10/12/2009

The video “Bank of America is robbing customers to debt” is available on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZrQOua_o5c

[rcmfla]

11:00 PM on 10/11/2009

It's amazing how these bankers refuse to help people except when they are publicly embarrassed by their own inaction and unscrupulous ways. I really think it's about time people collectively decide if this is a bank they want to do business with now or in the future. I'd really like to see this bank go from one of the biggest to one considering closing its doors. I stopped doing business with them over ten years ago after my complete disgust over their business practices.

[darren63]

10:52 PM on 10/11/2009

New site Be heard By America,it free. You can post about any issues you have. credit cards, bank loan, lines of credit. it new please make comments. Free
beheardbyamerica.com

[LJIESQ]

07:05 PM on 10/11/2009

Take all of your money out of the Bank Of we're shafting America and put it in your local credit union.

[JePense]

08:42 PM on 10/12/2009

Credit unions are not safe places. Many are mom and pops. Relatives on the board and as treasurer.

[LJIESQ]

07:03 PM on 10/11/2009

Take all of your money out of the Bank of we're screwing America and move it to your local credit union.

[Lesley Stern]

12:07 PM on 10/11/2009

Posting complaints on you tube may be the only way to get one of these big "too big to fail" companies to respond. Calling them does no good, unless you want to repeat the same information over and over (name, address, phone number, account number, password, nature of phone call) before getting bounced to someone else. Oh...wait...that does no good either. Sometimes writing the attorney general helps (at least then, someone from the bank will SPEAK to you before they ignore you).

But I digress. Doing this debtor's revolution on a person by person basis serves no larger purpose.

A REAL debtor's revolution would be if everyone who feels pillaged by a financial institution refused to pay until the banks initiate FAIR practices, starting with lowering their usurious interest rates and penalties. I'm thinking if we did that, maybe we'd finally have 'em between a rock and a hard place and they'd have to make some changes. There's strength in numbers...especially when the numbers have dollar signs in front of them.

[k9fl]

01:46 PM on 10/11/2009

Complaining to the State Atty General especially here in Florida is a waste of time & more money.

I filed a complaint against Bk of America with the OCC over the hidden 'International Transaction Fees'. I received an 'international fee' while shopping online from my living room here in Florida & making a purchase from a '.com site ' using my BOA checkcard for the purchase how was I to know that this '.com site' had their billing processed outside of the USA. OOPS I found out the next day when when I looked at my checking account & saw BOA had hit me with a 3% International Transaction Fee based upon the amount of the purchase. I could understand if I had been traveling outside of the USA but I never left my living room in Fla. According to the response I received from BOA which I will answer thru the OCC I need to ask all merchants 'where does your company do their billing' before I make my purchase. BOA is trying to convince me that they don't do this to offset their fee income. Upon researching the internet I have found a credit card company that does not pass off this International Transaction fee to their customers (they absorb it) & I found a large bank with a good FDIC rating that does not charge that additional fee . So after I respond to BOA & the OCC it's bye bye to BOA.

[darren63]

10:47 PM on 10/11/2009

Go to a new site be heard by America. It's new, we are just getting it up with content. You can post about the issues you are having with any company. It Free

[glitzqueen]

10:22 AM on 10/11/2009

Why anybody continues to do business with these multinational predators is beyond me. Your deposits will still be insured in a credit union, and they're still making loans to real people, too.

[k9fl]

01:54 PM on 10/11/2009

Probably because with credit unions you're limited to the number of branches and the locations of their branches and ATM's .. When you're away from your home it restricts you if you need to go to a branch or to find an ATM that won't charge you the additional fee for non customers unless of course your credit union participates in the 'share banking' service provided by some credit unions..

[Antiks]

05:21 PM on 10/11/2009

That's why you plan ahead and take traveler's checks.

[JePense]

08:45 PM on 10/12/2009

I don't think this site is intended to be a free billboard for credit union propaganda.

Many credit unions are operated in a quite sloppy manner and there doesn't seem to be anyone monitoring their behavior very closely.

Some people think that credit unions comprise the next bailout disaster waiting to happen.

[BillForObama]

12:28 AM on 10/11/2009

If we get the politicians out of the way, WE THE PEOPLE can handle the Big Corporations and Banks!!!

[SanderO]

09:32 AM on 10/10/2009

BOA are jerks and irrational. I had consolidated several cc accounts and owed north of 20k with a reasonable interest rate. I was a few days late or missed one payment and they jacked it up to 25% or more. I then payed them 20 K in 6 months and asked them to drop the rate on the remaining balance. They refused. I was a bad credit risk. Seeing as I had paid 90% of what I owed in less than a year this made no sense. Even if I missed a payment during a year, the overall performance on repayment was steller. But I had another BOA account with a low rate and they refused to match it or let me transfer the money to that account. So how could I be OK as a credit risk on account A and not on account B? This defies logic and believe me I tried. Their help desk people read scripts and I pity them for what they have to do.

BOA sucks. No ifs ands and buts.

[Siebenstein]

06:34 AM on 10/10/2009

How come people do not do this in regards to their subprime mortgages ?

And to other banks, such as Chase?

Can we please start on that one?

[hypnotoad72]

08:52 PM on 10/10/2009

And HBSC -- where their CEO said banks need to apologize to the 'real world'... which they did at the same time they sent out letters to their customers saying they were jacking up rates.

HBSC is a big HYPOCRITE.

[hypnotoad72]

08:53 PM on 10/10/2009

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8293981.stm

Link re: HSBC, the hypocrites who want banks to apologize while engaging in the same predatory tactics...

[tucsoncindy]

01:08 AM on 10/10/2009

I'm blown away...good for you Ben Fraiser.

[tucsoncindy]

01:23 AM on 10/10/2009

ops...Frasier..