Stephanie Frost Documents Closing Her Account With Bank Of America, Switching To Community Bank (VIDEO)

Stephanie Frost missed one credit card payment and Bank of America jacked up her interest rate from 11 percent to 27 percent. In order to get the rate lowered, she ended up having to close her account.

As Ms. Frost looks forward to 2010, one of her new Year's resolutions is to "stop doing business with companies that I feel are taking advantage of me, don't appreciate my business, treat me poorly as a customer... The first place I'm starting is with my bank."

After seeing "Move Your Money," she's decided to close her account with Bank of America and move her money to a community bank. She posted this video on YouTube documenting her trip to BofA to end their relationship.

WATCH:

Comments

[watereddown]

11:04 PM on 01/06/2010

BofA is probably the worst of the big three/four. I got rid of them several years ago after they had cannibalized MBNA and totally screwed up all the credit card payments. They took my ontime online payment from Citibank, cashed it, then told me they didn't receive it, charged me a late fee and a finance charge. It was- irony of all ironies- Citibank who rescued me, found my check, and did the work to have BofA reverse all charges, credit my account properly and restore my 'good name.' But shortly thereafter I ditched BofA. Whatever you guys all decide to do with your money, one standard rule to keep in mind is whenever a bank swallows up your bank, be prepared for a big mess, and comtemplate switching before the takeover occurs.

[Connie Snyder]

11:02 PM on 01/06/2010

Oh, I'm definitely following this woman's lead and signing up for duty in this army! I can't afford the "talent" at Wells Fargo and will show it by getting rid of my checking account. Thanks so much for posting this video. Hope others will follow through, as you did. Huffington Post is on the right track. More info, more tactics, more organization and maybe the corporate overlords will notice we're fed up.

[ChelseaC]

10:46 PM on 01/06/2010

Good on you Stephanie!
I also closed my account with B of A--they charged me too much!

[s miller08]

06:23 PM on 01/04/2010

Good for you! Amazing how long I've tolerated my bank's practices for so long.

[csoloveshp]

05:33 PM on 01/04/2010

So, in other words, you don't care about larger societal or structural issues--just give me mine and we are good. Very narcissistic of you.

So you know me because of this one issue. How very judgmental of you. Do you have any other causes besides money management? I do. Causes that would definitely qualify as societal issues. So no, I don't say just give me mine, I do help out my fellow man. So don't accuse of me of not caring about my fellow man because I don't want to move my money. I just have different priorities than a lot of you apparently.

[watereddown]

11:06 PM on 01/06/2010

Excuse me. I just read your comment, but I can't figure out who it's directed to. I must be in a fog tonight.

[StopMakingSense2]

01:15 PM on 01/04/2010

She expects a corporation to care? That's an oxymoron... Do your business with small local businesses and stop supporting satan's army of corporations that are destroying America.. We would be a stronger more prosperous country if everyone did this.

[WeCanDoMore]

11:14 PM on 01/03/2010

Excellent! I did this in the fall.

[Carl Black]

01:00 PM on 01/03/2010

I'm very pleased to have used a community bank (Decatur First) as my primary institution for many years. My account benefits would be unmatched by any larger institution. I also have accounts with multiple local credit unions and am pleased with them. Hopefully you saw my recommendations last week on Twitter (I didn't see a reply from you, so I'm just checking). No, it's true that the larger institutions don't cry over lost accounts. They figure there are plenty more to come. Also, by the time people choose to leave (usually in outrage over fees), the institution has already made plenty of $$ from the account holder.

[my obama]

02:14 AM on 01/03/2010

hat tip to http://iamned-website.blogspot.com/

[bryanzth]

10:43 PM on 01/02/2010

Steph,

ONE person moving their money will not be noticed.
TWO people, same old, same old...

But putting this into a viral video, hehehe, and me posting this, and others posting, putting up movies, and handing out a little social sanction to the Big Banks, OHHH that will gather a lot of moss!!!

Oh, they didn't mind your closing your accounts. They had a Notes Field that listed you as liberal, socialist and probably you don't eat all your vegetables. Would that surprise you?

BTW, I am a credit card customer of State Farm Bank. I paid one month too soon, and then too late after the cycle, but since I had scheduled a payment for that day, they forgave my late fee, and they never raised my rate.

I am getting charged up listening to this. And when I can, bye bye big bang, hello again Community Bank. Together with that local buying at farmer markets, non-franchise restaurants, and third-party resellers on Amazon. ;-)

BZ.

[MCTSilverlakeCA]

08:52 PM on 01/04/2010

Take a look also at the related story on the Huffington Post today regarding Bill Pavone, an Attorney who is suing B of America for the same thing, it's already drawing a huge following of similar protests and comments by others who have had "enough!" -- Mr Pavone's solution may not be the best, but if he does get the case heard on it's merits - i.e. it establishes a Court Case Number - then other lawsuits are sure to follow as attorneys and courts like to see precedence in cases they can cite -- so if you want to sue the Credit Card Companies... now ...would be a good time!

I suspect that this is just what the Supreme Court may be wanting us to do... instead of just talking about it...

[Maddog51]

06:14 PM on 01/02/2010

I pulled my account 30 years ago when Wells Fargo bought out my local bank. I have consistently used smaller, regional banks and credit unions for my banking needs and don't regret it at all. My credit card usage was diiferent, but have given them up 5 years ago. Again, no regrets.

If people start acting together, we might be able to make a difference. Vote with your feet.

[yourmomscalling]

10:34 AM on 01/02/2010

Good for you get your money out of BOFA they are ripoffs

[jojony]

11:40 PM on 01/01/2010

What are you folks trying to prove here?

I understand your sentiment, but for most here, your accounts are peanuts to them, so other than telling the bank employee who is doing their job that the bank that employs them sucks and your taking your money elsewhere, your really just wasting your time.

These banks play a part in your life whether you like it or not.

More importantly, 5 out of 10 of you will be back to one the the banks in two years.

[Threedog]

03:46 PM on 01/02/2010

I hope you are kidding. Power to the sheeple! baaaa baaaaa

[Eric8869]

02:48 AM on 01/03/2010

Then you aren't educated on how the banking industry works. Go to pbs.com and look up the frontline on the credit card story. It's all about how the fees normal customers pay are what they lend to the rich people in America. People like these are the ones taken advantage of in the system to make the rich richer.

They care if the fee based customers leave - it's their BASE.

[oceanlady]

09:38 PM on 01/01/2010

Our bank, WAMU, got "eaten up" by Chase. We immediately moved to a local credit union. We may have had free checking with WAMU, but we now have that, plus fantastic customer service, with super friendly tellers. I had no idea what I was missing. We'll never go back.

[cagiorda]

06:22 PM on 01/01/2010

BofA needs to stop gorging themselves on smaller banks and focus on giving their existing clients better service. This is what happens when egomaniacs like Ken Lewis think they are going to take over the world. They also need to stop botching the Merrill Lynch acquisition. Merrill is good at brokerage, BofA is definitely NOT good at it.