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The tapes contained information on the customers and accounts of the U.S. government's SmartPay charge card program, which has more than 2.1 million members and annual transactions totaling more than $21 billion, according to the General Services Administration. Reports have pegged the number of cards affected at 1.2 million.
"Federal law enforcement officials were immediately engaged when the tapes were discovered missing, and subsequently conducted a thorough investigation into the matter, working closely with Bank of America," the bank said in a statement. "The investigation to date has found no evidence to suggest the tapes or their content have been accessed or misused, and the tapes are now presumed lost."
The acknowledgment comes as several other cases of businesses losing consumer information have come to light. Last week, data collection company ChoicePoint announced that it had given information on approximately 150,000 subscribers to about 50 fake business fronts created by fraudsters.
This week, payroll processor PayMaxx acknowledged that a flaw had left some of its customers' W-2 forms accessible to the Internet. And cell phone service provider T-Mobile has dealt with ongoing security problems that have led to the publication of celebrity Paris Hilton's personal information and the phone numbers of many Hollywood stars.
The loss of the SmartPay information could hurt Bank of America's chances to renew its contract with the government, said Mark Amtower, a partner at Amtower, which advises businesses looking to market to the federal government.
"This is extraordinarily valuable information," he said. "It will definitely hurt (Bank of America) in the recompete."
Bank of America said it will continue to monitor the accounts on the data tapes and will contact the government cardholders if any unusual activity is observed.
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Too many unanswered questions in this story. As someone who's been with BofA for over 10 years, I'm honestly not too worried -- I'm more interested in knowing how exactly the media came to hear about this...
and the BCCI scandal.
Thirdly it was told to the media so that the information could get out faster. If you have everyone looking you have a better chance of finding as well as making everyone more aware of the situation. Do you people always look for people to be cheating you. Not everyone is like that.
I also deposited a Check that later was found not to be official. The people in the Bank took the Check, Deposited the Check, and the Receiving Bank Paid on it. The Check was for services rendared and who would have known the check from the sending Company was no good ! Apparently the sending Company had someone inside attempting to scam money from them and used me and probably you as tools... I also got a Letter dated March 30th 2006 that said they closed my account, etc etc. I don't see any reason for this action due to Bank of America and the Sun Bank both paid on a check made out to me, so as experts they blew it ! I did however find the sending Company and I contacted Sun Bank so that the funds were replaced and sent to the right owner. So for being an Honest person I too got that letter of " We blew it but your gonna Pay" ........
I would like to begin a Class Action suit against the Bank if anyone has had this happen to them please write back so I can contact you. I know because of the Banks unprofessional actions this should be easy and the damage now facing me will run into the Millions.
Rob
Then because I could not get the correct information from the Creditor I contacted the Company who sent the check. They told me about the Fraud and almost fell on the floor when I told them the Money was in my account. So, I also got a Letter from the Bank of America although everyone paid me as if the check was real. I was doing business as usual and depositing checks is part of what I do to help Billing Companies.
I would like to begin a class action anyone wanting to join write here....
There are people doing bad things and there's people suffering for the Banks Mistakes...
If anyone, as far as I know at this time, knew a check was no good no one would have taken the checks to the bank in the first place...They Loose everyone's I.D.'s and Millions in other peoples money but because they couldn't figure a check was Fake they're taking it out on the Persons who rely on them.......That's Absurd !
There are people doing bad things and there's people suffering for the Banks Mistakes...
If anyone, as far as I know at this time, knew a check was no good no one would have taken the checks to the bank in the first place...They Loose everyone's I.D.'s and Millions in other peoples money but because they couldn't figure a check was Fake they're taking it out on the Persons who rely on them.......That's Absurd !
at Bank of America,which went through both Freddie Mac,and Fannie Mae.
In 2001 we did not make the house payment due to needing the money to go to a Funeral of our second
brother.
Bank of America stated that they would put that 1 Payment at the end of the Loan,but instead they
eliminated all the other Payments that were made
and started the Loan from the Very Begining.
My Brother would like to know if he has a Legal Leg to stand on with this situation.
fax - 704-388-9278
Tried again to negotiate their website. Same problems. Called again, on hold 30 minutes with same irritating chirpy voice. Finally, when I got a human, he said he couldn't help me because I wasn't the "primary account holder," who, unfortunately is currently hard at work. I told him MBNA had authorization so why didn't it transfer over with the accounts and all he could say is that B of A is "more strict"--more stupid and unhelpful maybe. As I pointed out to him, I take care of all finances in this family including using and paying our credit card bills, but that sure didn't get him to help me out.
Oh, to rub it in further, when I tried to write about my experience on their "send a message" (while in hold purgatory) it "timed out" while I was writing and cut me off, erasing my efforts. Then I decided to write snail mail to the VP who wrote to tell us of our new Online ID. But typical of B of A, there was no address on the stationary. I looked up their address on the internet, but it's probably hqs address, not where she's located. But I'm sending it there anyhow, in an envelope addressed to the CEO with his copy, and a request to forward. Doubt they'll read, doubt they care. I hate them and I've only dealt with them for two days--I pity those who have had longer dealings. I'm looking for another source of credit cards.
