I could understand problems had she been attempting to withdraw money from the account, but she was making a deposit.

But that's bedsides the point. How can anyone in their right mind have an account with BOA?

EvilEgg: Teach the lady her place. After you're married you become your husband's property.

Didn't you get the memo? NYC abandoned Traditional Marriage^tm last year when they past marriage equality and became a State of Satan^tm

This isn't a BoA issue. It's a government regulations issue. If this were US Bank or a credit union doing it, the article wouldn't exist.

Clyde_Suckfinger: This isn't a BoA issue. It's a government regulations issue. If this were US Bank or a credit union doing it, the article wouldn't exist.

No, I don't think so. My credit union, and the credit union I belonged to before that (changed when I moved halfway across the country) had absolutely no problem with Mrs Buzzcut having a different last name, not even once. They even let me deposit checks with her name on them, and vice versa.

brigid_fitch: I thought that if you endorsed checks "For Deposit Only" the bank wouldn't even blink. The day after our wedding, we called my bank to ask if we could deposit checks into my account (still in my maiden name) even though the checks were made out to "Mr. & Mrs. Fitch". The manager said no problem--as long as we both endorsed them & wrote "For Deposit Only" on the back. That was 19 years ago--why is BoA suddenly making this a big deal??

FTA: Apparently the manager was referring solely to local business, because Iorizzo faced no opposition when he drove to the Bank of America one town over, who accepted the couple's checks without argument.

serpent_sky: Wow. That would kill me. When I got married, rule #1 was "we do not combine finances." People think it's weird, but you know what the one thing we have never even come close to having a fight about is? Money. We split the bills, but we write checks to each other for that.

THIS. Husband & I have NEVER had a joint account. I handle the bills, so a mutually agreed-upon portion of his paycheck is direct deposited into my checking account.


Uh....oh...um...

getting married was the first mistake.

My husband and I have both a joint account for most of our expenses (rent, groceries, other bills) and we each get a monthly allowance that we can spend however we like. Managing the budget's not hard at all, because we can talk to each other like adults about how much we can spend and what big purchases need to be made. Two people spending's not a problem, either, just make sure you have electronic banking so you can check every couple of days.

More to the topic at hand, I kept my name when we got married, and no one's batted an eye.

/Dreading dealing with BOA to close my account. That's going to be a headache and a half.

I'm continually amazed that normal people still use BoA, Citibank, Well Fargo, or any other national bank chain. What possible benefit do you get out of it outside of maybe having an ATM right outside your work or home? Even that only matters if you routinely use cash.

Not to defend BOA, but that's a weirdly written article.

It talks about one branch as if it is BOA corporate, although it notes that another BOA branch across town took the checks with no problem.


And then it says this isn't the first time that BOA has problems, while digging up isolated cases in California and Massachusetts. There's plenty to criticize about BOA, but that seems like reaching.

The problem is the wedding guests writing the cheques. First: Don't write the cheque to Mr AND Mrs, because then it either has to go in a joint account, or if it's going into a single account then the other person has to endorse the cheque. Second: Don't assume that the wife is going to take the husband's name. If you write the cheque to Mr/Mrs [groom's last name] and the bride doesn't take the groom's last name, then Mrs. [groom's last name] doesn't legally exist. Third: Don't assume that they have a joint account prior to the wedding. The newlyweds are busy and may not get around to opening a joint account until after they come back from the honeymoon.

The advice I have given to wedding guests who would come into the bank and ask how to give a couple money:
A. Write the cheque to "[name of Groom] OR [name of Bride with maiden name]" (if you want to include both names on it).
B. Write the cheque to just one of them (usually whomever you know, if you're friend of the groom, write the cheque payable to the groom).
C. Just give them cash.

/10 years of banking experience. Saw this all the time. Worked hard to help the newlyweds out.

serpent_sky: Ishkur: Many banks upheld archaic laws as recently as the 1980s that married women were not permitted to get loans or do anything financially separate from their husbands.

Wow. That would kill me. When I got married, rule #1 was "we do not combine finances." People think it's weird, but you know what the one thing we have never even come close to having a fight about is? Money. We split the bills, but we write checks to each other for that.

I can't imagine how people combine finances. I really wouldn't like having to explain why I spent $x on something, nor would I want to have to ask why he spent $x on something I had no interest in. Plus, it would seem almost impossible to keep track of money if two people were spending it.

