What is the Company's business?
Complaint
Katie Kao
Country: United States
They have quietly bilked us for nearly a year and a half before it dawned on me... I have no idea who/what this service is. Beware when you have multiple people/siblings coordinating medical care... devise a system to keep one another posted legitimate medical bills to expect.
Comments
Many reports of fraudulent charges, deceptive and fraudulent telemarketing, etc.
https://complaintwire.org/Complaint.aspx/tYc4K1wNsACmMAjLZ-BuTg
http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/09/14/Clas ... e_Insurance.htm
"Class Says BofA Targets Latinos for 'Joke' Insurance
By BRIDGET FREELAND
(CN) - Bank of America conspired with "predatory expert" Intersections Inc. and AIG to make tens of millions of dollars by coercing poor, Hispanic depositors to authorize automated withdrawals for purported insurance policies, whose benefits are so paltry they are "almost a joke," and whose real purpose is to fatten the bank's coffers, according to a RICO class action in Houston Federal Court.
The insurance coverage provided is "a pitiful excuse for insurance protection," and the "amounts that supposedly will be paid are small, and the conditions to their being paid at all are highly unlikely to ever occur," according to the complaint.
The class claims that since 2006 Bank of America has profiled its customer-victims, disclosed their confidential information to Intersections, and in turn received "almost $45 million out of the checking account deposits of its poorest customers."
Lead plaintiff Jorge Gonzalez, a native of Mexico who has limited education and English language skills, says he was a typical victim of the scam.
The class claims that when someone who fits Gonzalez's profile opens a Bank of America checking account, the bank sends the customer profile and deposit information to Intersections, "a predatory expert" whose main goal is to "increase the (bank's) bottom line."
Intersections hires a telemarketing company with native Spanish speakers, who call the BofA customers, claiming to represent the bank, to persuade them "to authorize, over the phone, the purchase of some form of insurance, usually ... accidental death or disability," the complaint states.
Once the telemarketer receives an OK from the customer, Intersections begins taking a "so-called 'premium'" out of their checking account, under the name "Smart Step," according to the complaint.
"Most of those withdrawals are divided among Bank of America, Intersections, and the telemarketing firm that made the first call," and a small amount goes toward an insurance premium, the complaint states.
Intersections "derived over $236 million in revenues in 2007 and over $361 million in revenues in 2008," which does not include what was paid to AIG or its subsidiary, according to the complaint.
The class claims that the insurance customers get is "almost a joke." The "victims are not even direct beneficiaries of any insurance policy," and the policy is terminable if the customer closes their BofA account, the class claims.
Bank of America's "privacy" policy deceptively states that it does not share customers' confidential information with marketers, but that it will share information with companies that work for Bank of America, in order to better meet customers' needs, according to the complaint.
The entire scheme "is structured so the victims can never figure out what is going on," the complaint states.
Defendants include Bank of America, Bank of America Insurance Services, BA Insurance Services, Intersections, Intersections Insurance Services, Loeb Holding, Global Contact Services, American International Group, and National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh.
The class seeks punitive damages for fraud, breach of contract, unjust enrichment and breach of fiduciary duties. Its lead counsel is Kenneth Wynne. "
Lead counsel Kenneth Wynne.
http://wynne-law.com/contact.php
In addition, since the victim is probably not even employed, the "coverage" may not even be in effect ("unsuitable"), and therefore such a policy might run into state insurance regulation laws placing an obligation on sellers of insurance to determine the suitability of an insurance policy they sell.
There are a number of reports that this company engages in not only fraudulent telemarketing, misrepresenting that consumers have agreed to their charges, but even outright fraudulent charging with no prior contact. The allegations in one class action lawsuit included that they were targetting people for whom English was not their primary language, to deliberately target less sophisticated BofA customers.
As the numerous complaints indicate, the "policy" and resulting charges might have been activated without regard to whether the victim was savy enough to catch on to what they were doing.
