Almost two months ago my wife and I applied for a joint checking account with Bank of America. We both already have accounts, and she’s already changed her name, so we thought this would be a piece of cake. We applied online, and when we finished it said we would be contacted within a few days. After what seemed to be a successful attempt, we went on with life. In the business of life a number of weeks went by as we watched for any mail or phone calls pertaining to our new account. To our dismay, there was nothing.
Last week I called Bank of America to find out what to do. I was eventually referred to the correct number, where I called to check on the status of our application. They didn’t have any record of it. Ok, no problem, but we still wanted a new account. We learned it would be easier to apply online than to apply over the telephone. So that’s what we did. We finished the application only to have it inform us of a system error and put us back to the beginning of the online application. Our attempt to restart the process again proved impossible because of a technical difficulty.
Enter the phone application. This experience was fantastic. We got a very knowledgeable Bank of America employee who was very helpful, patient, and generous with her time. She even waived the fees on this account because of our online application troubles. Fees which would have been waived if we had applied online. We were told our accounts would be viewable online most likely sooner than the literature would show up in the mail. We were told our check cards would show in 5-7 days. This really was the progress we were hoping for.
Then I received a phone call yesterday. It was a Sunday afternoon, and we were running errands (in the pet store). Though it was me who they called, they really wanted to talk to my wife. They were concerned about her identity (she had changed her name, go figure, because we had just gotten married) and wanted to verify it. Over the noise of the pet store, the parking lot, and in our car, she was asked a series of questions. She had a difficult time hearing, and subsequently answered incorrectly. Frustrated, we asked what’s going on, because at this point we were still confused as to the full implications of this call and subsequent questionnaire failure. The rep advised we go into a branch to verify her identity. I kindly advised the rep that the middle of a Sunday afternoon wasn’t the best time for Bank of America to verify identity over the phone.
Today we went into the bank to finish what we started. Once seated we explained our situation and that we just needed to verify our identity. The bank employee was short with us, constantly presuming the direction of our explanation and cutting us off with ways we could have done our part more correctly. But we already had done things correctly. She did gather what was going on enough to check the “system” and inform us that we had been pushed back to step one. The identity verification failure threw out our application entirely. All the bank employee could do is start from the beginning. To top that off she couldn’t waive the monthly fees that had previously been waived by our over-the-phone hero.
So now we sit here with no account and no application in the queue, just waiting to calm down so that we can make the next decision with a clear mind.
Edit: That night my wife and I applied again online. After a few tries we got it. We received our confirmation emails. The next day my wife received an email telling her to call in and verify her identity. I was also called for the same reason. Later she called in, answered the questions, and was successful, just barely. One of the addresses they read off was slightly incorrect. It appears someone somewhere back in the day typed “lane” instead of “street”. Technically the address was incorrect and could have failed her. But they accepter her answer. They also asked her mother’s last name, but they didn’t know she had married and changed her name. Those mix ups almost cost us. I suppose it was obscurity of knowing the age of her brothers ex wife which proved she was who she says she was.
