Just Say No to Bank of America Visa Credit Cards

I share this story with you in the hopes that I can start an online revolution here that will lead millions of Bank of America Visa credit card holders to cut up those cards.

Once upon a time, I held an MBNA Visa card. And all was well. My account rarely, if ever, had problems.

But then one day, Bank of America bought MBNA. Changes were coming, they said, but I figured all was well because I think I'm a very adaptable person.

Without asking, Bank of America sent me a Bank of America Visa card to replace my MBNA card. They said it was because some of our personal information may have been stolen. I hadn't heard about that, but ok I said. And it wasn't a big deal - though I think Bank of America just wanted to brand all their new customers' credit cards.

A few days later, I tried to pay my bill on-line through the new Bank of America web site. Except I couldn't because the web site was down. Customer service did take my payment over the phone without charging me a service fee. That was the right thing to do.

Then one day I received an automated phone call telling me that there was some questionable activity on my account. I didn't know if my wife had made the charges in question so I had to check. The nice customer service person said just call him back and let him know.

Now, the customer service guy may have - maybe even probably - told me that my account would have a hold on it until I called back. But that message didn't get through to me. My wife indeed had made the charges but I did not call back that night.

It's not such a big deal, but when you have your credit card turned down at Quiznos, you wonder what's going on. So I logged on, but my account information was not accessible because of the hold. I was directed to go to a website where I could resolve the issues online. Except it was not operational.

So I called customer service and was put on hold...for 30 minutes. Customer service was in the midst of fixing my problem when I was disconnected.

So I called back and waited for another 30 minutes.

It takes a lot for me to get upsetwith customer service. I know they are trying their best and it was Bank of America's fault not theirs. I kept my cool.

Today, my Bank of America credit card was turned down at a grocery store. I had received no call about questionable activity and I had just paid my bill. There should be no problems.

I logged on and once again my account was on a hold -a service I did not request nor do I want if it is going to do this. Once again the fraud protection website was not operational. And as I type this, I have been on hold for 75 minutes and counting.

75 MINUTES!

If you have a Bank of America Visa Card, I urge you, like I will do, to find a new company to get a Visa card from. And I can't wait in a week or two, with my new card in hand, to wait through 75 minutes on hold just to cancel my Bank of America card with extreme prejudice.

F you, Bank of America.