I used to have a number of retirement accounts with Bank of America... not so much by choice, but because BoA gobbled-up the local banks I'd started the accounts with. After running into issues with all the fees BoA was charging me, I transfer all those accounts to my Credit Union, which in itself was an unbelievable nightmare that I posted about on this site a number of years ago. However, I had left behind a small (much smaller than when I'd opened it) Roth IRA account that I intended to eventually move.

A couple of months ago I got a call from BoA to verify my contact information. The CSR then asked me 'when' I planned to transfer that account somewhere else. I guess it was too paltry a sum for them to be bothered with, though I thought it took a lot of nerve to ask me 'when', and not 'if', I had any intention of transferring it. Anyway, that did get me motivated to transfer that account to my Credit Union. So I got the wheels moving, which included BoA sending forms that required me going to the Credit Union in person to have the forms notarized. My Credit Union was transferring the holdings 'in kind' to the same fund, so I'm really just changing the custodian of the funds.

Well, I received a letter from Columbia Management (the fund) stating in part: "...Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Inc. has notified us that they are unable to process your request, as they are not able to locate your account."

Now, I've been receiving a monthly statement from BoA on this account for years. The account number from the statement was on the paperwork, along with a copy of the most recent statement. And the paperwork I had to process came from BoA (Merrill), and included the current account balance. But now that it's time to transfer the fund, they "are not able to locate" it. This is outrageous!