Anyone have BOA freeze your cards till you played their verification quiz game??

[losartworks]

BOA out of nowhere froze my 2 Visa accounts today. they worked part of the day and then didn't. They didn't bother to call me which really irritated me.

I called when I got home and the one rep put me on hold to transfer me to the verifications/fraud prevention department and was on hold 30 mins before I get mysteriously disconnected. called back and complain as I am mad about getting jacked and then put on the freeze. rep said the department I needed to speak to is now closed, however if I answer this extensive list of security questions correctly he can help put my accounts back on.

first questions, what is your current address. easy enough. then, whats your past address. I tell him. he claims he cant find it then a couple minutes later says 'there is is' and then asks if I can give him names of any of my old neighbors. I lived in a fairly rural area so it's not like I had a dozen houses right next to me. I give him names of neighbors I knew. He says none of them match the pool of names he has and he sympathizes, but the system wont let him proceed onto another security question and I should wait till monday as they have a better system for doing this kind of thing and he admitted he wasn't very adept at doing these verification things.

 

Does anyone know what these long lists of questions are? I mean wouldn't it just be easier to say fax over a copy of your ID and pay stub like most who question identity do? I have to play quiz games about who my neighbors were near me where I Used to live??

 

has anyone else gone through this? Seems such a pain. they are no doubt using some public records database thing to cross check. what next? Who was my natural gas provider 9 years ago and how much was your bill in June of 2002? lol

Id be more amused by this, but they froze about $15K worth of cards! I'd like to see them 'unsuspend' them!

[BobWang]

BofA seems to be hyper-vigilant lately.

My brother recently ran into a lot of problems with online orders, but only on his BofA cards.

[toopooor]

I haven't had it with BOA, but did when we opened a thomasville card (GEMB) - they asked like 3 to 5 lexis nexus questions, including 20 yr old addresses, either street address or county. They did it as multiple choice so it was a little easier but the questions were way out there because they referred to really old locations we lived.

[TrevorHere]

No problems like this with BofA.

[antonbhc]

Back when my BOA card (FIA) was an MBNA card, buying a new cd player triggered the freeze. Because the charge was for a few thousand dollars, they asked me weird questions I never knew they had the answers to, like:

 

What was my mother's middle name?

Any children in my household?

If whether or not I had relatives in Georgia?

The school I had loans from (trick question, since two of the schools I went to were options, but the year was off)?

 

That kind of freaked me out. Darn those alumni affinity cards!

[Zippo]

I had this a lot with BofA debit cards.. (Please no flames of using debit cards... I had my reasons)

 

They would ALWAYS do this, and I'd have to call in and talk about charges, etc.

[losartworks]

I find it amusing they do it with debit cards. not that there is not liability risk to assets, but seems less a target than credit products.

[beli]

I haven't had it with BOA, but did when we opened a thomasville card (GEMB) - they asked like 3 to 5 lexis nexus questions, including 20 yr old addresses, either street address or county. They did it as multiple choice so it was a little easier but the questions were way out there because they referred to really old locations we lived.

Yeah I had that with a Cu I tried joining.. they had an old CA address god that was like ummmmm 20 yrs ago? I had to look on line for the county. They tried to tell me they got them off the Cra's.. ummm no.. cuz that address hasn't been on my credit report for at least 10+yrs

Edited April 16, 2011 by beli

[Zippo]

I haven't had it with BOA, but did when we opened a thomasville card (GEMB) - they asked like 3 to 5 lexis nexus questions, including 20 yr old addresses, either street address or county. They did it as multiple choice so it was a little easier but the questions were way out there because they referred to really old locations we lived.

Yeah I had that with a Cu I tried joining.. they had an old CA address god that was like ummmmm 20 yrs ago? I had to look on line for the county. They tried to tell me they got them off the Cra's.. ummm no.. cuz that address hasn't been on my credit report for at least 10+yrs

 

Probably came from LexisNexis. This is the source of a lot of this.

[losartworks]

Well, I called back tonight and I just asked the rep what the problem was and he said that I tried to use the card at a Blockbuster, and I said yes. without success. He said that often places like this are deemed high risk. He went and had no problem unlocking the two cards. No mention that the security department has this under review and I need to answer a bunch of verification questions.

I signed on to the online account access and they appear to be restored. I will use them and make sure.

I really hope that come Monday the security department doesn't have this under some other review and they get locked again! The first rep earlier gave the impression that I basically needed to answer a long list of verification questions for which he tried to initiate as mentioned above but as I couldn't remember who my neighbors were (at least the ones they have on their list) from my old house that he couldn't proceed and told me to call back monday and hash it out with the fraud/verifications department.

 

Blockbuster? seriously? One attempt to buy something for $5 and they locked down both accounts immediately? not a courtesy call instead asking if I made the charge. we aren't exactly talking a place that sells high end items.

If the cards stay open I will be too scared to use them! Blockbuster?? Sheesh!

