What is Bank of America up to?

[dvalley]

It just bothers me that we now have to first prove via our personal info that we're not the bad guys...in other words we're now guilty until proven innocent and to make it even worse the carelessness with which they handle the personal data is mind boggling so I don't provide the info unless I'm forced to.

Same with the insurance company telling me I could save money if I provided the car mileage but the mileage estimates they have on my cars are spot on so no I'm not filling out their silly forms every year. I also use DuckDuckGo instead of google as my default search engine because if you ever log into your Google portal and see the amount of info they have on not just what you searched for but the sites you visit, the places you've physically been to etc is just sickening. Sure it's only data and on only one person out of bazillion others but it's me, my identity which they collected for no just reason and it bothers me.

 

[redduck]

The reason I don't think it is just the Patriot Act is that I gave BofA all this information when I last applied for an increase in my credit line a few years ago. In addition, my husband of 45 years is a joint account holder and BofA said they had all the information on my husband. If they had all the info on DH, why didn't they have it on me? I am just curious as to what is going on but the folks at the local BofA branch could not answer my questions.

I have gotten 2 surveys from BofA since all this came up. Interesting they have my email (they did not ask for my email address when they asked for all my other info, I guess they already had it!). I am going to spend some time answering the surveys and telling BofA what I think!

Thanks for the response.
I would imagine that the P.O. Box might have been a trigger that may or may not have been tied to the Patriot Act--information that the bank had previously over-looked or needs to update. Or, your name randomly came up for a B of A info audit. Or, they want the info to sell you their services. Or, anything else anyone can think of. The local bank may not know the reasons and trying to find the real honest-too-goodness reason might be a complete waste of time because you (or most customers) wouldn't know if the bank is being truthful. When stuff like this happens to me, I just ignore it unless it seems as if I might be somehow injured if I do ignore it. Even if you found out what was going on, what would you do with that information? Transfer your account to Wells Fargo?

 

[ChicagoGal]

While the "Know Your Customer" provisions have been around for a while (yes, as an outcome of the Patriot Act), it does seem like regulatory audits and reviews are focusing more and more on them. I work for a large bank now (although not on the front lines), and we certainly are hearing more and more about it, and it's far more prevalent than it used to be in our annual compliance training. It's all tied in with the increased focus on anti-money laundering and banks being held accountable when shady people do shady things.

 

[harllee]

OP here. I guess it could have something to do with the P.O. Box. But if the P.O. Box were the concern wouldn't it also affect my husband who also gets his mail at that P.O. Box? We asked and BofA said they did not need any info on DH.

I am considering closing my Visa at BofA --I just don't like how I was treated. I could get a Visa card from my local credit union but it does not have the cash back feature so I would lose $$ on that.

 

[CardsFan]

To OP:

I wonder if you got stuck in the bank audit equivalent of a random drug test.

Yes, we know you did nothing, to our knowledge, wrong. You are right we did this last year. Now go [-]pee in the bottle[/-] give us your info, and we can both go home.

 

[cranberryjoe]

I recently received a couple of emails claiming to be from Bank of America asking me to provide all that kind of stuff. Name, address, DOB, SSN, income, etc. In my case it was a phishing scam since I am not a BOA customer. Be careful with any emails you receive!

 

[audreyh1]

I cant remember details, but the government has got tighter on these PO Box addresses. They want to make sure there is a connection to a physical address in some circumstances.
And now stupid problems are occurring. I cant even buy a cell phone from my own service provider Virgin Mobile. Its a circular chase. They wont ship a cell phone to a PO Box. And wont ship to an address that doesnt match the mailing address of the credit card. Well I have no way around that scenario. Fortunately Best Buy offers the phone I need though.

AFAIK all US financial institutions have physical address and mailing address. They need physical address for Patriot Act reporting requirements, and of course the mailing address for mail. I have had no problems when using a P.O. box for mail as long as they had a street address for my physical address.

 

[audreyh1]

I believe my double authentication is not from "Trusteer Rapport", as I haven't heard of this reference but who knows.
I have had a couple of Best Buy charges challenged by BOA over the years. It has been stated that one of the first places for fraudulent use of the CC is Best Buy. At least that is what I was told.

With large Best Buy purchases in the past have been questioned. No wonder we had just bought Dad a new big expensive TV in another state.

Nowadays I get a text message from the bank fraud department and can reply text YES.

 

[Dtail]

With large Best Buy purchases in the past have been questioned. No wonder we had just bought Dad a new big expensive TV in another state.

Nowadays I get a text message from the bank fraud department and can reply text YES.

+1
We also now get the text message and reply YES. Anytime a charge is held up, I have trained myself to look for the text message immediately.