Bank of America Review: Can a big bank balance the scales between products and service?
While some banks in America are going bust, others are super-sizing by gobbling up smaller banks. Bank of America, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina is one of those banking giants that is second in holdings only to JP Morgan Chase. The purchases by Bank of America include FleetBoston Financial Corp. and Merrill Lynch. Bank of America boasts 53 million customers, including individuals and businesses. Many of those have been caught in the financial crisis of 2009 and found themselves unable to pay up. Most all Americans and banks have been impacted by the financial crisis but what do Bank of America customers have to say about Bank of America? Is bigger better?
Bank of America's Big Array of Products:
Bank of America is a full service bank offering just about any financial product a banking customer could desire including checking accounts, savings accounts, home loans, school loans, car loans, business loans, certificates of deposit, credit cards, brokerage services and more.
Bank of America's Customer Service Options:
Bank of America has branches in most medium to large cities in the U.S. They also have a website, bankofamerica.com, for account access and bill pay. The website also offers a myriad of customer service phone numbers.
The Good, The Bad and the Big and Ugly
The good news is that most users are happy with the selection of products. Those with good credit have found it easy to get competitive rates with Bank of America. Many have taken advantage of temporary low rates, made at least the minimum payments on time and paid off the balance before the rate skyrocketed.
While the products are vast and the rates are competitive, many customers share the same stories of customer service frustrations. Phone calls result in long holds, many transfers, unresolved questions and customer service reps that seem to want to pass them off. Customers report repeated hints to use the website instead of calling customer service.
In fact most customers do find the Bank of America website to be easy to access, easy to use and fast.
Bank of America also offers many cash incentives to bring new customers aboard. As with all fine print, Bank of America customers say read it carefully. For example, a $50.00 cash gift for opening a new account will only be made 50 days later and sometimes standard fees reduce the "gift" before you ever get it.
Bank of America has an impressive number of services and products but unfortunately, many customers just feel like a number to this banking giant.
A New CEO for Bank of America: Will Bank of America take a new course in customer service?
Bank of America has had its share of the news spotlight recently with lawsuits as well as the announcement of a new CEO, Brian Moynihan who said recently, "We have a lot of work to do, and I'm ready." The Bank of America customers (and my family) we've talked to are ready and waiting for better customer service.
