Is Bank of America Collecting My Phone Contacts for the US Government?
Why Does Zelle Need Access to All of the Contacts on My Phone to Send a Payment?
A friend owed me a few dollars from when we went on a ski trip together. He explained he was not too savvy with funds transfer systems, but he asked that I send him a Zelle request, and he would pay me the money. That sounded like a very simple solution.
I logged onto my Bank of America account which I use for my Zelle payments and went to the Zelle section of my account. Although I have received several requests for Zelle payments from other people, I could not find any place to make a Zelle request. I spent about 30 minutes going through the Help information on the Bank of America website looking for a solution. Despite searching for such words strings such as “How to send a Zelle request?”, “Can’t find Zelle request button”, “Zelle request feature not available”, and “Can I make a Zelle request?” nothing came up in the Help section that explained why I could not make a Zelle request.
Frustrated, I called the Bank of America customer service number. I was on hold for about twenty minutes, listening to a recording tell me I should “Visit our website for help and answers to your questions.” I am not sure why big companies like Bank of America don’t get it. Customers have been banking online for about twenty-five years now. By the year 2000, 80% of banks offered online banking. In twenty-five years of online banking (and other services we access over the Internet) we know that we can check the company’s website for help. However, the reason we are calling is because we couldn’t find the information we need online because many Help features are not designed very well (apparently including Bank of America’s Help). I am hoping with AI we will see an improvement in customer service Help features.
Finally, after 20 minutes, I was able to speak with a Bank of America customer service rep. After providing my information and explaining my issue, I was put on hold for a few minutes. When the customer service rep came back on the line, he said he couldn’t help me because I was accessing my account through Business Advantage 360, which I understand is a feature that allows me to see my personal and business accounts at the same time. As a result, the customer service rep said I needed to speak with someone in the small business customer service department, and so he transferred the call.
I was on hold for another ten minutes when someone from the small business customer service department got on the line. After explaining my problem, he stated that it was a personal account matter, and I was speaking with the business account customer service, and he would have to transfer me back to personal accounts. I then explained that the person from personal accounts had transferred me to business accounts. He reluctantly (so it seemed to me) said he would investigate it, and he put me on hold.
A few minutes later he got back to me, and asked if I was accessing my account online with my computer, or on my phone, using the app. I explained I was on my computer and that I did not like to access my bank account using the app. He then explained to me that if you go online with your computer, there is no “request” feature for Zelle. It is only available through the app.
While I was on hold with customer service, I continued to search the Bank of America online help. In total, both while on hold and prior to calling customer service, I had invested about fifty minutes in searching for an answer as to why I could not find the request feature. At no time was I able to find any information on the Bank of America online Help that said what it took me thirty minutes to get from Bank of America’s customer service employees – that the request feature is not available online, it is only available when you use the app on your phone.
I asked the customer service rep why the request feature was not available online but only through the app. He told me had no idea. That is just the way it is.
With this new information in hand, I got my phone and opened the app. Sure enough there is a request feature on the app. Why there is a request feature on the app, and not online, seems like a mystery. Next I tried to use the request feature on the app. To do so, the app requested access to all my contacts on my phone.
I logged out of the app and went back online. In my Zelle feature online, I have about thirty contacts, including the contact for whom I wanted to send a request. I logged out and logged back in using the app. Even though the person I wanted to request money from was in my Zelle contact list, I could not send a request without allowing Bank of America to access my entire contact list of some three hundred people on my phone. Reluctantly I allowed the app to access my phone’s contact list and was finally able to send a Zelle request to my friend.
The whole process got me thinking. Even though my friend was in my Zelle contacts, Bank of America forced me to provide them access to every contact on my phone, just so I could send a Zelle request. Why does Bank of America need access to every contact on my phone to send a Zelle request to someone who is already in my Zelle contact list? Even if this person were not in my Zelle contact list, why would Bank of America need access to every contact on my phone? Why wouldn’t the app only need the information on the one person to whom I wanted to send a money request?
I don’t know the answer to that question, but I thought it would be a good one to ask Bank of America. So, I went to the Bank of America newsroom (newsroom.bankofamerica.com). On that page there is a button “Journalist Resources.” I clicked on the button, and it gave me a media contact for “Technology and Operations.” That page gave me the email address and I sent an email to the contact person named asking why Zelle and Bank of America needed access to all the contacts on my phone when I only needed to send funds to one person. I never received a response to my email.
I am not a conspiracy theorist, but this situation does get me thinking. Banks operate under banking rules and regulations established by the Federal Government. Is it possible that Bank of America wants access to every contact on my phone for more than just banking reasons? Is Bank of America busy collecting my contact information on behalf of the Federal Government? Of course, I have no evidence that is the case but when you review the circumstances that is about the only logical conclusion you can make.
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I enjoyed reading your article. I am currently employed by Wells Fargo Bank as a Customer Service Representative. I’ve never saw it from your point of view, and I thought it was interesting. It’s understandable that a person can be concern about why the bank’s request access to your contacts and how the information is used. A potential reason that I can think of is to facilitate payments by accessing the contact list. Customers are able to find recipients quickly and ensures the information is accurate.