I have been opening and closing checking and savings accounts for BoA for 3 years with no problems, approximately 2 to 4 times a year. Well, BoA has now blocked me from ever being able to open another account with them again and there’s nothing I can do on my own to get this ban lifted from talking to BoA closed accounts over the phone. I went to do a checking account opening shop today, not realizing I had been blocked after my last account opening shop, and found out I was blocked.

Has anyone ever had this experience? Were you able to get the MSC to ask the bank to lift the ban/block? I don’t think it’s fair that Shoppers should be penalized for helping banks do their mystery shops.

I wrote to the scheduler today to ask if something can be done on the MSC’s end to contact the bank and try to get this block lifted. I haven’t heard anything back yet.

I’m not happy about this at all. The MSC never mentioned there was any risk of being banned for life for opening and closing checking and savings accounts. The bank probably thinks I was a potential scammer even though I never deposited funds after the initial deposit except once when I did deposit $300 in a savings account.

Now that I know BoA does this, I’m hesitant to do any repeat account opening shops for any bank or MSC.

If you’ve not heard of this before, be forewarned! I’ll come back to update this post if and when I hear anything back from the MSC..

Edited on 1/4 to add: I heard from the scheduler. The MSC is going to pay for my shop fee but they will not be able to help lift the block with BOA.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2018 02:32AM by nycrocks.

It's nothing about being a scammer, but it may be due to mitigate and prevent abuse of any bonus systems.... I'm surprised Chase hasn't banned me yet from churning their credit cards over the years and taking advantage of their $200 and $300 checking and savings account bonuses every 18 months lol.

Please do keep us posted. This is troubling news.

@Tarantado wrote:

It's nothing about being a scammer, but it may be due to mitigate and prevent abuse of any bonus systems.... I'm surprised Chase hasn't banned me yet from churning their credit cards over the years and taking advantage of their $200 and $300 checking and savings account bonuses every 18 months lol.

There were never any bonuses involved in opening any of these checking or savings accounts. Credit card bonuses can be used as tax writeoffs by bsnks, so they actually get something out of the deal when they send that 1099-G to the IRS. They may or may not think it’s worth it to continue to give you new credit cards if you’re just going to close them after you get the bonus, but these contracts usually say you have to spend a certain amount of money on the card for the first 3 months to get the bonus. If you fulfill your end, not only do they get the tax write off but they get a percentage of everything you spend.

@mysiteisgreen wrote:

Please do keep us posted. This is troubling news.

Thanks for your concern. I think it’s very alarming news! These account opening shops have been a painless and easy way to make money and I never dreamed they had such consequences attached to them. This isn’t like getting a few points temporarily lowered on your credit score for applying for credit cards.

Let us know what the scheduler says. I should think there would be an internal procedure to wipe your information from the bank's system without consequence to you personally. On the other hand, if the client is a competitor that may not apply. In that event, the MSC should have a duty to inform you that multiple account openings and closings may lead to a permanent ban.

Theee is only one client I’m having this experience with. I hope you are right that the MSC can ask the bank to delete account openings information. If not, BoA Shoppers are sort of like sacrificial lambs.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2018 02:43PM by nycrocks.

I'm curious. Did you keep at least one account open with BoA when you repeatedly opened and closed accounts? How many BoA account opening shops have you done and over how many years?

I never kept any account open for more than the 2 months that the bank doesn’t charge any fees. I didn’t want to switch banks. I just wanted to make some MS money. The MSC allows shoppers to do up to 2 shops a year for opening checking accounts and 2 for opening savings accounts. I probably did 10-12 account opening shops in the past 3 years. I’m not sure of the exact number.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2018 03:22PM by nycrocks.

Did B of A tell you the reason you are blocked? Most banks use a system called ChexSystems to search your history. I once tried to open a checking account (not a mystery shop) and was denied. They said it was something in my history and sited ChexSystems. It was a bounced check which was reported in error. It took me a while to get it straightened out. I believe B of A is required to tell you why you are blocked.

I would go through the scheduler and then the MSC to resolve this. You obviously cannot tell BoA why you opened and closed the accounts if you want to do more of them.

If the MSC does not want you to do more of these shops, that is their prerogative. However, if they did not state this, they do have an obligation to fix the ban for you. I would simply argue that the mystery shopping has damaged your reputation with BoA and it must be fixed. Insist on it. Check with BoA to see if you can open an account from time to time. If not, be persistent with the MSC. If after a few weeks or the time told to you by the MSC it would take to tix it, ask to talk to the MSC legal representative.

I would not let my reputation be damaged and let it stand.

I have only done one BoA but was surprised that they still had the record in their system of my having an account a long, long time ago. For that reason, I decided not to do anymore of their shops. I think the MSC should set up an arrangement whereby the bank erases the record of shopper account openings. There is another MSC that does bank account openings and they are closed and erased the same month the shop is done so it can be set up that way.

