This is the shortened version of how I fought Bank of America and won. It saved me an unknown amount of money.
I am not one to take things lying down. When my child was born, she spent three days in NICU, at which time numerous doctors visited her. One of these doctors wanted to charge me over $1,000 for a visit no one ever mentioned to any of us. I fought this one like crazy and ended up not having to pay it: you see, they weren't supposed to charge separately since they 1) never obtained parental permission to even look at my child, and 2) were considered a part of the hospital/NICU bill. It took me MONTHS and numerous phone calls, but I know my consumer rights! AND if I don't know them, I will research and learn them quickly!!
Several years ago, I took out a debt consolidation loan through NEA/MBNA. Bank of America bought the loan, and everything was fine, until one day they sent a letter stating that they were going to change this fixed rate loan to a variable interest rate. We all know what could have happened from there. My low 6.99% fixed rate would have hiked up to 30%. It would have been absurd.
I didn't take this! I emailed everyone I could find. I researched names of officials who worked for Bank of America, all the way up to the President. I emailed my Attorney General and every Congress person in my area...and then some. It took me several weeks and was incredibly stressful. I was not alone. I found message boards and blogs about this and similar Bank of America issues. I found out that a few people were able to get their fixed rate FIXED permanently, yet the rest of us were still struggling with this.
So, in one of my pleas, I mentioned this and the utter unfairness of it all: if ONE person could remain fixed, so should ALL persons. Otherwise, it is unfair business practices. The 95 year old man who can barely see and hardly has the energy to fight this battle should not suffer while I'm enjoying my fixed interest rate.
I found the right name at last. I emailed this name. Truly, this isn't very difficult. Once you figure out the suffix to email addresses and how they format the name, you can pretty much email anyone within a company. So, if they are Bob Duckers and they work for Duckorama.com, their email address could quite possibly be bob.duckers@duckorama.com. You get the drift.
I found the right name at last, in a news article. This person was a government liason with BofA. He took action.
Within two weeks, I got a letter in the mail stating that Bank of America was retracting their decision and all of these particular fixed rate loans under this category...ALL...not just mine....would remain fixed. I didn't fight this battle alone, but did I have SOMETHING to do with the outcome? Damn right I did!!!
My point is that you should NOT take things lying down, especially when it comes to money. Businesses will try to screw you: not all, but many. Stay informed and take the extra steps to ask questions and gain information that is rightfully yours. Information is power. Without it businesses can AND WILL screw you: many industries are counting on people just paying bills and not being informed.
According to Time Value Software's Loan Payoff Calculator, the one month difference in interest COULD have looked like this:
6.99% - monthly interest on this loan = $151
10% - monthly interest on this loan = $217
15% - monthly interest on this loan = $325
30% - monthly interest on this loan = $650
We'll go on the conservative side and say they would have only raised it to 10%. (Let's face it: this is Bank of America, and we ALL know they were doing this so they could raise the interest to at least 15% and make a tons of money....this is right around the time of the bailout!!)
At 10%, I would have been paying an extra $66 a month. NO, I wasn't already paying this out and gaining the money back. But imagine what my monthly bill would have been had I not been so proactive! I'm counting this as savings!!!
Where are we now with monthly savings?
Tip#1 - Dish Towels $5 per month
Tip#2 - Dump Cable $92 per month
Tip#3 - Homemade Goodness $24 per month
Tip#4 - Esurance.com $139
Tip#5 - Eat at home $70
Tip#6 - Insulation $50
Tip #7 - Interest Saved $66
Total per month: $446
Total per year: $5,352 (AT LEAST!!!)
