"WTF? THE BANK OF AMERICA BLUES"

Hi Friends!

My brother and I are still getting correspondence from our good friends at The Bank Of America TBOA). Actually, we're not really the intended recipients of the mail - our parents are - with the correspondence forwarded to either my brother or myself. The last thing we received was a letter stating that my parents owed TBOA $50 for monies due to pay for their safe deposit box.

Our parents passed away back in 2012.

It's not as if we haven't been in regular contact with the bank, not as if my parents made a decision to suddenly vanish three years ago without paying the bank the cost of the safe deposit box (evidently a hefty $16.33 per year). The problems actually began before my parents' demise, when my brother spent hours and hours - if not days and days - straightening out the various accounts, working with the bank to clarify discrepancies (as Mom and Dad were no longer capable of assisting us in this regard). As I recall TBOA tortured my brother at every single step of the process, repeatedly requesting previously submitted documentation, asking for other items that the bank - in its infinite wisdom - had somehow misplaced, or re-questing documentation that required my parents to be present during the signature process (something that wasn't possible in any way shape or form).

It was especially annoying that my brother would speak to a bank representative, straighten out some difficult problem - only to have the problem resurface at a later date because the representative he dealt with had either 1) neglected to resolve the issue completely 2) had failed to record his/her actions in the account notes so that others would know the history of the problem or 3) both #1 AND #2. (Solving all these thorny issues were crucial to obtaining Medicaid assistance for our father as well as making sure there would be no unresolved issues by the time they did pass away.) We had an attorney whom we paid to review documentation and get the file in order and deal with Medicaid...but it was our job to first deal with TBOA and make sure the documentation was accurate. During this period my brother would sometimes need the bank to request old statements and other documents necessary to resolve an issue. Sometimes the representative would give my brother a difficult time and not want to take the action(s) needed; other times the documentation would be sent and re-sent and then re-sent again...so that my brother's kitchen table would be literally covered with hundreds of TBOA documents, all duplicative...making the resolution of the problem even more difficult!

MY job in this process was to deal with the social workers,hospice and other medical people; in doing so I had to make sure the accounts with TBOA all contained the proper authorizations each time my brother resolved an issue and/or consolidated an account. It was a nightmare. Almost every week I would be on the phone with TBOA (or visit them in person) as there would be a problem with one of my parents' accounts. As I recall it was very important that the accounts read in such a way as to not complicate Dad's Medicaid application. And it was also important that the accounts properly reflected the legal fiscal relationship between the parties involved (our parents and my brother and myself). Either TBOA would somehow remove the "in trust statement or "in the event of death statement" or "the power of attorney statement". (When I visited Boynton Beach I was on a first-name basis with the manager Lorraine and her assistants Joanne and Robert...THAT'S how often I had to go to see them.)

Almost up into the day my Mom died, TBOA kept screwing up the accounts; fortunately I was prepared and mad sure everything had been corrected in time. However Dad's death was a little unexpected and - of course! - his accounts read incorrectly.

It took a dozen personal visits and more than a few phone calls to fix this issue. TBOA did not want to give the contents of a particular account to his heirs - my brother - because the account somehow no longer contained the proper relationship information. We couldn't receive the money because our relationship with deceased (our Dad) wasn't established...even though TBOA had PREVIOUSLY paid other monies has the legally recognized and proper recipients!

At one point I spoke to Lisa - TBOA in Forest Hills, I was on a first name basis with the entire staff - when she kept requesting documentation that could no longer be provided because our parents had died - and looked in her eyes and asked her why TBOA was continuing to torture two people who were grieving over the loss of their parents.

Not to belabor the point but in the past several years other issues kept popping up, all requiring multiple contacts with TBOA. Lost documentation, incorrect or missing notes, stupid representatives, unnecessary bureaucracy.

And people talk about the GOVERNMENT?

And so now we have the letter mentioned at the beginning of this post that DEMANDS past-due payments for the safe deposit box owned by two DECEASED individuals...when TBOA records should clearly indicate that these people were deceased and that all accounts were emptied and monies were paid to my brother and myself. THREE FREAKING YEARS LATER.

So - to TBOA - as I desperately attempt to summon the energy to make yet ANOTHER trip down to see my buddy Lisa is "WHAT THE F**K!"

Bye for now, be safe! Stevenn