Bank of America Stole My Money!

I knew we were getting close, but I thought we had enough to clear. As it turns out, we actually did, except for one larger bill that was scheduled to come out that day. So what did Bank of America do?

Well, although all our smaller transactions had been done several days ago, and had already been pending (meaning the bank had put a hold on those funds), Bank of America decided to post them all the same day, starting with the largest first, and then proceeding downward until it started posting the $6, $5, ..., $1.75 Sonic drink (purchased 4 days prior). Unfortunately, by this time, there was not enough in our checking account to clear these (which totaled $21). Fortunately, I have a set up where if there are enough funds in my checking account to clear, the bank will automatically move money from my savings account to cover it, which it did. There was enough to keep our balance in the black... until they deducted their $10 transfer fee. And yet, the bank decided that, despite all this, I would pay it $35 for every transaction that was originally in the red... which was 6 transactions, for a total of $210.

So I figure maybe I could talk to the bank I have been loyal to for 5 years and have two accounts with, they would see where this is ridiculous, and would kindly refund at least 4 or 5 of those fees so a man can continue to feed his family until his next paycheck.

Smiling, the bank officials proceeded to describe that this method of applying the large transactions first is for my own protection. "Wouldn't you rather make sure your mortgage or car payment is paid first?" said the man. "No, I would not," I replied. "Well, 98% of Americans would disagree with you," he stated. "No, they would not," I replied, explaining, "If they were $21 short, they would prefer to pay you one insufficient fund charge and then scrape together that $21 deficit, along with the returned check charge that the mortgage company will charge them, and get it done the next day." I went on, "Besides that, I have overdraft protection as a customer of your bank, which means you would have paid it anyway, and then I would only be owing you one $35 overdraft charge and have that and the $21 deficit come out of my next deposit, which I made later that very afternoon."

"No," he said.

"Yes," I said. "Most people would consider that as logical, and fair and reasonable. If your system is truly designed to protect me, it doesn't seem to be working all that well at this moment. All you have to do is rearrange the order in which you honor my debits, and 'poof', I owe you $35."

Smiling, the manager explained that that is not possible, to which I explained that yes it is quite possible, since I have seen it done once before.

Smiling, he told me that it is a technical issue, and that I would have to call the 800 number, because there is nothing he can do here.

Not smiling anymore, I pointed to a large deposit that I had just made that same day, which the bank so kindly decided to hold for 8-10 days, and which I intended to use to open a business checking account. "Do you see this transaction, right here?" I asked. "Why, yes," he said, smiling. "Well, this will clear in a week, and when it does, I will take every last dime of it out of this bank, because I am thru with your b.s., and then I will close down both my accounts and take my business to a friendlier, more reasonable bank."

I then proceeded very loudly to tell him that I was tired of being robbed by my own bank, that they know that what they are doing is wrong, and that it is nothing but theft.

Not smiling anymore, he told me that I was welcome to leave the bank now. As I stormed past the not smiling customers who were turning their heads, I reminded him loudly that he has lost my business, and that he can tell his managers that. He kindly followed me out of the bank and into the street, where I proceeded to proclaim to Springdale downtown that Bank of America just stole my money, and that they are nothing but a bunch of theives. As one man got out of his car, and looked at me, I said, "Isn't that right?" "Hell, yeah!" he replied, just as loudly.

Realizing that an 800 number is not going to get me any more than a live person would, I took a different tack. I created a sign, and stood outside the bank for two hours, warning people about the bank they were about to enter.

I haven't got my money back yet, but I did persuade one young lady who was about to make the mistake of opening an account at the Bank to pursue other options. I also convinced our legal secretary to go ahead and change banks as well.

I'll be back out there tomorrow.

God Bless Our Troops... please

I just read an article about what our Marines are doing today in Afghanistan. Please take a moment to read it... and then someone please let them know how thankful I am for them.

I remember my high school wrestling days, when the coach would crank the heat. It was hard, but I could through it because I knew that it wouldn't be more than a couple of hours. These guys are carrying gear and equipment in merciless 100 degree desert, hiking for miles, always at the ready.

Those few... proud... Marines.

Let Freedom Ring!

By the rude bridge that arched the flood
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled Farmer stood,
And fired the shot hear round the World.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

a long habit of not thinking a thing WRONG, gives it a superficial appearance of being RIGHT, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason. - Thomas Payne, Common Sense



Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries BY A GOVERNMENT, which we might expect in a country WITHOUT GOVERNMENT, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him, out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others. - Thomas Payne, Common Sense



Here then is the origin and rise of government; namely, a mode rendered necessary by the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here too is the design and end of government, viz. Freedom and security. And however our eyes may be dazzled with show, or our ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken our understanding, the simple voice of nature and reason will say, 'tis right. - Thomas Payne, Common Sense


"Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it."
–The Crisis by Thomas Paine

A part of the army has been a week, without any kind of flesh, and the rest for three or four days. Naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiery
- George Washington at Valley Forge

These are the times that try men's souls. - Thomas Payne, Common Sense

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
- Declaration of Independence

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be
Free and Independent States
- Declaration of Independence

— And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other
our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Delaware	• George Read	• Caesar Rodney
	• Thomas McKean
Pennsylvania	• George Clymer	• Benjamin Franklin
	• Robert Morris	• John Morton
	• Benjamin Rush	• George Ross
	• James Smith	• James Wilson
	• George Taylor
Massachusetts	• John Adams	• Samuel Adams
	• John Hancock	• Robert Treat Paine
	• Elbridge Gerry
New Hampshire	• Josiah Bartlett	• William Whipple
	• Matthew Thornton
Rhode Island	• Stephen Hopkins	• William Ellery
New York	• Lewis Morris	• Philip Livingston
	• Francis Lewis	• William Floyd
Georgia	• Button Gwinnett	• Lyman Hall
	• George Walton
Virginia	• Richard Henry Lee	• Francis Lightfoot Lee
	• Carter Braxton	• Benjamin Harrison
	• Thomas Jefferson	• George Wythe
	• Thomas Nelson, Jr.
North Carolina	• William Hooper	• John Penn
	• Joseph Hewes
South Carolina	• Edward Rutledge	• Arthur Middleton
	• Thomas Lynch, Jr.	• Thomas Heyward, Jr.
New Jersey	• Abraham Clark	• John Hart
	• Francis Hopkinson	• Richard Stockton
	• John Witherspoon
Connecticut	• Samuel Huntington	• Roger Sherman
	• William Williams	• Oliver Wolcott
Maryland	• Charles Carroll	• Samuel Chase
	• Thomas Stone	• William Paca

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

- The Star Spangled Banner, Francis Scott Key