In this case, you might even find that the alleged "sales call" is claimed to have occurred during a period when the victim was hospitalized, and not even available to have authorized it. There are a surprising number of complaints indicating impossible "authorizations", with telemarketer claims they were "recorded".
Level AD Insurance
Customer Service: 1-866-879-1079
Fax: 847-797-8617
Since BofA is selling their customer account data to third party telemarketers, and BofA splits the premiums with the alleged insurer, BofA is reported to attempt to divert consumers from filing disputes on these chargers, instead sending the consumer back to the original telemarketer.
To best preserve your dispute rights, you MUST dispute fraudulent or unauthorized charges IN WRITING with your bank, sending your dispute to the dispute address from your statement, and mailing it certified so that you have proof of mailing notice to show compliance with the FRB Reg. E 60 day dispute provisions.
If you do not do this, they can "lose" your dispute, keep taking your money, and by the time you realize it and close your account, they will likely refuse to refund anything past the last 60 days. Document notice to BofA, and you can file a complaint against BofA with the Office of the Comptrolleer of the Currency for violating FRB Reg. E, whether they can "find" your dispute or not.
It goes on to say that my monthly mortgage payment has been adjusted to reflect this cancellation...but it gives a dollar amount that is totally different from what I have been charged for 30 months.
I see that National Union Fire is one of the defendants in the Class Action lawsuit, but CitiMortgage is not mentioned. I do have an equity line of credit with Bank of America. Is the case closed?
I am not a "typical" victim of predators. But when this happened, I was sick with a virus that left me in a state of chronic fatigue for almost two years. I was not on top of all details and paperwork, and my mortgage payment was debited from my account each month, so I didn't examine the paper statements until I had reason to call CitiMortgage in December.
If you opted out of "information sharing" through a GLBrequest, then Citi would not have any legal authorization to have provided your account information to "marketing partners".
Some complaints have indicated they backed down in the face of regulatory complaints, such as to Attorneys General. You can also file a RESPA dispute with Citi, for the fraudulent charges tacked onto your mortgage.
Although they claim they have a "tape", many other complaints are indicating they are engaged in fraudulent telemarketing, including fabrication of "authorizations" or falsely claiming to have recordings of them. They also often claim they sent some "information packet" so supposedly you had an opportunity to "cancel", although many complaints are also indicating no such packet ever arrived, the "packet" is just a prop to throw off consumers disputing unauthorized charges, and cancellations are often ignored anyway.
Send notices to both Citi and Intersections that their charges are fraudulent and disputed, and send those notices certified return receipt requested, so they can't just "lose" them.
Contact FTC and your state Attorney General.
The American Bankers Association fought this California law through an adverse decision and a series of court appeals, up to the U.S. Supreme Court, and ultimately lost a couple years ago. The high levels of fraud perpetrated by bank affiliated fraudulent telemarketing illustrate the wisdom of California's tightened restrictions on such sales of information.
Their telemarketers are generally looking for suckers, the elderly, or the unsophisticated.
One of the class action lawsuits against BofA alleged they were deliberately targetting hispanics whose first language was not English.
Other complaints have reported preying on the elderly, in some cases with the fraudulent charges found when a relative started handling their finances.
Contact your state Attorney General, and Insurance Commissioner. They may be able to pry loose fraudulently billed charges, since insurance companies can't afford to [***] state insurance regulators if they expect to continue operating in that state.
That is just theft, without even any pretense the payments were going toward any "insurance".
Contact your state Attorney General.
My name is Amir Salehi, and I represent several Bank of America customers who have filed suit against Bank of America for unauthorized charges to their accounts for SmartStep (also known as Level AD) Insurance. I am looking to speak with other Bank of America customers who have experienced these unauthorized charges to their accounts, and from your complaint, I understand that you have noticed charges to your account that may be unauthorized. If this is the case, any information you provide regarding your experiences could be important. Please contact my staff at www.salehiclassaction.com, or 310-820-3366 if you would like to discuss your experiences with Bank of America and SmartStep (or Level AD) Insurance. Thank you, and have a great day.