@kenasch wrote:

Did B of A tell you the reason you are blocked? Most banks use a system called ChexSystems to search your history. I once tried to open a checking account (not a mystery shop) and was denied. They said it was something in my history and sited ChexSystems. It was a bounced check which was reported in error. It took me a while to get it straightened out. I believe B of A is required to tell you why you are blocked.

BoA would not tell me the reason. They would only tell me that it was the bank’s business decision to make to end their banking relationship with me, that they did not need to give a reason, and thet there was no way to appeal the decision.

@plmccut wrote:

I have only done one BoA but was surprised that they still had the record in their system of my having an account a long, long time ago. For that reason, I decided not to do anymore of their shops. I think the MSC should set up an arrangement whereby the bank erases the record of shopper account openings. There is another MSC that does bank account openings and they are closed and erased the same month the shop is done so it can be set up that way.

I’ve opened one account at Wells Fargo for a different MSC but was not told my history could be erased. This is the kind of arrangement all MSCs should have with banks that use shoppers.

(We are allowed to say bank names as long as we don’t reveal the MSC, or vice versa.)

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2018 06:30PM by nycrocks.

This is just my two cents but...

If a customer just opens and closes accounts with a bank quickly and repeatedly and does not pay any fees, then that customer is actually costing the bank money and it makes sense to bar that customer from opening more accounts with the bank. A bank is much less likely terminate an existing banking relationship with a customer if that customer has at least one open account with the bank.

There are usually ways to avoid fees. BoA has now made it tougher to avoid fees if you have a savings account with them, but some tried and true tricks still work to avoid fees if you open a checking account with them. For example, you can still avoid the monthly checking account fee for a basic checking account if you have "direct deposit" of a certain amount ($250, I believe) every month. Guess what? Paypal transfers count as direct deposits with BoA (at least for now).

Banks will flag you if you open and close numerous accounts with them, or other banks. And based on nycrocks experience, block you from opening an account.

People, it's 2018! They can simply pull up your credit history and see how many accounts you have open and the approximate, although fairly accurate opening and closing dates. This usually occurs when opening a new account. These practices have been in place for at least ten years.

I've always wondered how people/shoppers can continue to open and close checking accounts without being shut down.. From what I understand, this can also negatively affect your credit score.

Deposit accounts don't show up on ones credit history.

OP, that is very disturbing. Your account may have been flagged because of regulations. Money launderers open and close accounts similar to the way that mystery shoppers do, only they have a lot of cash flowing through the accounts. Even though this wasn't your situation, the bank doesn't know this and they are taking precautions.

This may be why the MSC limited the account opening shops to every few months.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2018 02:14AM by HonnyBrown.

HonnyBrown, I thought the bank might consider me a potential scammer or money launderer for opening and closing accounts.

I heard from the scheduler. The MSC is going to pay for my shop fee but they will not be able to help lift the block with BOA.

I’ll have to try to pursue this on a higher level with the MSC. I can live without having a bank account at BOA but it’s upsetting that the MSC doesn’t have some sort of system with BOA to protect their shoppers.

Everyone should be aware that shoppers at BOA do have limits on opening and closing accounts with BOA and the MSC has no arrangement nor any intention of getting any arrangement to protect their shoppers from being blacklisted by this bank or probably any other bank they work with. I’ll miss doing these BOA account opening shops. They were easy and they paid well for the amount of work required.

Wow, this is crazy! I’ve only done one BOA account opening shop and haven’t closed it yet. Thank you very much for sharing this information.

You’ll be fine if you close it. I would limit your shops to one or two more and be done with them.

I opened a checking account and a savings account with Wells Fargo for two mystery shops. I returned about a month later to close both accounts. The banker informed me that since I'm closing the accounts so soon after opening them I may be denied another account in the future. She also said it could possibly prevent me from having ANY relationship with Wells Fargo in the future, including getting a loan or mortgage. I still went ahead and closed the accounts. I haven't tried to open another one with them, so I don't know if they would let me.

Sounds like Wells Fargo was warning me about the same thing that BoA banned the OP for. Except in my case this was after quickly closing my accounts ONCE, not several times. Banks might be getting tired of going through lengthy account opening processes, just for people to close the accounts without ever incurring any fees.

Hi Kenzie, I did one Wells Fargo checking account opening shop (which I closed). The MSC (which is different from the BoA shops, just for anyone else's Information) has tried to get me to do others. The scheduler for the MSC even goes so far as to try to incentivize accepting the first account opening shop by saying you can do others. They have more repeat customer shops for account openings than for new accounts. It is better to keep at least one account open to do repeat account openings and closings but who knows how long Wells Fargo would go for this? Perhaps this MSC does erase account activity or is willing to. I should call them and ask, as they are phone friendly.

