Well I guess I'm a sucker for not reading the fine print (I have a BofA checking account), didn't know they would "re-open". Kind of seems silly, since I believe closed should mean closed.
This is one of the reasons its important to turn off e-statements before you close a checking/credit card; instead receive statements by mail, that way if the account gets charged for whatever reason at least you will find out quickly when an envelope bill arrives in your mailbox.
Yes, I did it right away after learning the issue and prevented it from getting into debt collection..
Merchant was ATT, their customer service is as bad as BoA if not worse, the guy tried to sell me a TV package for 20 min after telling him the situation and kept going even after telling that I don't have a TV 
I will give it another go on monday.
I really appreciate your comments and suggestions. It aligns with my current understanding. Do you have any idea how long would it take me to build my score to where it was again? It just doesn't seem fair to me to getting it decrease so bad for a debt so small 
This is definitely the last time I will ever close a credit card account.
@Poki wrote:Well I guess I'm a sucker for not reading the fine print (I have a BofA checking account), didn't know they would "re-open". Kind of seems silly, since I believe closed should mean closed.
This is one of the reasons its important to turn off e-statements before you close a checking/credit card; instead receive statements by mail, that way if the account gets charged for whatever reason at least you will find out quickly when an envelope bill arrives in your mailbox.
You should have been able to access your online statements even after the account is closed.
A lot of people have similar problems like you pretty often. They close an account, only for the bank to reopen it due to residual interest charges, and they don't notice it until the deliquent balance is reported to the CRAs. In cases like this, you pretty much just have to "beg" with the bank till they budge.
When I was 18 Macy's sneaked in a $2 fee after I paid off my balance. I didn't notice it and they reported it as 1 30-day late, and they were unwilling to budge to have it removed. It's my fault, but I was hoping that they'd be nice about it since it's really just a couple bucks. No dice, and that late finally fell off my CRs this year. It does suck, but there's really nothing that can be done about it either other than to prevent such occurrences from happening again in the future.
Try talking to the merchant again. Offer to pre-pay them before they process the refund.
@bluest wrote:Yes, I did it right away after learning the issue and prevented it from getting into debt collection..
Merchant was ATT, their customer service is as bad as BoA if not worse, the guy tried to sell me a TV package for 20 min after telling him the situation and kept going even after telling that I don't have a TV
I really appreciate your comments and suggestions. It aligns with my current understanding. Do you have any idea how long would it take me to build my score to where it was again? It just doesn't seem fair to me to getting it decrease so bad for a debt so small
Try going into an AT&T store and see if those guys can call corporate and help you out. Otherwise try to contact someone in the upper management at AT&T. It's going to be a tad hard though since most large corporations are pretty inflexible about this, mostly because their CSRs do not have the authority to override the system.
Was it reported as a 30-day late? or what did BofA report it as?
@enharu wrote:
@Poki wrote:Well I guess I'm a sucker for not reading the fine print (I have a BofA checking account), didn't know they would "re-open". Kind of seems silly, since I believe closed should mean closed.
This is one of the reasons its important to turn off e-statements before you close a checking/credit card; instead receive statements by mail, that way if the account gets charged for whatever reason at least you will find out quickly when an envelope bill arrives in your mailbox.
You should have been able to access your online statements even after the account is closed.
A lot of people have similar problems like you pretty often. They close an account, only for the bank to reopen it due to residual interest charges, and they don't notice it until the deliquent balance is reported to the CRAs. In cases like this, you pretty much just have to "beg" with the bank till they budge.
When I was 18 Macy's sneaked in a $2 fee after I paid off my balance. I didn't notice it and they reported it as 1 30-day late, and they were unwilling to budge to have it removed. It's my fault, but I was hoping that they'd be nice about it since it's really just a couple bucks. No dice, and that late finally fell off my CRs this year. It does suck, but there's really nothing that can be done about it either other than to prevent such occurrences from happening again in the future.
Try talking to the merchant again. Offer to pre-pay them before they process the refund.
I'm not the OP, and this never happened to me I'm just discussing that pre-closing a account, one may consider starting to receive paper statements in the mail as a "just in case". Though if you move, then that's another topic.
I knew someone with a Wells Fargo Buisiness account that re-opened after a fraudelant $1,200 charge went through. Bank of America has re-opened accounts after "earned interest", only to start charging a $5/10 or whatever so monthly maintenance fee. I personally don't agree with the big bully bank tacktics.
OP - I'm sorry that you're going through this but I don't know if "never closing an account again" is the lesson to take away from this situation. Good luck and keep us posted.
@navigatethis12 wrote:
@youngandcreditwrthy wrote:
Dispute it with all the CRAs imo.
Now, others will chime in and holler fraud for my suggestion,
But it was an honest mistake.
Perhaps even file a complaint with the CFPB. They are very helpful and your situation will immediately become of utmost importance to BOA.I wouldn't say fraud, but what would the reason for dispute be? They'll just ask Bank of America who will come back and say it's accurate. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau isn't for this case, in my opinion. Every card I cancel says to stop recurring charges because if I don't they will come through, just like payments will come through to the accounts. Bank of America did nothing wrong here and I don't see why a complaint would change anything.
I wouldn't say Bank of America did nothing wrong. Maybe nothing illegal, but lets not kid ourselves. Bank of America has this policy so they can jam people up and charge extra interest. They are counting on people to forget to remove all their automatic payments. If the bank wanted to do the right thing by their consumers they would refuse to honor transactions on closed out cards. Instead they take advantage of their customers who may not be savvy to this practice. So while they did not do something illegal, I would suggest that they are morally wrong for this type of business practice.
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