Bank of America - Private Banking

Private Banking - Obviouly NOT What it Used to Be

You really need to follow the link for the image to the left and see where Bank of America talks about it's commitment to service.

In a day and age when service is king! these guys really let me down. Okay, so I am a bit anal but all I really wanted to do was consolidate all of my banking for 2009. I have a bank that does my mortgage and my HELOC, I have a bank that I deal with to pay bills (who I like) and I have a bank I use as a private bank (which I love but they are out of state). I wanted to get my home loan, HELOC, boat loan and all my bill pay stuff under one roof and get some really good service such that then next time I go to buy anything where I need a loan, I'll get great service and good great rates. So, I started shopping around - I went to Boston Private Bank - these guys were GREAT but couldn't do my boat loan - which has been the issue with most all banks. If I couldn't consolidate then I wasn't going to move all my dough around. I checked a couple of other places and again, since they couldn't do the boat loan, I bagged it. Then I talke to a nice guy, (quite salesy though) named Brendan at Bank of America in Newton Center (I tell you this because if you go there, well, buyer be aware) - He told me that "without a doubt" they could help me and give me all the services I was looking for. He told me I would be a part of their "Private Banking" system which offers great personal service. I spent 30 min there giving him all of my information about my existing mortgage, my HELOC, the boat info and I told him that when I get a call back, please have the whole package ready. (I was trying to avoid him calling me and push a mortgage on me, that wasn't what I was looking for.) He promised me he would not do that and he told me he use to work on the Private Banking side of the house and he could "hand pick" anyone to help me and he was going to select the best of the best - a guy named - get this Adam West (for you Batman fans out there - how cool is that). Adam, whos card I am looking at now is aVP of Premier Client Management - Premier Banking and Investment. Brenden promised me he would at least call me by the end of the day. Well the end of the day came and no call. I figured, that is okay because I knew securing the boat was going to be the issue, so I was patient. Next day, no call. Third day, I call him, because I have Adam's card. He says "Oh, I was just getting ready to call you, now can you 're-tell' me what you told Brendan so I can get all of your information?" So I am a bit aggravated, but I say okay and spend another 30 min on the phone providing him my information. Then he tells me "I promise I will give you a call by the end of the day". Guess what, yup, no call. No call the next day or the next. I figure, they just don't care. 9 days later I get a call. Saying that he was sorry, it took a while to find out about the boat loan, which they can't do, but he wanted my business anyway.

Now I ask you - would you want to work with a private banker like that????

I use UBOC in CA - they pick up the phone every time I call and help me instantly. (I couldn't consolidat there as they can't to mortgages for homes out side of CA). My wife uses Boston Private for her business, they too are awesome, they go out of their way to help, pick up the phone on every call, even meet her at her office if she needs. That is private banking.

Bank of America may be big, but they sure don't care about the little guy.