When I opened the Wells Fargo checking account, I felt like I was being interrogated like I was a suspected criminal! It was insane. I don’t know if all of the bankers act the same way as the one that opened my account, but It left me with enough of a bad taste in my mouth that I’m not sure I want to do another one of these Wells Fargo account opening shops. I certainly won’t do it unless the MSC has a way to erase the second account opening after closing.

I may never need Wells Fargo but I don’t like burning bridges for $60. I was able to take some comfort that the BoA account opening shops paid better, until yesterday.

It’s pefectly understandable that banks wouldn’t want to do the work in opening new accounts only to have them closed with no fees incurred. This is why MSCs need to have an arrangement to protect their shoppers. But I guess as it is now, neither the banks being shopped nor these 2 MSCs care about losing shoppers’ ability to open accounts or ruining our banking relationships. The least the MSCs could do is limit each shopper to a certain number of shops so that being banned for life by a bank doesn’t happen to other shoppers, or to give shoppers a fair warning that they can lose the ability to do business with a bank by shopping new account openings.

Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2018 07:30AM by nycrocks.

I thought the threat was especially "amusing" coming from Wells Fargo. This happened shortly after the big fraud scandal had been publicized. I thought to myself that they should be thrilled if anyone even considered having a banking relationship with them. Being warned/threatened by the banker left enough of a bad impression that I would NEVER bank with Wells Fargo again...which is why I went ahead and closed the accounts anyway.

But yes, I agree that burning bridges with banks isn't a good idea. Being blacklisted with one bank may also get you blacklisted with all other banks. They do seem to share information. However, I doubt the MSCs will be any help in avoiding these problems.

This action does not surprise me at all. Banks do a check when you open an account that shows your account activity with many if not all banks. {The Chex system or whatever it's called) Why would you think you could continually open and close accounts with no repercussions? All five of my checking and most savings have been done on shops, but I've kept them open. All have ways to avoid fees. Some are still shopped for tellers, some I just use and are no longer shopped. I pay no monthly fees. I did do one at Bank of America and got totally screwed when the banker told me there would be no fees for the savings account that would be linked to an existing checking. Well, I let it sit there for months foolishly thinking I had a few hundred in savings only to find out, the banker lied and I was accruing monthly fees to the point where the account was overdrawn.I surprisingly never checked online for that account and just assumed it was still there. I don't know why I was not sent any notices or anything. The banker was no longer at the branch when I called them (ha), but I promptly got most of the fees reversed and closed the account and will never do another BOA shop again. I detest that bank.

wow, this could change everything. I've heard of this with respect to credit cards, but never accounts.

Thank you for the heads up. I've just done 2 account opening shops (different banks and MSCs) recently and closed them. Was planning on doing another this week but guess I won't now!

@MsJudi wrote:

This action does not surprise me at all. Banks do a check when you open an account that shows your account activity with many if not all banks. {The Chex system or whatever it's called) Why would you think you could continually open and close accounts with no repercussions?

What I said. Hopefully the shopper fee is more than $60.00. A lot more.

It was $85. These same account opening shops used to pay $100.

Ms. Judi, well, there is always someone here who acts like the shopper should have known better or is at fault, and/or assumes things they have no knowledge of.

I’m sorry for your bad experience with BoA, but I’m not surprised. I had a FleetBank account that became BoA in 2005 and got totally screwed on overdraft fees in 2005 for a very small amount of money. This was when federal law allowed banks to charge $35 for every little debit transaction. They’d pay the highest check and charge you $35 for every other transaction. I closed that account owing them fees I had no intention of paying. They still let me open accounts 10 years later.

Yes, there are ways to avoid fees but BoA only gives you high balance and minimum direct deposits of $250 to avoid fees in a checking account and $300 in a savings account. They used to give free savings if your checking account balance was high enough. None of these were viable options for me. I only have one direct deposit and I’m happy with my Chase checking account.

A big part of the reason why I posted my experience with BOA was to warn other shoppers that bank account opening shops can have these negative repercussions.

BOA didn’t need to use ChexSystems when all the accounts I opened and closed as a shopper except one were opened and closed through BOA! The people at BOA said nothing about ChexSystems when I called them. If ChexSystems is used to deny you from opening an account you will receive a copy of that denial from ChexSystems in the mail, which I did not. Anyone can go on ChexSystems and request a Consumer Report (see link below) to see what kind of file, if any, is kept on them, plus there is an option to have your case reviewed if you do have a record with ChexSystems.

[www.chexsystems.com]

I’ll look into it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/2018 09:42PM by nycrocks.