Thread by @BankBetterGuy

1/ I have a follower named Seth that asked a Bank of America President for a $14 fee refund because of the Coronavirus. What he got was the longest fucking letter I've ever seen a BofA Pres ever send.

I'm going to thread it for you. It's 15 Tweets long after this!

2/ Good morning Seth,

Thanks for reaching out and sorry to hear how much this coronavirus has impacted your business and life. As you may have seen, Bank of America has done a lot of things that have benefited our customers, employees, and communities during this pandemic.

3/ I’ve listed some of them below. These have come at a tremendous cost to the Bank but we see it as an important role for us. However, people and companies have been impacted in different ways. Some, in fact, like grocery chains, Netflix, Amazon, gardening supplies,

4/ bicycles, Peloton, beer & wine wholesalers, technology companies (especially serving the work-from-home market), baking supplies and crafts, etc. have actually done better during this time. Since our revenue model that allows us to stay in business and do all these

5/ positive things relies on interest and fee income, to broadly waive fees to even those that don’t need the help at this time would be impractical and disable our ability to help those in true need. 

We continue to address the needs of our clients, including

6/ individuals, families and small businesses (companies with $5M in revenue and below) through our enhanced Client Assistance Program. Key elements include:

 Consumer and Small Business deposit accounts: clients can request refunds including overdraft fees, non-sufficient

7/ funds fees, early withdrawal penalties for certificates of deposit, and monthly maintenance fees.

 Consumer and Small Business credit cards: clients can request to defer payments, refunds on late fees.

 Small business loans: clients can request to defer payments,

8/ refunds on late fees.

 Auto loans: clients can request to defer payments, with payments added to the end of the loan.

 Mortgages and home equity: clients can request to defer payments, with payments added to the end of the loan term for Bank of America-owned loans;

9/ loans owned or guaranteed by other entities, including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or FHA, offer consumer relief set by those agencies.

 In all of these instances, there will be no negative credit bureau reporting for up-to-date clients.

 We have also paused foreclosure

10/ sales, evictions and repossessions.

 To request mortgage and credit card payment deferrals online, please visit our Client Assistance Page.

In addition, we’ve increased our grants to non-profits across the country by $100 million, specifically to address COVID

11/ related needs in our communities. The Bank has donated another $250 million to local Community Development Loan Funds. We’ve processed almost 400,000 Paycheck Protection Program loans through the SBA as part of the CARES Act. In NH, as of early Wednesday, we had

12/ successfully processed almost 1000 PPP applications for $127 million for small businesses, 98% of which had under 100 employees. Unfortunately, the questions and confusion around this Program have tied up significant resources in our call centers and branches and has led

13/ to longer wait times on the phones. With PPP funds about to run out, we expect this call traffic to slow down and free up lines for the service issues you suggest.

At the same time, we have kept our branches open to serve our clients while doing everything we can to keep

14/ our financial center employees safe (masks, gloves, Plexiglas, wipes, disinfectant, paid lunches, extra comp). 

Our advanced on-line and mobile banking platform, which we’ve invested hundreds of millions of dollars in over the past 10 years, has allowed our customers to

15/ bank where it is convenient and safe for them. Bank of America has processed millions of Economic Relief checks. 

In summary, I’m very proud of the lengths to which Bank of America has gone to offset some of the damage of this virus. I’m sorry that you have been so

16/ negatively impacted but we are not in a position to automatically waive fees across the board. We sincerely hope that conditions will improve and our economy, your business, and our business will start to get back to some level of normalcy soon. 

Respectfully,

Ken

17/ Ok, it's James again.
I never in my life have seen this. This is someone trying to act smarter than you and listing all the "noble" things Bank of America helped with BUT can't waive a $14 fee for you is insane.

Doing a podcast about this. Thanks again, @sradner

18/ By the way. I liked how after 4000 characters! He says "In summary"

This is why I fight!

My God.