Following are some individuals to contact within the Bank of America to escalate a contended fee. Note that, in my last chat session with the company, none of these names were brought forward as people I could contact. This information is courtesy of The Consumerist website, and is current as of October 7, 2008 [endnote 33]:

Call Executive Customer Relations:

Executive Customer Relations general line: 704-386-5687

Martha Dominguez, Executive Customer Relations Specialist: 714-792-4264

E-mail the BofA Customer Advocate:

Nancy M. Condos: nancy.m.condos@bankofamerica.comail

VP/ Customer Advocate

Executive Customer Relations

Office of the Chairman

Or try the CEO:

Kenneth Lewis, CEO: Ken.d.lewis@bankofamerica.com

100 N. Tryon Street.

Mail Code NC-1-007-18-01

Charlotte, NC 28255

[Note: the information above is a bit outdated; visit the following page to get the latest information: http://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/index.php?s=20]

Consequently, I had no knowledge of the Bank of America Overdraft Fee Class Action Settlement [endnote 34], but it seems like it’s time to get beyond these one-off settlements and push for some real, rather than cosmetic, change in policies.

Another tactic that seems to have had some success, though I doubt very much, is the Executive Email Carpet Bomb, described on The Consumerist thus:

Here’s a classic tactic for rattling the corporate monkey tree to make sure your complaint gets shoved under the nose of someone with decision-making powers. Let’s call it the “EECB,” or Executive Email Carpet Bomb…

1. Exhaust normal channels.

Have you called customer service? Asked for a supervisor? Hung up and tried again? Give regular customer service a chance to fix the problem before you go nuclear.

2. Write a really good complaint letter.

Be clear, concise, polite, and professional. State exactly what you want. See this post for complaint letter writing tips. Pitch your issue in a way that affects their bottom line. Spellcheck and include contact information.

3. Determine the corporate email address format.

Look through their website or Google for press releases. Examine the PR flack’s email address. What’s the format? Is it firstname.lastname@company.com? FirstletteroffirstnameLastname@companyname.com? Figure it out and write it down.

4. Compile a list of the company’s top executives.

This is often available on the company website, under sections like “corporate officers” or “corporate governance.” You can also look the company up on Google Finance and look under management, although this list tends to only be partial.

5. Combine the names from step 4 with the format from step 3 to create an email list

6. Send your complaint to the list from step 5.

7. Sit back and wait.

Reader Marc has launched EECBs to great effect. He writes, “In every instance that I’ve put together a big list of email addresses and sent it out, I’ve received some sort of immediate reply and eventual resolution.”

You could also make a movie about your overdrafts, but this could linger in limbo for quite some time.

After his bank charged $140 in overdraft fees for four purchases totaling $60, Karney Hatch decided to warn other debit cardholders. That was how he came to make a 74-minute movie called Overdrawn!, reputedly the first documentary to deal with debit card overdraft charges. The movie, which does not have a distributor, is intended to raise consumer awareness of banking fees and regulations, says Hatch, the films co-producer, writer and director. (http://www.overdrawnmovie.net/).

I haven’t seen this one, but if it’s anything more than amateurish and channels some of that Michael Moore genius for setting up corporate representatives for illustrative humiliations, I’d bet its worth watching.

Note:
This post is a section of Bank of America Online Banking: A Critical Evaluation. This essay is also available as a book which can be downloaded for free at Lulu (where an inexpensive, not-priced-for-profit print edition can also be purchased) and at Scribd. The table of contents for the blog version of this essay can be seen in its entirety here.