Bank of America's Squeegeemen

I was expecting a call from a relative and so I didn't check the number on my phone before answering this evening, only to find myself on the line with a telemarketer representing Bank of America.

He told me how I would be getting a "free" credit report from all three credit reporting agencies through Bank of America in weeks to come, along with a packet on home to increase my credit and protect my credit.

Along with that "free" information, I would be enrolled in a credit monitoring service provided by Bank of America. The service would be free for the first month, and thereafter I would be billed roughly 40 cents a day, or $12 and change a month, if I didn't opt out of the program within the free period.

I politely told the young man on the phone that I found opt-out scams to rook customers both immoral and unethical, and told him I had no interest in being part of the program.

Repeatedly.

He responded by continuing with his script, never acknowledging that I desired to opt-out of this involuntary opt-in program, one designed to take advantage of busy people who would doubtlessly see free credit reports show up in the mail, and either shred them or throw them away without finding the fine print legalese that will allow them to opt out of a program they never signed up for.

This is robbery. To be sure, they walk just inside the line of legality, but when someone starts providing you with a service that you don't want, and then extract payment for it is coerced, and it is wrong.

Bank of America has become little more than squeegemen, using trickery to extract payment for an unwanted service.

I doubt they'll get the $33.9 billion that Tax Cheat Timmy requires, but they seem desperate enough to try any and all measures to raise it, no matter how vile, unethical, or base.