We hate Bank of America

We bought our house using a loan from Bank of America.  We have long been unhappy with this situation due to the various cruddy and unjust things that BofA has done in the mortgage market and on the customer service front.  In fact, it was because of some of BofA's behaviors that we got this particular mortgage, which is a special deal (no PMI) because BofA discriminated against our particular neighborhood in the past (they were ordered under a settlement to make more mortgages in our area).  Doesn't seem like they learned much of a lesson from their punishment(s).

Last fall, we attempted to refinance with another bank (our local credit union) but were unable to because we're totally  underwater on the mortgage.  So there was no way out of this relationship.  Or so we thought. 

Today a letter arrived, letting us know that we are no longer beholden to BofA.  They sold our mortgage to another bank, and that's the end of that.

On the one hand, I suppose I shouldn't really be that upset that BofA has sold our loan to someone else.  After all, we wanted out, and now we know that they did, too.

But they sold our loan to M&T Bank; M&T doesn't even have a branch office in the entire state of Massachusetts.  You know, where we live.  We had our frustrations with BofA, but there is a branch just a few blocks away, and in fact, the folks that that branch have been nothing but helpful.

Also, we have some kind of super-premium checking account with BofA, that we got as a benefit of having our mortgage there.  Said account supposedly costs $25 a month or something ridiculous without the mortgage.  So apparently we need to completely close out our account there to avoid such silliness.  Which means we have to change all our banking crap, including direct deposit, credit card automatic payments, our Paypal accounts, our utility bills, and who knows what else.  This is an enormous pain in the arse.  And, admittedly, one of the other reasons we didn't try so hard to get our accounts away from BofA, given the enormous time suck.  There's also the stupid time suck of dealing with the new mortgage (and its attached escrow account) and getting all of those payments set up.  I'd like to bill BofA for the time I'm going to have to spend on this; shouldn't I get a cut of whatever they made by selling off my loan?

But we're done.  We've had it. We're leaving.  And we want to recommend that you do, too.  Tomorrow -- November 5th -- is Bank Transfer Day.  We're joining the cause and taking our money out of Bank of America and moving it to our local credit union (where we do already have small accounts, but we'll now make them our primary account).  Here's to you, Jeanne d'Arc Credit Union.  Buh-bye Bank of America.