It's simple. Between my wife and I, there are 8 bank accounts, and three credit cards: My Checking, Savings, and CC; her Checking, Savings, and CC; Our Checking, Savings and CC; then another savings for big projects. Our bills come out of the joint checking, personal bills (dtudent loans, CC, etc,) come out of personal accounts. Completely combining finances is a horrific idea.

LoneCoon: serpent_sky: Ishkur: Many banks upheld archaic laws as recently as the 1980s that married women were not permitted to get loans or do anything financially separate from their husbands.

Wow. That would kill me. When I got married, rule #1 was "we do not combine finances." People think it's weird, but you know what the one thing we have never even come close to having a fight about is? Money. We split the bills, but we write checks to each other for that.

I can't imagine how people combine finances. I really wouldn't like having to explain why I spent $x on something, nor would I want to have to ask why he spent $x on something I had no interest in. Plus, it would seem almost impossible to keep track of money if two people were spending it.

It's simple. Between my wife and I, there are 8 bank accounts, and three credit cards: My Checking, Savings, and CC; her Checking, Savings, and CC; Our Checking, Savings and CC; then another savings for big projects. Our bills come out of the joint checking, personal bills (dtudent loans, CC, etc,) come out of personal accounts. Completely combining finances is a horrific idea.

And yet you ask any financial adviser and they'll probably tell you to put everything in a joint account. I couldn't do it either. We have a joint account for household expenses, but generally everything else is separate.

Who the hell calls a woman stuff like Mrs. Joe Smith anymore?

Even my 80ish Irish aunties addressed stuff to various missuses using the addressee's first name and not the husband's first name.

Wow even the false balance they added at the end makes BOA look like monsters

But Bank of America has taken steps to aid its customers as well.

When the bank learned that a terminally ill woman in Sacramento, California, had not been paying her mortgage because of mounting medical bills, it decided to delay eviction proceedings until after her death.

serpent_sky: WhackingDay:

And yet you ask any financial adviser and they'll probably tell you to put everything in a joint account. I couldn't do it either. We have a joint account for household expenses, but generally everything else is separate.

It just seems like a terrible idea to me. I'm struggling to think of anything that we share jointly, and all I can come up with is that he added me to his AAA membership because it was cheaper than me getting my own. We don't even have a family plan for our cell phones.

I am sure it works for some people, but it seems like the joint account would make more sense in a time when the wife didn't work and the husband supported the whole family. In a day when women work full-time and earn salaries, I think more and more of us are going to want to keep that money for ourselves and use it as needed for joint bills/household stuff.

This is because of the way assets are transferred at death. Contrary to popular belief, all of your assets do not automatically pass to your spouse at death. It varies by state, but sometimes only 50% goes to the spouse, with 25% going to surviving parents and 25% going to children. Some also incorporate siblings. If one of you were to die unexpectedly, the family of the deceased spouse would have a claim on any assets that were not held Joint Tenents with Rights of Survivorship or Tenents by the Entirety (or TOD). Even if you had a will, they could contest it and if they won, it would leave you with half of the money you thought you were entitled to.

LoneCoon:
It's simple. Between my wife and I, there are 8 bank accounts, and three credit cards: My Checking, Savings, and CC; her Checking, Savings, and CC; Our Checking, Savings and CC; then another savings for big projects. Our bills come out of the joint checking, personal bills (dtudent loans, CC, etc,) come out of personal accounts. Completely combining finances is a horrific idea.

Wow, I feel like that's a bit strong. I guess we're old fashioned. We have one of everything, and it suits us right down to the ground. Of course, we don't have a lot of money, either, so maybe that's the tipping point. We tried the separate accounts when we first got married, but after awhile couldn't see the point because we just kept writing checks to each other for bills.

I take charge of the financial stuff and make sure everything's allocated as it should be. If one of us needs spending money, they get it. If one has a surprise planned for the other, they get what they need. Has worked pretty well for five plus years. To each their own, I guess.

Sounds like the problem is with the teller.

Blaming BoA would be like blaming Obama when a soldier rapes someone.

UnrepentantApostate: My husband and I have both a joint account for most of our expenses (rent, groceries, other bills) and we each get a monthly allowance that we can spend however we like.

We do this as well. My wife gets a little bit more money in her individual account then me because she makes more money. Seems fair.