[lsacto]

I had this a lot with BofA debit cards.. (Please no flames of using debit cards... I had my reasons)

 

They would ALWAYS do this, and I'd have to call in and talk about charges, etc.

 

+1, when I started using my BofA Platinum Debit, when I switched it to a Alaska Air Card, haven't had a problem since, even with 4x the limit.

[sonicanatidae]

More BOA customer disservice.. I can't say I'm shocked by this.

 

I would suggest that the OP move to lenders that aren't the devil.

Keep the BOA cards because who doesnt like to pay annual fees,

but use other credit and let BOA rot.

 

Imagine if you were traveling in a foreign country and this happened..

[losartworks]

Very true!

 

Imagine how bad it could have been had I went to a Blockbuster in Thailand!

 

Seriously though, it was frustrating. And if I was in another country and it happened I would be highly irritated.

I can understand how banks act in their own self interest though. My wife, who is Brazilian, still uses her bank card from there to buy things as her family deposits money she can use into her account there. Well last month she finds her bank card is no good because at her bank the cards, when they expire, apparently expire on the 15th of the month rather than the last day of the month.

So she calls and they say it will be several weeks before they can get a new card out to her. her bank encourages her to call Visa and claim her card is lost and it will help them expedite a replacement faster. Well, my wife doesn't want to do that as she didn't lose it.

So get this!... the bank tells her that if she picks it up in person she can get a replacement card issued immediately. She tells them she is obviously 6000 miles away and can't just walk on over. They tell her No Problem! You have a friend here still? Just Send Them Over And We'll Give THEM Your card!

Can you believe that?? She calls a friend and sure enough the bank lets the friend have her card so the friend can express mail it to the US.

Now her bank has capped her cash advance limit to $100 per day! Amazing! Of course you can imagine theres a tidy little fee with each transaction. And I'm not talking about the $3-$5 ATM fee. Her bank reems her an internal fee for any usage, but especially cash withdraws. and at $100 a pop, there are plenty!

If anyone has a constructive method one in Brazil can cost effectively send money to the states, Id be open to hearing it. It kills me to hear when she tells me a percentage of the money her family gives her every month gets devoured by some pretty cut throat fees. She has a bank account here in the US.

I am not sure why her family just doesn't send a payment in the mail, but I am guessing there is a trust factor with their mail system. Im not completely sure of the reason.

Im guessing this bank and BOA have a lot in common!

[uncoder2010]

Well, I called back tonight and I just asked the rep what the problem was and he said that I tried to use the card at a Blockbuster, and I said yes. without success. He said that often places like this are deemed high risk. He went and had no problem unlocking the two cards. No mention that the security department has this under review and I need to answer a bunch of verification questions.

I signed on to the online account access and they appear to be restored. I will use them and make sure.

I really hope that come Monday the security department doesn't have this under some other review and they get locked again! The first rep earlier gave the impression that I basically needed to answer a long list of verification questions for which he tried to initiate as mentioned above but as I couldn't remember who my neighbors were (at least the ones they have on their list) from my old house that he couldn't proceed and told me to call back monday and hash it out with the fraud/verifications department.

 

Blockbuster? seriously? One attempt to buy something for $5 and they locked down both accounts immediately? not a courtesy call instead asking if I made the charge. we aren't exactly talking a place that sells high end items.

If the cards stay open I will be too scared to use them! Blockbuster?? Sheesh!

 

One thing I've found is to make sure you call from a phone number listed on your app or CR. Their computer systems will see this (caller id) and bypass certain things.

[losartworks]

Yeah, I always try to call from the number on the account as often then I don't even have to enter the full 16 digit account number.

But that first guy last night, by his own admission said he didn't deal with these kinds of verifications much at all and wanted me to just call back to the verifications department. He sounded like a 20 year old kid and while he tried, it's hard to say if he was even doing what he needed to.

the second guy was pretty laid back. perhaps too much so. he asked for my address and email but not my DOB or last 4 of the SSN. But he unlocked the accounts as fast as you please and that was that. Hopefully they stay open.

 

I had a similar experience several months ago when I used a debit card for gas. but at least my bank called me and asked me to verify the last few charges on the account and that was that. BOA didn't call me at all!

[beli]

I haven't had it with BOA, but did when we opened a thomasville card (GEMB) - they asked like 3 to 5 lexis nexus questions, including 20 yr old addresses, either street address or county. They did it as multiple choice so it was a little easier but the questions were way out there because they referred to really old locations we lived.

Yeah I had that with a Cu I tried joining.. they had an old CA address god that was like ummmmm 20 yrs ago? I had to look on line for the county. They tried to tell me they got them off the Cra's.. ummm no.. cuz that address hasn't been on my credit report for at least 10+yrs

 

Probably came from LexisNexis. This is the source of a lot of this.

 

Yeah I tried telling the CSR when they wouldn't approve me the first time because I couldn't remember the stupid county until I looked it up online However, they were pretty determined to say it was from the Cra's... yeah right.. okay if you believe that one. They didn't even know what LexisNexis was... I had to hold back a laugh.

Edited April 16, 2011 by beli