Consumer complaint received 2015-03-23
Product: Bank account or service — Other bank product/service
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management — 
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (CA)

As a loyal customer of B of A for over forty-five years and a XXXX for almost twenty I have been treated in a most unfair, dishonest and non-compassionate manner not in XXXX situation but in XXXX. 
As a XXXX and XXXX with a XXXX I was using dial pay to take my customer 's credit cards during my annual trade shows. This was proving too slow and my customers suggested I move to XXXX. Being a loyal customer of B of A I instead moved to using their device that plugs into a Smartphone so I could swipe credit cards. Apparently when I changed from dial pay to this device I was in a contract for three years. This was not explained to me at the time. I assumed I was just moving from one way of inputting my sales to another. I had been a merchant for many years so it just made sense to upgrade. The man who signed me up did n't warn me that I would have to stay with this system for a set amount of time or be penalized {$500.00} for stopping- I would not have agreed. 
XXXX. In XXXX XXXX my husband passed away. When I returned to the States in XX/XX/XXXX I went to the bank to take him off of the account. At the same time my bookkeeper of more than twenty years lost her husband and moved into XXXX and it was clear had XXXX. Unbeknownst to me she had not been paying my bills or dealing with bank business as she had always promptly done in the past. 
So in XX/XX/XXXX I signed a new bookkeeper onto my account to take care of my business while I am out of the country. I left the States and then we started to get letters saying that my account would be closed on XXXX XXXX, XXXX if I did n't comply with submitting a DBA with the bank. We tried to contact the bank and ask for an extension since I would be returning to the States XXXX XXXX. First the woman who wrote to us was out of the office for a period of time and when she got back to us she said the bank would not extend the deadline because they had contacted me several times. This was not true. I did not receive anything about this prior to the letter saying my account would be closed if I did n't comply. Furthermore we were told that the bank had talked to me in XX/XX/XXXX. In XX/XX/XXXX I was out of the country and I did not receive a call from the bank. It 's possible my former, now demented bookkeeper, received a call and promptly forgot about it as happens with XXXX. All of this was explained to the Bank but still they would n't extend the deadline. 
As a XXXX with my name as part of my XXXX I do n't need a DBA in California but still I tried to do this long distance. It proved impossible. Furthermore in XX/XX/XXXX the bank charged me {$100.00} with no explanation. We called the bank several times but no one could tell us what this charge was for. It was never removed. 
Once the bank account was canceled there was Merchant Services ( MS ) to cancel. I called in XX/XX/XXXX and spoke to a man ( unfortunately I did n't get his name ) and he said he would close it. Then in XX/XX/XXXX I found out it was n't closed after all. 
I called XX/XX/XXXX and spoke to XXXX. She asked me questions I could n't immediately answer. I was getting pretty angry by now over the whole situation. I asked to speak to the supervisor and got XXXX who asked questions that would take time to find out. Next time I got XXXX. I answered the questions so I could close my Merchant Services Account but then XXXX told me they would be charging me {$500.00} for early contract cancellation. By now I was livid and having a difficult time keeping calm. This feels so utterly unfair! First the bank closes my account for not presenting a paper I do n't need and now this fine of {$500.00}!