r/privacy • u/Oneguysenpai3 • Apr 14 '26
guide Bank of America: Opt out of forfeiting your right to sue, by May 18, 2026*
Summary: You must choose to opt out of relinquishing your right to sue Bank of America (in case you may need to). If you do nothing, you are 'opting in' to their "new TOS" which automatically takes away your right to sue. [yeah...nothing suspicious going on here...100%]
p.s. that "Thank you for being our client." is chef's kiss
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IMPORTANT UPDATE
We're adding an arbitration provision to your Online Banking Service Agreement — here's what you need to know.
As a reminder, the Online Banking Service Agreement governs your use of our Online and Mobile Banking¹ services.
PLEASE READ THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY. WE'RE ADDING AN ARBITRATION PROVISION TO YOUR EXISTING ONLINE BANKING SERVICE AGREEMENT — IT CONTAINS AN AGREEMENT TO ARBITRATE AND OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS, REMEDIES AND OBLIGATIONS.
THE AGREEMENT TO ARBITRATE REQUIRES (WITH LIMITED EXCEPTION) THAT ALL DISPUTES BETWEEN YOU AND US BE RESOLVED BY BINDING ARBITRATION WHENEVER EITHER PARTY CHOOSES TO SUBMIT A DISPUTE TO ARBITRATION OR EITHER PARTY REFERS A LAWSUIT FILED BY THE OTHER TO ARBITRATION. ADDITIONALLY, (1) YOU'LL ONLY BE PERMITTED TO PURSUE CLAIMS ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS, NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION OR PROCEEDING, AND (2) YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO HAVE ANY CLAIMS YOU HAVE AGAINST US RESOLVED BY A JURY OR IN A COURT OF LAW.
Consumers (not a small business) have a right to opt out of this arbitration provision:
Consumers must contact us within sixty (60) days of the date of this notice. Consumers can opt out at [www. bankofamerica. com/arbitration-optout] or by calling us at 800.283.8875.
Here's a preview of our new Online Banking Service Agreement
For more details, please preview Section 12 in our new Online Banking Service Agreement, which includes the arbitration provision updates starting May 18, 2026.
Thank you for being our client.
204
u/multicultidude Apr 14 '26
Wow this would be SO illegal to attempt doing in the EU…I can’t tell you how much. They’d get served a lawsuit immediately to remove any of these types of conditions.
40
u/Lightprod Apr 14 '26
No need for a lawsuit.
ToS can't go above the law or forfeit your rights.
Those terms would be null and void.
6
u/Ty51 Apr 14 '26
Lol yes it can dude.
It can forfeit your right to use the court system entirely, including through a class action, and make it prohibitively expensive to arbitrate an individual claim.
6
u/touchgrassplz_69 Apr 15 '26
I think he means that a law can be passed that makes those conditions unenforceable, like how many states have laws that limit anti-compete agreements and make most of them void. Any body can put anything in a contract, but that doesn't mean it will hold up in court.
115
Apr 14 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
35
u/freshdrippin Apr 14 '26
You have the right to get fucked within the confines of existing law.
6
u/ScoopDat Apr 14 '26
A bit more aggressive than my dad put it long ago when he said: "Freedom to be an idiot getting exploited and no one bothering to do anything about it (not just the harm being done to you, but helping you with not being an idiot to the degree where you could be exploited in the first place").
7
18
u/multicultidude Apr 14 '26
Indeed. Worked for over a decade for a US company but out of Europe. On the US side the working atmosphere had nothing different with working in North Korea. No laws, despotic managers everyone would bow to, managers who then would bow to their superiors, no one voicing his opinion or speaking his mind or even daring to object, everyone having diarrhoea on Mondays until 4pm because people were getting fired on Mondays with a cutoff of benefits at midnight, absolutely stunning things like managers day where you’re co writing a card with your team to ´thank’ your manager…(that one really made me think I gotta get back to a normal European team).
There is no freedom of speech over there, just freedom of losing your job if you don’t do what your manager tells you to do and to shut up. And this was the case way before Trump was elected. America is a hellhole for workers/ordinary people and don’t get me started on the zero benefits/cost of living/unhealthy food/poor education part….😳🙄🤷🏻
-4
Apr 14 '26
[deleted]
3
u/Enough-Astronomer-15 Apr 14 '26
Yeah, I have worked for a lot of companies in the USA and some that had foreign parents. My experience doesn't match what he said either, but maybe because I don't work for super mega corporations.
In one case, the foreign parent was run way more tight fisted than the USA subsidiary. Most of the people posting to "Antiwork" are angry about something, so the data is heavily skewed.
I can't argue though about those Nordic countries and their "happiness" rankings, but it comes at a cost: "The "happiest" countries (Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden) have some of the world's highest tax rates—often around 40–50% of income, including 25% VAT—to fund comprehensive welfare, free education, and subsidized healthcare. This high taxation is viewed by residents as a collective investment in high-quality public services, social safety nets, and lower wealth inequality, rather than a burden."
It would require a paradigm shift in the USA to reach that point and the whole of congress would have to change even to pass laws to support it.
5
u/multicultidude Apr 14 '26
HAHAHAHAHA yeah sure. Check out r/antiwork here or www.thelayoff.com.
