Banking Nightmare

[vengeful_eagle01]

My name is Scott and I have a nightmare vacation story to share with you. My hellish trip was hosted by Bank of America and catered by the United States Embassy in Manila.
If you are planning a trip overseas and bank with BOFA this story may save your life or at least your bank account.
It was January 2005 and I was busy with the last details of my wedding trip to the beautiful Philippines. And as anyone needs to do before taking such a trip I called Bank of America to tell them of my upcoming plans. I also talked about my concerns about being able to access my Social Security Disability payments while being abroad. It was explained by a very kind customer service lady which atms I should use and she explained that using machines with certain symbols would avoid any excessive service fees she then assured me I would have no problems and if I did I could contact them. At the end of our conversation I told her that I had no idea of how long I would be staying in the Philippines. But I assured her that I would contact the bank when I had an address to give them. So anyway I left the US in January 2005.
I arrived in Manila nervous as hell about a wide range of issues but at least I was secure in the knowledge that I had a guaranteed income. Here in the Philippines a small payment even like SSD makes you rich. Honestly I was kind of hoping that if it was cool here I would stay. At least until my wife's Visa was done. My wife Bless and I were married on February tenth 2005 and life was great. But like many new marriages some times there is trouble with in laws. I was learning that my in laws had many bad affiliations with criminal elements such as the NPA. One brother in law is being sought after by the military. And the sister in law who still resides in Tabaco is involved in much of the local street crime, scamming Americans via the internet. And between her and my mother in law they claim to have connections with bank managers, mayors, and the Governor of Albay, not to mention local judges and many police officials. And one of those connections is a military general. I had one major argument with my mother in law when she said she would like to shake Osama's hand.
But then saying it's her life's dream to go to America. This was the last time I would see her until, the birth of our child. And due to our family problems we planned on leaving Tabaco City as soon as possible. Little did we know February would be the last time I would see a full SSD payment. From that point forward half or more of my payments went missing from my account for the next 15 months. Money was even being stolen from a negative balance month after month. In the US it was not possible to overdraft an account solely by ATM transactions. Well here one day you can be over drafted 30 bucks a week later maybe one hundred. Then say a few days later you're down a hundred and fifty. Come on bank how could you let that happen? We then learned of the happy news that my new bride was pregnant and I was taking very ill. This condition worsened during the months that followed. But even thru such hardship we got by. You can only ask my wife how.
But things like going to Manila and keeping my visa up to date were just not possible. And good luck trying to save money for a baby on the way. Yes we got by living in complete poverty. So when the big day came my baby girl came into the world as collateral on a hospital bill. And the word collateral is being polite believe me. We were prisoners, armed guards and the works. Do you know what its like to hold you're child for the very first time? For that short time all my problems were forgotten. Little did I know that four days later I would be on the floor in the fetal position crying like a newborn myself because I had no idea where my wife and kid were The main players at the hospital were the hospital administrator Mrs. Rosario B. Grageda, my mother and sister in law's working for a darker end. The hospital administrator and my in laws worked in tandem using threats and blackmail trying to get me to leave or pay extortion money in order to keep from being deported. But their deepest wish was to change my daughter's birth certificate so they can ship her to Saudi. Then Cresther can gain inheritance from her dying husband. And also my daughter is worth a lot of money in arranged marriages. Especially half American children. For those of you who do not know human trafficking and kidnap for ransom are big business in the Philippines. Now the bill in question was less than 1000 US dollars. And to add insult to even further injury our last 200 dollars went missing from my bank while my wife was giving birth. The events around the hospital lasted about two weeks but in reality we were kind of prisoners for the next year. It's hard to escape when you do not know who the guards are. We were in shock most of the time and were lucky to just be able to raise a healthy baby. We were able to learn that my daughter was entitled to get benefits thru SSA so we applied over the phone to SSA office in Manila. They sent an investigator to our home in February 2006. We told Alex Eusebio the whole story of my payments being stolen even to that day and what happened at the hospital. He wrote down nothing in regards to what we were trying to report. He just did what he came to do and left. Not acknowledging any of the things we have said. We were shocked by that. Reinforcing what was planted in our minds that our situation was nothing. Then in September Typhoon Milenyo came. We fled to the Embassy in Manila