Is Bank of America worth it in Rochester? (security and password resets) My take

By Pablo Diaz · I left BoA after years as a customer. Read the full story →

This is a customer-experience review of Bank of America written from one customer’s perspective, with public regulator records cited alongside. It is one NY customer’s view, framed as opinion. Other Rochester customers may have different experiences. The public-record context is provided so you can read the regulators’ words directly.

What I observed (security and password resets)

I have been forced — in my own account experience — to change my password multiple times per week. On some weeks the prompt returned several times in the same week. I was not given a clear explanation, and I could not identify any real security incident on my end. To me this is friction, not security. Modern fintech banks bind devices, default to hardware-key 2FA, and do anomaly detection in the background. What I experienced felt like the cost of that calibration was passed back to me.

My full account — written exactly as I would describe it to a friend — is at /my-banking-story.

What the public record shows

• CFPB 2023 enforcement order — $250M total — junk fees, withheld credit-card rewards, fake accounts.
• CFPB 2022 enforcement — $225M — botched unemployment-benefits handling.
• CFPB 2014 — $727M in relief — deceptive credit-card add-on practices.
• DOJ RMBS settlement (2014) — $16.65 billion — at the time the largest civil settlement with a single entity in U.S. history.
• CFPB Consumer Complaint Database — Bank of America — public, searchable, tens of thousands of complaints.
• BBB profile — Bank of America — public ratings + customer reviews.

If your experience has been similar in Rochester

1. File a CFPB complaint. consumerfinance.gov/complaint — free, public, and tends to get a response on the record.
2. File a parallel state complaint. NY Department of Financial Services (DFS) — file a consumer complaint — state regulators carry weight in their own jurisdictions.
3. File a BBB complaint. BBB Bank of America profile.
4. Compare alternatives side-by-side. Rochester business banking ranking on Noizz → Mercury, RHO, Novo, Relay, Bluevine, Brex, Found compared on real public pricing.
5. Open a new account before closing the old one. 60–90-day buffer.
6. Migrate inflows first, outflows second.

Other NY cities reviewing Bank of America

• BoA customer experience in New York City, NY
• BoA customer experience in Brooklyn, NY
• BoA customer experience in Queens, NY
• BoA customer experience in Bronx, NY
• BoA customer experience in Staten Island, NY
• BoA customer experience in Buffalo, NY
• Consumer-banking rights in Rochester →
• BoA vs Mercury in Rochester (Noizz) →
• BoA vs RHO in Rochester (Noizz) →