Who do I file a complaint about a bank to?

Question

I use Bank of America and in the last month they have accidentally retracted TWO of my deposits a week after they were cleared. Then I go into the bank to discuss the issue with the manager and she take a deposit from my hand and said she'll go make it for me. She misplaced it while I was sitting there and I had to come back later after she found it to get a receipt. This morning a deposit I made yesterday is MIA even though I have a receipt for it...the manager is looking for it but I've had enough. I'm changing banks but would like to make some complaints!

Answer 1

Call the Banking Commissioner in your state.  Or, the Attorney General's Office. Numbers can be found in your local phone book under State Services.

Answer 2

It sounds like they are paying close attention to your account. Are the deposits charge-backs, meaning the checks you deposited are no good? Or are they putting holds on your deposits?

Deposits don't just disappear. Banks don't go out of their way to rip people off.

Answer 3

Remember these instructions for future reference -- this is a sure-fire tactic for serious on-going problems and gross incompetence with branches, stores, etc. of any company.  Google the company's headquarters info, and get the name of the President of the company, his address, and the main telephone number (or the President's office, executive offices, if you can get it).   Call.  Do NOT ask to speak to the President, ask to speak to "Name's Executive Assistant."  She (it is usually she) is the gatekeeper/secretary/guardian.  Tell you have a serious complaint of gross mismanagement and incompetence at one of their stores/branches/etc.  In one sentence ONLY, sum up the extent of the damage.  Then say "I believe this problem is sufficiently serious and has gone on so long that Name would want to know about this.  How can I best get in touch with him or his second-in-command to make them aware of how damaging this is to your customers?"

The Exec ***'t will tell you to write a letter to Name, Title, Address.  Try to get the fax number.  Fax or mail the letter immediately.  Be sure to write in a very professional, thoughful, intelligent and business-like manner and point out it is causing them to lose customers, including you, a customer of "X years standing."

Why is this technique so special, so effective?  When you have to write a letter anyway?  Remember she is the Gatekeeper, Secretary, Guardian!  She has already alerted the President and he has had her alert those who report directly to him by the time your letter arrives (by fax, if the Exec Asst will give it to you).  Heads are ready to roll.  As long as you have the details in your letter, the evidence to back it up (like your bank receipts in this case), and act businesslike, the problem will be solved, and you may also get a very nice thank-you letter from someone high up, and it may come along with a nice little incentive to remain a customer.

ONLY use this technique with very serious and repeated customer service issues caused by gross incompetence, negligence or gross mismanagement!  Anything less gets you written off and you will never be able to complain again and have anyone listen anywhere.  When you go after the Big Guns, have a very big gun that they want to know about.  These guys at the highest echelons all talk to each other and you don't ever want to be the biggest joke told at The Grove.

Answer 4

As long as you're only complaining about misbehavior or incompetence on the part of a bank employee, and not trying to challenge the banking institution per se, you might have a chance of winning a court case on the strength of your evidence.

The fundamental nature of fractional reserve banking, a money system that trades upon interest-bearing debt, is immoral and ought to be illegal. Anybody can figure out why, if they will think a bit. Let me do it for you: "Why should the banks get such huge incomes via interest when bankers do no work to recompense the country for their wealth? Isn't that just another way of stealing the value that other people make with their labor? Isn't that just another form of slavery, except that the chains are numbers and laws?"