If Bank of America is hiding fees in your bill, you may have legal options.
Bank of America is a financial services company that is a leader in personal and consumer banking services. In fact, Bank of America is the second-largest bank in the United States by assets, serving over 66 million customers. They have eliminated things like overdraft fees and non-sufficient funds fees, making it more affordable to use their services. Despite this, large companies make mistakes occasionally, and you might find hidden fees in your Bank of America statement that don’t make sense.
So what can you do? Start by reaching out to customer service if there’s something you don’t understand. It’s in your best interest to learn about the different fees Bank of America charges, even if they don’t charge non-sufficient funds fees. This helps you to identify mistakes early on and report them.
All credit cards from Bank of America have an annual fee, the amount of which depends on the type of card you take out. If you have a credit card from Bank of America, you might be charged a checkout fee. If you see a checkout fee on your statement, be advised that it doesn’t come from Bank of America but rather from the merchant you used. This is something extra that different Merchants charge if you use a credit card for an online transaction.
If you make a credit card charge in a foreign country and it has to be converted back to US dollars, your specific credit card agreement will tell you the amount of the foreign transaction fee. There are specific Bank of America credit cards that do not have foreign transaction fees, but these are travel cards.
If you try to make a payment on your Bank of America credit card and it gets bounced back because you didn’t have enough money, you get charged a returned payment fee that will not exceed $40. If you don’t make a payment on time, you will be charged a late fee based on your agreement on the type of car you have.
If you get a cash advance from your credit card, they will charge you a cash advance fee and interest charges immediately. You also get charged a transaction fee if you make a direct deposit, Bank cash advance, ATM cash advance, or balance transfer using your credit card.
Understanding the different fees that might be charged to your Bank of America checking accounts can help you narrow down hidden fees in your Bank of America statement and figure out if something was just an unexpected late fee or fraudulent charge. For Bank of America checking accounts, you can expect a monthly maintenance fee between $8 and $25, depending on your account. If you need a new card, you can expect to pay $5 per card or $15 per card for a rush replacement.
With any of the different checking accounts, if you make a foreign transaction Bank of America will charge you 3% of the total amount of your transaction. If you use a non-Bank of America ATM, you can expect a fee of $5 or 3% of the total transaction amount, whichever is higher. If you need copies of things like your bank statement or a check you deposited, you can expect to pay up to $5 per copy. There’s an $8 fee if you need Check Cashing.
Some of the different accounts still have an overdraft fee of $35 for every transaction. If an item is returned because you don’t have enough money, it’s also a $35 fee. This amount can be avoided if you set up overdraft protection, but be advised that Bank of America can charge you multiple times per day for every day that your account remains with a negative balance. So if you see a hidden fee in your account of around $35, it might be related to this.
The cost of domestic or international wire transfers varies based on your account. If there are any type of legal problems like a garnishment or a levy or a freeze on your account, Bank of America will charge you $125 each time. If you have to stop payment, it’s $30 per request.
If you have a Bank of America savings account, you will be charged a monthly fee of $8. If you have overdraft protection set up between your checking account in your savings account, every time money is moved from your savings account. It will add a $12 transfer fee.
If you find incorrect or hidden fees on your Bank of America statement, reach out to Bank of America customer service department first. See if they can explain the fee or fix it. If not, then you can have two options remaining:
The first is to sue Bank of America in small claims court. Your user agreement prevents you from joining Bank of America lawsuits, but small claims court is still a great option. You can do this in your local court if you know which paperwork to file and where. However, there are compensation limits, and each state differs, so your situation might not qualify.
The second is to use consumer arbitration. This has fewer restrictions than small claims court and is potentially faster and easier.
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