What is Bank of America up to?

[Tadpole]

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Originally Posted by Dtail 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.

The double authentication (by BoA) and Trusteer Rapport (an IBM security product) are two separate and unrelated security measures pushed by BoA. I am surprised you haven't been urged to add Rapport to your browser, and, to be honest, I am not recommending it (or not) myself. I am guessing you may not be using a windows machine. I am sure the double authentication you use and I use are the same. You input your user name and password then negotiate a code sent to your text, phone, or email by BoA.

[Dtail]

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Originally Posted by Golden sunsets I just signed up for the card Dtail is describing. It also comes with 50,000 points if you spend $3,000 during the first 90 days. I also have a BOA Cash rewards card which has a higher points accumulation than the premium rewards card for groceries, gas and big box stores and has no annual fee. I had been using the BOA travel rewards card for everything else until the premium rewards card came out. The reimbursement for bags of $100/yr offsets the annual fee, I feel, so I went for it and will stop using the travel rewards card. Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

Yes, I also have the Cash rewards card for the same reasons.
I still use the Travel Rewards card for 2 reasons.
1) Use it for all Autopay charges, so it is less likely this card will be used fraudulently by these vendors and thus would have to reset all the charges on the Premium card. These charges still earn the same 2.625% as the Premium rewards card.
2) If you book Travel through BOA you earn 4.125% on that travel. The definition of Travel is wide ranging such as Museums, etc. The one negative is that BOA only uses Orbitz and this is not necessarily the best hotel/flight price, which of course could more than offset the extra points.

[harllee]

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Originally Posted by redduck What do you think is going on? Don't you believe that this has something to do with the Patriot Act?

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!

[athena53]

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Originally Posted by ChiliPepr probably more of a bureaucratic incompetence issue... the bank/credit card/line of credit systems probably do not talk to each other and they all need that info. Currently all banks need a SSN or ITIN for all accounts. The Patriot Act has been around for years, but the bank is probably just cleaning up accounts.

While I agree that the Patriot Act has increased the bureaucratic paperwork, I think some banks are way overstating its impact. Since its inception, I've opened two on-line checking accounts and have been added as a signatory to two Toastmasters Club accounts.

On-line Bank Number 1 had an interminable list of questions: did I anticipate ACH transactions (without defining them!), from what countries, asking about other transactions with acronyms they didn't define, what countries those might be to/from, etc. I persisted because, at least for awhile, they gave you frequent flyer miles on AA. On-line Bank Number 2 (USAA) asked maybe 1/3 of those questions.

Signatory Bank Number 1 had page after page of papers to sign and computer forms the bank officer had to fill in. He blamed it all on the Patriot Act. Signatory Bank Number 2 (same general area but across the state line) had an almost-painless process.

I'm sure that the differences had to do with the relative paranoia of the various Compliance Departments, but their interpretations of what info had to be collected were all over the map.

[MRG]

They lost your data. Happens all the time.

[harllee]

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Originally Posted by MRG They lost your data. Happens all the time.

OP here, why didn't BofA just tell me that instead of treating me suspiciously like I had done something wrong. Not a good way to keep a customer...

[Ronnieboy]

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Originally Posted by Major Tom For the last few months, when I've been signing into my BofA account online, I get a pop-up asking me to tell them whether I am a dual citizen. I haven't answered it and so far, have not heard anything else from them. I just keep ignoring the question every time I log on. I am a dual citizen, but will keep refusing to answer the question. If they were to close my account over this, I could actually use an excuse to go with a local CU instead anyway.

I have had this same pop up when I sign on too. In fact, I have had the pop up show up a few times, even after I had answered/verified the information. I am not a dual citizen.

In a semi related topic, I found out I had a Citibank MasterCard account closed because it wasn't used in 25 months. I was more annoyed by this that upset as I obviously didn't use it for charges, just 0% balance transfers. But you would think I would get some kind of warning email that a card was going to be closed for non use...at least to entice someone to use the card.

I guess they saw that I only used it to get money from them vs them getting me to pay interest

[MRG]

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Originally Posted by harllee OP here, why didn't BofA just tell me that instead of treating me suspiciously like I had done something wrong. Not a good way to keep a customer...

Cause if they told you you'd be unhappy. Honestly the person who you talked to probably doesn't know.

It may have been a random audit.

[dvalley]

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Originally Posted by Texas Proud Not really.... the law is pretty strict and there are some big penalties if you do not follow it... Since I did work at a bank and had to deal with this.... I would also say it is the opinion of the bank.... now, you might have a different opinion and a close account...

My comment was about your opinion on what the bank should do if the OP didn't provide the info. How do you know it's the opinion of the bank or anyone else's unless they personally told you 'hey Texas proud, our opinion is...'

Personally it is my opinion that tons of personal data is being collected and far worse- lost to the hackers, in the name of Patriot Act etc because it's just so easy, no one will question it.

[Texas Proud]

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Originally Posted by dvalley My comment was about your opinion on what the bank should do if the OP didn't provide the info. How do you know it's the opinion of the bank or anyone else's unless they personally told you 'hey Texas proud, our opinion is...' Personally it is my opinion that tons of personal data is being collected and far worse- lost to the hackers, in the name of Patriot Act etc because it's just so easy, no one will question it.

I 100% agree with your last stmt.... except that I do question it... which is why I have not logged into my Facebook account in many years... I think I used it 6 moths or so and just stopped....

As to your first.... you are right... I do not know for sure what BofA would do, but I did work for another large bank and it was their policy to do what I said... I would bet money that BofA has the same policy... but am I sure? No....

[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]

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Originally Posted by harllee 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]

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Originally Posted by Mulligan 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]

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Originally Posted by Dtail 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]

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Originally Posted by audreyh1 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.