Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Bank of America: Deployed Soldier a 'Deadbeat'

Delays in the military mail system may result in damage to a deployed soldier's credit. And Bank of America couldn't care less. They only want their money. Capitalism and freedom go hand-in-hand. But apparently those who defend and protect that freedom, i.e. capitalism, are irrelevant. All that matters to Bank of America is their bottom line:

A local soldier serving in Iraq has been unfairly accused of being a dead-beat by his credit card company.

It's something that could affect his military career.

So his family turned to Local 12 Troubleshooter Howard Ain for help.

22 year old Ben Singer is with the 82nd Airborne, stationed in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.

His father Steve, of Batavia, tells me Ben was told to get a credit card and needed to pay an extra 20 dollars to get it fast.

SINGER: "He got the card but they got it late and he never activated the card. BECAUSE HE HAD TO GO OVERSEAS? He was shipped to Iraq January 3rd."

The credit card company sent his bill to Ft. Bragg and it was forwarded to Iraq. Singer received it, sent it home and his father paid the $20-- but that was on March 4th because of all the time to send the bill from one place to another.

Then more bills arrived-- bills for late fees.

http://www.local12.com

This story has a somewhat happy ending. After calls from a troubleshooter reporter, Bank of America relented and dropped the late fees. But a soldier in battle facing injury or death doesn't always have the luxury of being able to contact an investigative reporter. He or she shouldn't have to. It's a disgrace that, on top of life and death matters, our troops must now worry that credit card payments arrive on time.



3 comments:

Bob said...

I was going to call BOA for a small (150K) bridge loan. I think I'll give some other lender a chance at it.

Anonymous said...

They need to research the Soldiers and Sailors Act of 1941.

Mrs.Irene Query said...
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