And she kept her maiden name. Because of this, if I deposit money into her account for her, the credit union will just black out the 'total amount in account' on the receipt. Other then that, they've never given us any problem.

So, basically, a single local branch manager is an idiot and the branch's tellers don't understand how endorsed checks work.

I'm seriously disappointed in the latest round of Bank of America "horror stories". They're so lame.

Also, from ToriginalFA:

but Mrs. Peter Iorizzo does not exist - at least not in the eyes of Bank of America.

No, she just doesn't exist. Period. Because that's not her name you farking idiot. If she keeps her old name, that's her name. You don't get to not change your name and still reap all the conveniences of having a shared last name, jackass.

Ackbarican_Idol: Wow even the false balance they added at the end makes BOA look like monsters

Yea, the horror. They're letting somebody die peacefully in her own home before taking it - as is their right and would be done by any other bank on earth because that's what happens when you don't pay for things you buy on credit - even though they don't have to. What absolute monster. What, if you win the terminal illness lottery you should just free property? I'd say this is a perfectly civil and appropriate balance between being a useless corporate dick sticking to the letter of the law and being a bleeding-heart idiot until all that bleeds out is your company's money.

I repeat: worst. horror stories. ever. I want to hear another one where they're kicking the wrong people out of the wrong house and repo'ing people's pets. THAT was a story to start a good BoA hate thread, this is just boring.

FTFA: "But Bank of America has taken steps to aid its customers as well.

When the bank learned that a terminally ill woman in Sacramento, California, had not been paying her mortgage because of mounting medical bills, it decided to delay eviction proceedings until after her death."

These two sentences are mutually exclusive. It's considered a positive thing that the bank is waiting to evict her after she's dead. Seriously, just waive the frickin' mortgage. You're getting bailouts for bad loans anyway, take the write off, the good PR, and move along!

/hates banks
//which is why she's been with a credit union for the past ten years
///interest-earning checking account ftw
/slashies?

Giltric: Sounds like the problem is with the teller.

Blaming BoA would be like blaming Obama when a soldier rapes someone.

Clearly you haven't been paying attention to the GOP talking points lately

Peki: Seriously, just waive the frickin' mortgage

Wow.... there are really are people this dumb.... and I thought people like you were just an invention of republicans desperate to paint the opposition as stammering dolts.

Splinshints:
Ackbarican_Idol: Wow even the false balance they added at the end makes BOA look like monsters

Yea, the horror. They're letting somebody die peacefully in her own home before taking it - as is their right and would be done by any other bank on earth because that's what happens when you don't pay for things you buy on credit - even though they don't have to. What absolute monster. What, if you win the terminal illness lottery you should just free property? I'd say this is a perfectly civil and appropriate balance between being a useless corporate dick sticking to the letter of the law and being a bleeding-heart idiot until all that bleeds out is your company's money.

I repeat: worst. horror stories. ever. I want to hear another one where they're kicking the wrong people out of the wrong house and repo'ing people's pets. THAT was a story to start a good BoA hate thread, this is just boring.

What the article refused to mention was that BOA gave her the terminal illness to begin with.

serpent_sky: Ishkur: Many banks upheld archaic laws as recently as the 1980s that married women were not permitted to get loans or do anything financially separate from their husbands.

Wow. That would kill me. When I got married, rule #1 was "we do not combine finances." People think it's weird, but you know what the one thing we have never even come close to having a fight about is? Money. We split the bills, but we write checks to each other for that.

I can't imagine how people combine finances. I really wouldn't like having to explain why I spent $x on something, nor would I want to have to ask why he spent $x on something I had no interest in. Plus, it would seem almost impossible to keep track of money if two people were spending it.

I follow this principle with mrs. detroitdoesntsuckthatbad. She spends her money on shoes and I spend my money on food and shelter. It works out because she's hot. Thankfully we have no debt and excellent credit.

/last year she spent 4 grand on shoes
//she works in high end retail so that was with a discount

Old enough to have been married for over 20 years and have a kid in college, and neither Mrs SkittleBrau nor I ever considered having separate accounts for anything. Of course we knew we had (and still have) the option, but IMHO having separate accounts flagrantly violates the whole union thing that marriage is supposed to be all about. Joint checking - one at a local bank and one at a local credit union, joint mortgage (at least it was until it got paid off last year), joint credit cards, joint investment account... It certainly helps that we are both responsible and fairly frugal with our money, we both make about the same money (although that should mean exactly dick) and most importantly - we trust each other implicitly and explicitly. If you don't have trust in your partner/spouse, then why are you habitating with/married to that person in the first place? If the two of you have wildly different ideas on how to manage money, then that's going to be a real challenge to your relationship no matter how you divvy up the assets into various individual accounts.