In 2004 I divorced my wife of 18 years. After moving to a new apartment away from my ex and 3 kids (all under 16), I opened a checking account with B of A. My wife retained the old account. About 4 months ago I opened a savings account there as well. All has been ok until recently when I received a call from a B of A collection employee to ask if I was willing to make payments to my overdue line of credit account. I told her that I have nothing to do with that account; that it was my ex-wife's account and that they should contact her for payment. She asked if I was refusing payment and I said no but that it was my wife's responsibility and she should contact her. She asked me to hold. A few minutes later she came back and said they had taken it out of my account because I refused payment. I was steaming. I am disabled and get only SSDI each month which I told them. It didn't matter a bit. They said that when the account was opened we agreed to allow them to enter any accounts to make good any loans. Because I was still the primary on the account - even though I had had nothing to do with her for two years they could take my money. This left me broke and unable to pay my bills including the monthly child care payment. So they could care less about the facts and how it would affect my, my kids, and my wife or that it was not my loan but my ex-wife's. All they cared about was their $1700. I spoke to supervisor; my spoke to 4 different people and went to the local branch but the efforts were futile. They don't care about people; it's all about money regardless of the cost to innocent people. Granted my wife is lousy with money and paying her bills on time. But I should not have been held responsible for the debt she incurred and had refused to pay. Not to mention the kids who will suffer as well. I know they have the right but could they not have been able to use some discretion? I know they're trained to ignore all possible excuses but their was a paper or electronic trail showing I had nothing to do with that account. Needless to say, I will be closing all my accounts no matter the inconvenience. I will do business with a local bank that owes it's welfare to it's depositors and knows it. In the meantime, I will write as much and as often as I can to whomever will listen to embarrass and tarnish the gleaming reputation B of A has shined for itself at the expense of its small depositors. The people responsible for this are: Heather Knott at 800-475-2025 ext. 6185 and her supervisor Natasha Little.
-Larry
The Worst Customer service I have ever seen
>>> Latest problem :
- Customer always wrong until prove the opposite.
- Even if proven right it takes months till they process the correction
- They do not value customers- no mater what you say they have to follow certain procedures so save the time explaining your problem ...conclusion they need 7 to 45 days to investigate even if you have strong evidence.
-it been about 5 months of phone calls and traveling to bank centers to solve the problem which was a bank error (and I have to prove that!!). I had similar problem with US bank and they solved it in 15 minutes
I had been paying my account online and scheduled a payment through the MBNA site. I wasn't able to check the payment and contacted them. They stated to me they were having problems with the transfer and the website. I checked again to see if my payment went through and it didn't. I made the payment over the phone with them and they credited me for the call and the interest and said to me this should not count as a late payment.
This statement was a lie. I have the statements that justify what I am saying. I called them again and got a representative that said a manager needed to make the correction. Nobody ever returned my phone calls. After a month and a half and several more calls to them I have yet to have anyone contact me. I then asked for a payoff balance so I could just end this and was told by their representative the account was paid in full and was credited the amount that I overpaid.
It didn't end there I then recieved another bill by them for hundreds of dollars in interest at the 21.99% interest rate that was supposed to be adjusted two months prior. Only one person that I dealt with in this entire company was helpful and honest with me. She explained to me that several people prior had not written very good comments regarding my account.
I would like to never deal with them again or have them contact me in any way. Does anyone know how I can do this?
The latest item was when I deposited the tax refund into me checking account. They put a hold on it and charged me with numerous overdraft charges even though the account was not overdrawn. when I ask about it i was told that this was not their fault that I should not have wrote the checks on a bad account. Even if you took out the amount for the one check the account was not overdrawn. they cost me hundreds of dollars and I can't get them to refund it. I am sick of them.
then disputed the charge online and followed up w/a phone call
to customer service to confirm that the dispute had gone
through. And then, to prevent any other unauthorized
purchases, I asked them to cancel the account number and issue
me a new one.
One month later, I receive a letter in the mail asking me if I was
sure if I wanted to continue the dispute, and if so, I need to call
in or mail back the letter w/in 10 days. I called in and was told
that they would proceed with my dispute, but I also had to mail
in the letter. 2 weeks later, I call (and wait on hold for 45min)
to check on the status. I was told that they couldn't help me. I
completely freak out and demand to speak to a manager. I
speak to a manager and they tell me that they never received my
letter (conveniently), but that I could fax in a letter instead (why
didn't they tell me this in the first place???). So, I faxed in the
letter.
I also finally received a new paper statement of the bill and
noticed that the charge that I was disputing was to an online
merchant made with an account number that had "expired".
This card was supposed to be expired and I hadn't used it in
over a year. So, I immediately call MBNA (wait on hold for
another fun 30min) and demand again to speak with a manager.
I then tell him what happened, and he's all like, hmm...that's
interesting... I then ask how it is possible for someone to make
a charge on a card that was "expired." He then tells me that
even after a card is expired, merchants with previous
authorization can still bill my account 6-8months after the fact.
I then point out that it's been over a year and I never made a
purchase with this current merchant.
It's now been 2.5months since I issued the dispute. I only have
~1 more week to finish the dispute before it's too late. I
basically plan on taking them to small claims court to get my
refund. Moral of the story: MBNA/Bank of America SUCK... I will
only use American Express (the 75/year fee is totally worth the
better service) and any merchant who refuses to take American
Express will not get my business.
- DO NOT get Bank of America!!!
-
by parabola512
February 17, 2007 9:14 AM PST
- they are the worst!! they are horrible & their customer service is the worst I have ever experienced!!
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Reply to this comment
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Showing 1 of 2 pages (57 Comments)Among many other horrible actions, I am still on hold right now- I have been on hold now for 31 minutes & I'm STILL waiting to talk to a rep!!!
If you have a bank of America credit card, CANCEL it! If you don't have one, DO NOT get one!! you will regret it!