Bank of America Canceled My Husband’s New Credit Card Before We Had a Chance to Activate It

So, I used to think Citi is a bizarre bank. Well, Bank of America enters the chat…

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post on applying for BoA Air France credit card in my husband’s name, in order to prevent the expiration of his 73k miles. The card was approved, and we got a message saying it’s in the mail.

We finally received it a few days ago, and I logged in in order to activate it. Or rather that was my plan. My husband’s login info wasn’t working for some reason. At this point I thought it was a technical glitch, so we went ahead and called the number on the back of the card in order to activate it that way. To my shock and dismay, there was a message telling us the card was canceled. Oh, and that there was a balance  of $89 that we owed (annual fee).

I knew right away that this was no glitch, and that BoA has changed their mind on giving the card, or rather their AI tool did. More than likely, there was an alert in the system indicating my previous ban. You can read my post on the whole debacle, but in short, BoA has closed my checking account for no apparent reason and also axed all of my credit cards. I still don’t know what happened, and I wasn’t told any specifics. But the bottom line is, my husband wasn’t affected, and was able to keep his cards open.

Since he applied and was approved for Air France card, I figured he was spared the wrath of BoA. I was wrong.

Our phone call to Bank of America 

At this point I only had one goal: getting the annual fee removed. I wasn’t about to pay $89 for the privilege of having an extra credit inquiry. Unfortunately, since the card was in my husband’s name, he would have to join me on the call. And he loves doing that sort of thing after a long day of work (insert sarcasm). He did give permission for me to talk on his behalf. The first rep has confirmed that BoA has decided to close the account and before I had a chance to say anything, she told me she was transferring us to a credit specialist.

That lady was a bit smug, buy I tried to be polite. She has informed us that BoA found something in my husband’s file that they didn’t like, but she would not be able to tell me what it was. Oh, and that the decision was final. So, basically, it was a complete waste of time, and my advice is to stop the first rep you talk to and focus on getting the refund of the annual fee.

Speaking of, I told the credit specialist that we would like the fee waived and she said she wasn’t sure if it’s possible, but that she would transfer me to another rep. Umm, we never even activated the card, and they were trying to stick it to us by charging an $89 fee?! At that point, I was chuckling to myself at this giant middle finger from Bank of America. But my husband wasn’t amused. What irritated him the most was having to give permission to let me talk on his behalf three separate  times.

Anyway, I did finally  get a pleasant rep who agreed to waive the annual fee. She also thanked us for being loyal customers (yes, they are reading from the script). Nevertheless, I thanked her profusely and told her I would give her high marks if I get the survey via email. It doesn’t pay to take out frustration on peons, and it’s just a lousy thing to do to another  human being. It’s not their fault they are working for a schizophrenic corporation.

What now?

Well, it’s obvious that our household’s love affair with Bank of America came to a bitter end. No more Alaska miles (should have transferred more Amex points to Hawaiian). No more Air France miles from Flying Blue credit card. Goodnight, sweet prince.

But in all seriousness, I’ve said before that I don’t take this sort of thing personally. It’s a business decision, even if it was carried out in a lousy manner. And ironically, the AI tool (or human who flagged my husband) actually made the right call. We are not profitable customers for banks and we never will be. At least I’m glad they did it now before I started working on minimum spending requirements.

So, I don’t lose sleep over stuff like that and remind myself that I’ve won much more than I’ve  lost when it comes to miles and points hobby. My only regret is that my husband had to get involved, as I try to shield him from this sort of rigamarole. He said he never wants to deal with BoA again, and I told him the feeling is obviously  mutual.

We do plan to hold off on applying for new cards regardless, as my recent post indicated. But I think in this particular case, my ban was the issue all along.

On Air France miles expiration

That was the main reason I applied for the card, as I didn’t want to scramble to use up the miles before they expire in October. Fortunately, I think I may have found a workaround. Apparently, by getting a Flying Blue Family account and transferring his miles to me, we can extend the expiration by two whole years. I’ve just set it up, and the account has to be open for seven days before I can try doing that. So, as soon as I test it out, I’ll write a follow-up post. On to the next one.