If separate everything works for you, then great. Joint everything works great for us and I see no reason why that would change.

/we do have separate library cards, though
//marriage isn't a piece of paper or religious proclamation - it's much more than that
///if that makes absolutely no sense to you, please don't ever get married, because you're doing it wrong.

detroitdoesntsuckthatbad:
/last year she spent 4 grand on shoes
//she works in high end retail so that was with a discount

Mr. Atheneschild makes me buy new things. Something about jeans with holes in them not being acceptable, and wanting to be married to something other than a sack of comfortable clothes 2 sizes too large. ::sigh::

My wife ran into this same problem last week at her credit union. Somebody wrote her a check using my last name as opposed to her own and the teller refused to deposit it.

She was tempted to just drop it into the night deposit box since they tend to let that kind of stuff slide a lot more, but it was easy enough to get a new check cut. Still, FU to that CU.

Clyde_Suckfinger: This isn't a BoA issue. It's a government regulations issue. If this were US Bank or a credit union doing it, the article wouldn't exist.

So you are saying that no one can deposit money into someone elses' account because their name is not on the account?

So does that mean that if a college student has a checking account with BoA, and daddy wants to deposit money into that account, he can't unless his name is on the account?

Apparently the manager was referring solely to local business, because Iorizzo faced no opposition when he drove to the Bank of America one town over, who accepted the couple's checks without argument.
=======================================================

Look, subby, there's plenty of reasons to hate BoA, this ain't one of them.

Just a moron teller.

/Though, to be fair, who knows what the correct procedure is. Some tellers at my local bank here (obviously not boa) are strict when it comes to security and some are very ho-hum about it.

bikerific: Not to defend BOA, but that's a weirdly written article.

It talks about one branch as if it is BOA corporate, although it notes that another BOA branch across town took the checks with no problem.


And then it says this isn't the first time that BOA has problems, while digging up isolated cases in California and Massachusetts. There's plenty to criticize about BOA, but that seems like reaching.

It's not just those examples, the article ends with a link to an example where BOA acted humanely. Which is fine but whats the point of the writing? What fine nugget of wisdom is the reporter leading us too?

The cohesion of the writing suggests the reporter was thinking more about the bar and less about the news.

Giltric: Blaming BoA would be like blaming Obama when a soldier rapes someone.

What soldiers convicted of rape might look like:




/your point is racist.

For wedding gifts, we just write the check to the party we know the best , and add "you better share this!" on the memo line.

Wife and I have no issues with having joint accounts. We just use three accounts. One account is a joint account gets our paychecks, from which we pay bills. we then have two "personal" accounts - they each have both our names but are controlled by one of us. An agreed-upon budgeted amount (currently $250) is transferred to each personal account every month from the joint account. We each can spend whatever we want from our personal account without approval from the other, no questions asked. Major expenditures beyond regular bills that would have to come out of the joint account we discuss.

If you are getting married but thinking of it as "my money" instead of "our money", you probably shouldn't get married.

That's what she gets for not taking her husbands name. What name are the kids going to have?

potterydove: That's what she gets for not taking her husbands name. What name are the kids going to have?

Probably Jayden and Abigail.

Joe The Plumber: Giltric: Blaming BoA would be like blaming Obama when a soldier rapes someone.

What soldiers convicted of rape might look like:
[metropolitician.blogs.com image 98x142]
[metropolitician.blogs.com image 95x142]
[metropolitician.blogs.com image 106x141]

/your point is racist.

Those aren't soldiers.

This amazes me. When I got married, I did legally change my name but got lazy and didn't officially get any of my IDs or SS# changed until a year or so later when we moved out of state and essentially were able to start fresh. I brought a copy of my marriage certificate that listed both maiden and married names and my maiden-name driver's license, and BoA had absolutely no problem taking my deposit-only checks that were written out to my married name. The only thing that got annoying is that every time they would ask me if I wanted to put my husband on the account.