So on Saturday, after my haircut, I went to deposit some money into my Bank of America checking account. Everything went through fine, until I got back to the car. I was still enjoying my mocha frappuccino when I thought to myself… did I remember to take my ATM card. Let me back track a bit. The barbershop that I’ve been going to has a Starbucks next to it. Across the street is a Bank of America. So I start searching through my pockets and my wallet, but my ATM card was no where in sight. It couldn’t have been more than 5 minutes and there was no one around or anyone I noticed when I was leaving the ATM. So I run back to the ATM, but the card was no longer there. I started searching the around the area and the trash bin and so on, but didn’t find anything. I tried to remember back to the time when I was leaving, cause usually if you don’t remember to take your card, it starts beeping like crazy. However, I don’t recall it beeping at all. The only explanation I could come up with was that I had taken the receipt and left and it was on the screen asking me if I wanted to make another transaction. Receiving no response, it reset and ate the card. However, I couldn’t eliminate the possibility of someone taking the card after I left.
Anyway, I take out the BofA receipt and call the customer service phone number listed on it. Unfortunately, going through the automated answering machine, it informs me that they are currently close and I should call back on Monday. I was like F*CK! F*CK! F*CK! There was really nothing I could do at this point, so I drove home contemplating what my next move was. Since this ATM card could also act as a debit card, I needed to report it stolen asap. Thank god that this account only has about $300 in it, so I wasn’t too worried. Worse case scenario would be to lose all that $300. Anyway, when I got home and checked Bank of America’s website. The latest transaction was still just my deposit. I clicked on their Contact Us link and apparently they have a 24/7 hot line to report stolen/missing credit and check cards. Awesome!
I give the number a call and was quickly assisted is blocking the card. The rep gave me 2 options: To issue me a new card (takes 7-10 business days) or temporarily block the card and allow me to search for it and call back when I find it. I opted for issuing a new card and if I really needed to access my BofA checking account in the meantime, I can always go in and see a teller.