when the roads cleared. Fearing that my in laws would make another attempt on our daughter. And the word on the street was not good for us. So we spent a week getting passed from window to window. Homeland Security said my wife can not get asylum because I am American. The Social Security Administration says the sent my full benefit amount and their responsibility ends there. American Citizens Services told me I can take my daughter to America any time. I then asked him what about my wife. The guy looked me straight in the eye with a smile and said what about her. My wife was standing right there and burst into tears. I was never ashamed of my country until that very moment. He then passed our case off to a lower worker. Who then gave us the Tabaco City police telephone number. Did I mention that Tabaco City was in a state of calamity from the typhon? Never mind the fact that my in laws have many contacts at that office. And never mind the corruption. What do you think they could do about Bank of America? We also went to the Bank of America in Manila. All they would say is that they only handle corporate accounts and they will not discuss my account. No one cares that a traveler can have his bank account fleeced every time he puts his Visa Check card in the machine then be held hostage and be trapped at his vacation destination for what looks like very possibly the rest of our lives. It seems like someone should care just a bit. I guess US government wants to track all the other people's money but are not concerned to what happens to US treasury money. I am talking a few thousand which is not much in the US, but will run an army such as the NPA for some time. At least they could have picked up a pencil ...any of them. They sent us to the wolves, broke, homeless and tired. I feel like they sent us to die to protect the Bank and the administrator of the Manila Social securities butts. We took the bus for what was left of our home. In the month that followed my baby girl got very sick and lost much weight due to us not being able to buy her milk. But the following payday with my payments safe in a bank other than Bank of America, life has potential once again. Then in November, Typhoon Riming came and hit us dead on. We were in the stone age for two months. Since then I have made multiple contacts to Bank of America via email. And wasted a ton of money calling their 800 number witch is not free overseas. They said sorry to hear of your problems. The security of my account is important to them and to please join their online banking. The problem with that is I already told them, that option for what ever reason has never worked. Page cannot be displayed. According to the embassy this sort of thing happens everyday. Should that be the story in its own self? I did not know when I made my trip that money is stolen from traveler accounts every day did you? If you have no family to contact you are truly screwed. Here is a quick example. The two super typhoons I mentioned. Do you think anyone from our embassy even called or emailed me? To add to their shame they sent me a letter in regard to my veterans claim last November. I doubt they even knew they sent it into a state of calamity but even when they got it kicked back return to sender do you think they checked in then? Remember I was there the month before spending that time ranting like any angry father in fear for his little girl. I guess they forgot. And to think the sender of the letter told me my story would make a good movie of the week and raved on how beautiful my daughter is. Oh hell never mind I forgot these are the same people that sent us home broke and confused with a baby to a house with no roof in a state of calamity. And it's not just me folks. I have seen other Americans in various banks holding their Bank cards with the Visa Logo in hand trying to get their own answers as to where their money went. And I have just learned that the Mormon missionaries are told not to have a BOFA account while on their over seas missions. Day before yesterday my wife met another guy who same thing happened to his BOFA account for two years. Different results but you can overlay our embassy stories. He called them after Typhoon Reming to ask help for himself, his wife and three kids. Of course they did not even offer him a slice of bread. Come on embassy, how about a little help for a foreigner? Have we become so wasteful as a nation that we now even throw away our people and their children? How can you feel safe in the laurels of all the great things that you do as a country with that as its price?

Yikes!!

You could try to sue them back in the states, in either small claims or a regular court. Best for everybody to have some backup systems I guess and not rely solely on them.

[vengeful_eagle01]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yikes!!

You could try to sue them back in the states, in either small claims or a regular court. Best for everybody to have some backup systems I guess and not rely solely on them.

I am looking into a class action. As I said there are other Americans here that this happened too and they just had to give up. In a few months I will have my legal status here in the Philippines fixed. Until that time I can not leave the country. As I mentioned in my blog that my status became illeagle as a direct result of my benefits going missing from my bank account. I truly thought the embassy was my back up. But like they say hind sight is 20 20.

[randalljd]

If a group of people exist with such problems you may be able to do something as a class.