Bank of America

Someone once said you never learn who your friends are in good times, only in bad.
Bank of America is not my friend, and it took identity theft for me to find this out.
It's a shame too. I maintained a credit card with them for nine years, with no overdrafts and no late payments. Based on this, they showed me great "love". They repeatedly raised my limit, from $1000 to $15,000 at the end, though i never requested any raises.
But last month, without so much as an inquiry in my direction, they revoked my card when a black mark appeared on my record. The black mark turned out to be a fraudulent Chase credit card which had been running in my name since 2007, with a history of late payments and an outstanding balance of $5000 when it was shut down a couple months ago. Since this discovery, another fraudulent card, with First Premier, has also appeared. Someone out there has three bits of information on me: my name, DOB, and SS#. I've begun the process of clearing my record, and Bank of America has assured me they'll take me back if i do so. But if and when my name gets cleared, they'll never see a penny of mine again.
The way they summarily dropped me was disappointing. I can appreciate that action was called for, but in this era of identity theft, one's actual record with the bank themselves should be part of the equation. They readily admit that my record with them is spotless, so perhaps a more reasoned response would have been to drop my credit limit to some modest figure, $500 or so, until i can clear my name.
But that wasn't even the worst thing they did. They soon sent another notice, saying that they were raising the interest on my remaining balance to 25%.
At that point, all i could be was embarrassed for them.
The people at my local branch couldn't even offer me an address i could send a letter of disappointment to.
I've learned some things about banks in all of this. One disheartening conclusion is that they are to some extent complicit in all this nonsense. If all it takes is three bits of information for banks to give their money away, they're obviously not overly concerned with stopping it from happening.
I'm not sure how the credit unions figure into this, perhaps they're being and doing what they should. Although i am mystified by the "90-day" fraud alert they employ. What's to stop something bad from happening on the 91st day?
Another thing i've taken away from this experience is how frustrating it can be to have to deal with these problems only by phone and letter. Does your own bank have a living human being you can speak to, about your credit card? Or do all such inquiries get shunted off to a faceless drone at the end of a phone?
If i ever do go searching for a credit card again, i'll make sure that the bank i sign with has a human face i can talk with for every aspect of our dealings.
Of course, it's possible that i'm becoming another version of my grandfather, who never again stepped foot in a bank after the Great Crash of '29.
Perhaps there are good banks out there.
But if you have any dealings with Bank of America, know that they're taking your money.
And they are not your friend.