Day 334: 8/10/12 - "The World I Know"

"So I walk up on high
And I step to the edge
To see my world below.
And I laugh at myself
While the tears roll down.
'Cause it's the world I know.
It's the world I know."

-"The World I Know" by Collective Soul

Why I Hate Banks!  Last week I contacted Bank of America about one of my accounts with them - I have a checking, savings, credit card, and a personal loan.  I was calling about the personal loan account because I was interested in accessing the limit I had to consolidate my bills (so that it would be easier to pay everything down when I moved).  This seemed logical and I talked to a very nice person and he said he would submit the information and that I would likely hear from them or get a letter within a week.  I expected them to turn me down - I wasn't worried.  This was not something I NEEDED just something I HOPED to do.  I checked my mail today and there are two letters from them.  That's curious.  I open one of them and I'm not surprised to see my rejection letter for my request.  Shrug.  Oh well.  But what's in the other letter?  I open it up and it is for my credit card account with them.  Seems they decided that while reviewing my accounts for my request that they did not think I should have access to as high of a credit line as they had given me, so they cut it in half (of course, putting me right at the limit of my account and making my account unusable).  I have never missed a payment on this account (or the loan either).  I have never had a late payment.  I always pay more than the minimum due.  And the only reason the balance is as high as it is now is because I used the card to set up my travel to Miami to find housing (a trip I will be reimbursed for) and I had just used it to take my conference trip.  And of course they thanked me for being a great customer.  What does this all mean for me?  That I will never use that credit card again.  That it will be paid off (consolidated) to another card as soon as I can, and the account closed.  That I will pay off the personal loan (it has 4 payments left on it - not bad, huh?), and I will find another financial institution where I will open a new checking account and a savings account.  I'll empty my savings account and use it to establish both my savings and checking accounts.  I'll change my direct deposit as soon as I can, and have my accounts deposit there.  I'll make sure I switch all my direct withdrawals to this new account, and then I'll close each and every account I have with Bank of America.  It will likely take me a couple of months to do this, but it will be done.  And I will NEVER do business with them again.  If it means paying a larger fee for an ATM, I will use a different ATM.  If it means driving farther to access a working ATM, I will drive farther.  If it means not getting the best rate on a home loan in my future - then I will pay a higher rate.  You don't get to treat good people this way and expect that I'll just sit there and smile an say, "thank you."  Dream on, Bank of America.  I hope everyone removes their money from your banks and they all fail (sorry anyone who works there - find a better company to work for).  Yes, this made me mad.  I was so angry I was shaking over it.  Bet they don't mind investing in some shoddy business ventures...oh, yeah, like the ones that got our country into trouble in the first place!