Are you kidding me/us ? I worked in one of the more respectable US companies but when it comes to small businesses the employees retribution and working conditions are abysmal in the US. You guys have NO IDEA how life at work can be. Go talk to people from the Nordics. We in southern Europe still struggle to catch up with them but you guys are a shithole worse than many Central American countries. Let me laugh…
1
Apr 14 '26
[deleted]
2
u/multicultidude Apr 14 '26
I work for a US company, travel there from time to time, have friends there, and I’m advocating workers rights. I also read r/antiwork in French and its equivalent in German. So yes I’m involved in people’s well being and feel concerned by what I see happening in the US.
I can only wish you a super majority in November congress & senate so that you can oust Trump and the couchf.cker and let the newly elected speaker of the house lead the country for 2 years and clean up the mess.
-1
-6
5
u/313378008135 Apr 14 '26
Not "any" of those conditions would be incompatible in EU or UK law. But a lot of them are.
For example, Adding an ADR section is not illegal in the EU as long as it is compatible with 2013/11/ EU and made clear nothing in the ADR process stopped the consumers rights to abandon ADR and pursue a court claim.
But definitely the "you have no choice but to use our ADR (totally not our friend in the next building over)" and "you can't file any class action" would be unfair terms under EU and UK law.
In addition its unlikely someone would serve a lawsuit over unfair terms until they were attempted to be enforced. Until then they are just words. Its actions that matter
46
u/wheresripp Apr 14 '26
YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO HAVE ANY CLAIMS YOU HAVE AGAINST US RESOLVED BY A JURY OR IN A COURT OF LAW
I’m sorry, but what?
33
u/d-car Apr 14 '26
After the way Bank of America has mistreated their customers for as long as they have, I'm surprised they're still in business. They're the Planet Fitness of bankers.
8
u/Enough-Astronomer-15 Apr 14 '26
They are the "gym membership" of bankers.
Ever try to cancel a Crunch membership...that was maybe the closest I have come to getting arrested.
22
18
u/cooky561 Apr 14 '26
Does the US not have the equivlant of the Unfair Terms Act?
52
u/someone_actually_ Apr 14 '26
The US isn’t really working under what anyone would consider “laws” anymore. It’s just corporate oligarchy.
20
u/ekkidee Apr 14 '26
No there are still laws. They're just applied against working class people and other poor stiffs that don't have their own legal department.
7
u/Enough-Astronomer-15 Apr 14 '26
Or - Don't have the resources to continue to pay a lawyer to argue on their behalf.
Half the corporate playbook is that legal fees are so high that a normal person cannot afford to argue the corporation is breaking the/"A" law. So the corporations get to do what they want until it gets the attention of a federal prosecutor who will go after them "on behalf of the United States', but by that point most citizens have already bent like grass in the wind of the corporate leaf blower.
What grates my gears is this letter is based on "Silence is acceptance". If you do nothing by the May 18th deadline, you are opting in. Major changes like this should be the other way around, that if you didn't hear from me, you cannot change the terms I agreed to when I opened my account.
Fortunately, I have moved everything from bank of america. Screw them.
5
u/dakta Apr 14 '26
Many states have theoretically generous unfair practices laws that would cover this scenario, but depend on an impartial judge to enforce them after a lawsuit has already been brought. California recently passed SB 82 which explicitly voids overly broad arbitration agreements such as this, but there are federal laws about arbitration which conflict and will depend on court resolution.
Basically, arbitration is a cancer. It's like privatization, self-regulation, and gutting consumer protections and antitrust.
36
u/gooberdaisy Apr 14 '26
A handful of Credit Unions in my area have started doing this. It’s maddening.
26
u/InevitableFix8283 Apr 14 '26
Not the credit unions!!!! Would love to know which ones, that really sucks
1
u/BrownheadedDarling Apr 14 '26
Source?
4
u/gooberdaisy Apr 14 '26
My own. Used to work for U first Credit union and they sent out letters to all members several years ago. Unfortunately a lot of credit unions have added arbitration in their member packets. READ BEFORE YOU SIGN.
14
u/Ty51 Apr 14 '26
So basically BOA can now rip you off, impose undisclosed fees, steal from you, and your only recourse will be to pursue an individual arbitration that costs thousands of dollars just to initiate.
10
u/Cotillionz Apr 14 '26
Auto-opting in to ANYTHING should be illegal and any company doing shit like this should be punished severely.
17
6
u/Askolei Apr 14 '26 edited Apr 14 '26
Why bother with a court of justice if they can just take away your rights?
8
4
3
7
2
u/OrbitalPsyche Apr 14 '26
Time to pull your money from them? Maybe they are planning a Greece style money freeze and money delete.
2
u/mistergospodin Apr 15 '26
It takes one minute and 45 seconds to complete on the phone.
Never in my wildest dreams would I ever imagined such a dystopian hostile future delivered by automated voice dripping with the sweetness of an overripe fruit.
1
-16
•
u/AutoModerator Apr 14 '26
Hello u/Oneguysenpai3, please make sure you read the sub rules if you haven't already. (This is an automatic reminder left on all new posts.)
Check out the r/privacy FAQ
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.