Matthew Shinnick used Craigslist to sell a couple of mountain bikes. The buyer sent him a business check, which was for more money than he was charging for the bikes. The buyer said the extra funds were to cover the shipping costs and for his trouble.

Matthew wondered about that, so he went to the buyer’s bank, Bank of America (BOA) to make sure the check was valid and that there was enough money in the account to cover the check. When he was told there was, he asked to cash it. Unbeknownst to Matthew, the account had been flagged because of concerns about counterfeit checks. So the teller called the business to double-check, and discovered that the check was a fraud. The bank called the cops, and next thing Matthew knew, he was arrested!

Matthew was the victim of a common fraud, but he’s the one who ended up in handcuffs, sitting in the bank branch for almost an hour. Then they took him off to jail, where he spent a dozen hours or so in the company of drug dealers and addicts in a holding cell. Once he was out on bail, the lawyers got the matter of his wrongful arrest straightened out. Matthew also wanted to make sure the arrest wouldn’t come back to bite him. Some $14,000 later, his good name was cleared.

Matthew’s next step was to ask the Bank of America to pay the lawyer’s bill, since it was the bank’s error. So far, BOA has refused.

Enter Clark Howard

Consumer advocate and popular talk radio host Clark Howard found out about what happened to Matthew and has been trying to do something about it. Clark even volunteered to pay half of the $14,000, if the bank would pay the other half. The bank refused.

Clark’s response is to ask all Bank of America customers to close their accounts and take their money out of BOA. He’s also asked his listeners – who hear him on over 150 stations and via the Web – to spread the word. “This kind of treatment sends the message that banks only care about their bottom line and nothing about their customers,” says Clark. “It&39;s unacceptable and it&39;s time to fight back.”

Quite a few folks are heeding Clark’s call. As of this writing, almost $30 million has been withdrawn from the Bank of America! Visit ClarkHoward.com for more about what happened to Matthew, what BOA had to say, and to check out the BOA “Money Loss Meter.” 

Do you have a BOA account? Will you close it to help Matthew and to press for fairer treatment from banks? If you don’t have a BOA account, what do you think you’d do if you did have one? I, for one, would pull my money right on out of there, and I’m happy to do whatever I can to help Clark – like making sure you know about what happened to Matthew! It’s unfortunate that such a dramatic step is required, but we’re all very lucky to have someone as able as Clark to be spearheading the campaign.