Bank of America – EDD teller service

January 18, 2012 · 20 comments

in Pissed!, User Submited

Each time EDD deposits benefits to the BofA debit card account, I go to the local BofA branch and make a withdrawal. The teller always asks, “Do you have an account with BofA?” I politely say “no.” The teller always offers, “if you would like to open a BofA account, this would be much easier for you.” Ha Ha – I will NEVER have an account with BofA (except the one forced on me by EDD Summer 2011). As we know, the BofA teller must take my drivers license, fill out not one but 2 forms (with a pen!) and I must sign. THEN the teller gives me the cash (in $100′s), which I take to my locally owned bank where I LIKE to do business and deposit it there.

Well, last week when I presented myself to the BofA teller, I was informed BofA no longer provides teller support for EDD withdrawals if you don\’t have a BofA account. I was directed to use the outside ATM machine to withdraw cash. The teller smiled and said, “there are no fees to use the ATM.”

Darn. I rather enjoyed having BofA pay their employee to do the cumbersome paperwork (as opposed to having my bank do the cumbersome paperwork). But, the joke was on me after all. The BofA ATM machine has a limit of $200 per cash withdrawal, which means I had to make multiple w/d transactions at the ATM to get my cash. Of course I’m vulnerable to thieves as I stand there at the outside ATM, making cash withdrawal after cash withdrawal, stuffing 20′s in my pocket by the dozen.

This EDD Debit card system benefits EDD and certainly CERTAINLY benefits Bank of America !! It DOES NOT benefit the Calif EDD recipient! I would like to know how BofA acquired this account with EDD – was there a bid process? Were other banks offered an opportunity to be the middle man?

When I had a problem with my EDD card and called the EDD Help line, I asked the phone rep where she was, and she said she was at the BofA EDD call center in GEORGIA! With California\’s unemployment situation, wouldn’t it be nice to have those call center jobs in CALIFORNIA ??

Thanks for listening.

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Tagged as: ATM, BOA, rant

  • Anonymous

    I live in San Francisco and have visited at least three different BofA branches to withdraw my money entirely on the Tuesday (or Wednesday) morning it is available. I was told that I could do an electronic transfer however, according to the BofA site, it could take up to two business days for the transfer to come through. It is much easier to walk into a branch and withdraw the money entirely in cash.

    Unless this is a new rule, I have not experienced it yet. I think if this happened to me, I would make a scene. I realize that making a scene could be characterized as childish, manipulative, and unprofessional, but I would make a scene in order to shame BofA into doing “the right thing.” I notice that in all the BofA branches I visit, the tellers bend over backwards to be friendly and cheerful (perhaps this is just San Francisco). They have a serious PR problem as a result of aggressively foreclosing on American homeowners. So I would cry, beg, and refuse to leave until I spoke to a manager to resolve my issue. Of course, this requires a lack of shame on my part.

    Why would anyone in their right mind open a BofA account?! Who knows why EDD and BofA collaborated? Maybe for BofA to appear as if they are helping the unemployed? Of course they are not, but it’s all about image.

  • M A Krenz

    Taking a look at the terms and conditions document we find under section 3. Use of Your Card and Types of Transactions the following:
    ‘Obtaining Cash at Visa Financial Institutions. Financial institution locations (such as banks or credit unions) that accept Visa cards, including our banking centers, will accept your Card for obtaining cash.’

    That seems pretty clear. Furthermore, among the entries found under “The following definitions apply to this Agreement:” are these:
    “Account” means the deposit account accessed by your Card;
    and
    “We”, “us”, and “our” mean Bank of America, N.A.;

    So keeping that in mind under 1. General Information we find:
    ‘General Account Information. Your Account is funded by the EDD with deductions for transactions and fees as more fully described in this Agreement. No interest is paid on the balance for any period of time. Your Account is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Coverage may be limited if you have another deposit account with us.’

    So it appears that you indeed do have a deposit account with Bank of America, N.A. as a requirement to receiving EDD benefits.

    Very poor form on the part of the employees of the branch you went to. In fact, on the surface it seems possible that the dis-service you received may have been a personal gesture that was made at the expense of B of A breaching the Terms and Conditions document which can be found in its entirety at:
    https://prepaid.bankofamerica.com/EDDCard/PRC384/CP384-T03-019/docs/terms.htm

  • SunnyGrl

    UGHHHH, this has been discussed before. All you need to do is take your BofA card to YOUR bank teller (Chase, Wells Fargo..) and they will transfer funds from the card into your account. You receive the funds into YOUR account immediately. I knew to do this the first time i received my card!
    I have NO idea why some people don’t know to do this. Why are you withdrawing hundreds of dollars at a time from different atms??

    OMG people

  • B

    @SunnyGrl, I believe you can transfer the money from BofA directly into your own bank — no need to visit your bank even — but that it may take up to 2 business days for the transfer to complete if your preferred account is not a BofA account. This could have changed since I last checked, but at the time, it wasn’t acceptable to me. Second, I have banked with BofA in the past and my experience involved many errors which always worked in their favor. To avoid that, I would rather go to a BofA and withdraw the money from a teller and then walk to my credit union and deposit it — on the first day the money is available.

  • sunnygrl

    That makes no sense at all! LOL

    Listen, the day the money hits your card you do the transfer at your bank. THAT does not take two days.
    Direct deposit takes 2 days. We are talking about tranfers here. If you deposit funds into
    YOUR bank via teller tranfer you receive funds IMMEDIATELY.
    why waste time going to two banks?? I’ve been doing this since I received my card last year. No issue at all.

    • Quietthemind

      Well if your so smart Sunnygrl, why don’t you work for BofA? Because none of those were options. If they were, why wouldn’t BofA tell you when you show up to activate your card? Instead they tell you since you don’t have an account with them, you will have to use the ATM. And you will never be able to get online to check your account or transfer the money. So put that in your pipe and smoke it.

      • Tom

        If you read the documentation that came with the EDD card, it says you can get cash at any VISA bank or credit union. Just ask the teller for a “Visa Manual Cash Disbursement” and there should be no fee for this service.

      • Tom

        If you read all the instructions on the EDD Website and those that came with the card, you did not need to go to a BofA Branch to activate the card. It could be done from the website which is what I did and have had EDD payments automatically transferred from the EDD Debit Card to my checking account like clockwork since August 2011.  I think you’ve been smoking.

    • Tom

      Or better yet, set up a recurring automatic transfer to your checking account. Certify on Sunday, the money is deposited to the EDD Debit Card late Monday evening, then automatically transfered to your checking account by Tuesday morning.

    • Isabelmejia2009

      Is there a fee to do d transfer, tho? Honestly, i had never heard that was an option! except for the transfer dep from BofA n dat it wud take up to 2 business days to complete the transaction! :/

      • Tom

        There is no fee to setup an automatic recurring transfer. I don’t understand why you people make it so diffiicult for yourselves. If you don’t have a checking account, then go to ANY bank or Credit Union and ask for a VISA Manaual Cash Disbursement. There are instructions that came with the card explaining this.

  • noproblemswithmycard

    Good grief people … just log in and TRANSFER your funds to your checking account … it does not take two days … its a transfer. Would you rather go back to stalking the mailman waiting for a paper check??? BofA may have its problems but THEY HAVE YOUR MONEY!!!

  • Rae

    I went to withdrawal my cash with the teller and she gave me an attitude. she ended up telling me the bank is doing you people a favor by having  your check deposited to thier debt card    Can you belive that  Anyway I made a sceen and it was a lot of fun for me and the people in line all stared   lol

  • Abc

    Regarding Call Center Jobs in CA, they DID operate a call center in Concord CA, but all 450 of them just lost their jobs in May and have joined the EDD ranks like us.

    BANK OF AMERICA (CUSTOMER SERVICE
    CONTACT CENTER)
    1655 GRANT STREET-2000 CLAYTON ROAD
    CONCORD, CA 94520
    450 5/20/2012 CONTRA COSTA
    COUNTY
    Company Contact Name and Telephone Number: Date Notice Received: Company Contact Name and Telephone Number: Date Notice Received: 3/16/2012

    JOHN COLLINGWOOD
    202-661-7130
    Layoff or Closure:
    Severance:
    Layoff
    Yes
    Union Representation:
    JOHN COLLINGWOOD

    202-661-7130

    Layoff or Closure:
    Severance:
    Layoff
    Yes
    Union Representation:
    Layoff or Closure:

    Severance:

    Layoff
    Yes
    Union Representation:
    Layoff

    Yes

    Union Representation:
    Union Representation:
    No Bumping Rights: No

    Job Title: #
    ASSOCIATES 450
    Job Title: #

    ASSOCIATES 450
    ASSOCIATES 450

    • 19hick49

      You might consider posting this information as a stand alone story on this site.

      450 people losing their jobs seems like a big deal to me.

      Is unemployment really getting better in California? Perhaps the unemployment numbers are being grossly manipulated.

      • Abc

        WARN notices (required if more than 50 are laid off at a given time at a given location) are posted on the EDD website for all to see. I was part of a WARN layoff myself in 2011. Scroll to the bottom to see a listing of these massive layoffs in CA.  http://www.edd.ca.gov/Jobs_and_Training/Layoff_Services_WARN.htm#ListingofWARNNotices

        • 19hick49

          Thank you for the link. The amount of current “WARN” notices does indeed look bad for California. I find it very hard to believe that the real unemployment numbers are dropping.

          More likely the long term unemployed are being eliminated (cutting back on extensions), to offset the expected newly unemployed claimants coming on to EDD.

          What a mess California is in and think we are only starting to see how bad it might get. Entitlement programs will get cut and pressure to raise taxes on the “wealthy” (business and professional class) will take hold. Then many businesses and professionals who haven’t left already will move out-of-state and state revenue will drop further…

  • Mrsfend

    I can withdraw all $900 from the ATM at one time.

  • jan northrop

    BofA Bribed California with $7 million for the right to make money off the state’s unemployed.

  • drdenzin

    made tiny mistake on paper work. received letter to call 800 number. tried for 2 weeks, never got through. too busy. no money. tried to find office in area. no office .

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