Leaving Banc of America Investments

I was never at BAC but know a few people that tried to move.  Let me say that again "tried to move"

bac will come after you with everything they can.  probably the worst firm to leave from that standpoint. dont think that it will change just because they signed the protocol.  only good chance you might have is if you manager just got canned.  you might have a short window of opportunity to leave.

I have "herd" same as others, that BoinkofAmerikkka is like the Hotel California....or Roach Motel, you check in but you dont check out or get out alive in most cases.. Heavy handed is how it was described

I left last year.  They sent letters that hurt my feelings even called me to hurt my feelings.  I paid the last bit of my loan (and said that I would in my resignation letter) and never heard another word out of them.  To be sure, though, you need to speak directly to the new firm’s legal counsel so that he/she can go over things with you.  Don’t take stuff, don’t get pissy with anyone.  Recognize that they are so darned unorganized that while they will eventually distribute your accounts to the vultures, that it takes some time.  So use your time very wisely and be ready to hit the ground running.  You need to have this conversation with your new manager.

Where are you going?

I have not made a final decision.  The deals seem to be 80% to 90% up front with a small kicker after 5 years.  One thing is for sure, the writing is on the wall at BAI.

One thing is for sure, the writing is on the wall at BAI.

BAC may come after you on the non compete. They will for sure want bonus money back. I was on very good terms with my manager so I did not hear much at all on the NC

They rarely go after those that go indy

They go after 'ery one who tries to take clients or has upfront money

Daytradah we all expect them to come after their money.  I will pay off the note once I get my final balance.  What I am asking is, has anyone here recently, and more importantly, personally left BAI and had them slow down act’s or been hit with tro’s?

I have not made a final decision.  The deals seem to be 80% to 90% up front with a small kicker after 5 years.  One thing is for sure, the writing is on the wall at BAI.

TRO’s mean nothing.  Stay away from the Privacy Act and you are safe.  The good FA’s who left BAI took everyone they wanted.  The ones who rely on a CM to make introductions do not take much with them.  You have no CM to compete with anymore and no MD to reassign.  Jump.

Hate to break it to you guys but Merrill like my name implies is a sinking ship.  They, meaning BofA, are cutting the bottom 25-30% and the top 25-30% are running into the arms of UBS and MS and other firms.  The Thundering Herd is thundering out of the damn building.  Other firms are laughing at the few that are staying.  Merrill offices across the country are being decimated by layoffs and top producers walking.  A year or so from now they should be about 10% maybe 15% of the current assets under management.  If you are there still I have one word for you that will the single most important career move.  LEAVE, or RUN, or GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE.  Ok the last one wasnt one word but you get the picture.  BofA did such a wonderful and brilliant job of wealth management pre-Merrill, NOT, they are going to do just a little bit better.  You are on a sinking ship and it is time for you to do what I have done and leave.  You still have time to get on with one of the NEW top 5, if you wait for everybody else to go you wont get as good deal.  I jumped off and havent regretted it, i was actually relieved.  Prospects were increasingly hesitant to do business with me in the last couple of weeks, mainly b/c they had been watching the news.  BofA is running this into the ground.  I have a friend still there pretty high up but about to finalize his departure.  If you are in the Virginia, NC, SC, Georgia, FL area and you are a small office you are about to be cut.  He is leaving mainly b/c he is sick of laying off peope that dont deserve it.  He told me that within those five states they are going to cut about 30% of the total workforce by Feb. 14.  Happy Valentines Day!!!  If i were you I would make plans now.  Dont say you werent warned or didnt see this coming.  BofA could give a you know what about loyalty.

There are rules to be able to legally slow down an ACAT. THey are title mismatch, SSN mismatch. Even if the dollar amount isn’t close they cannot slow an ACAT.   They have three business days to verify and close open orders and 3 to transfer. These are FINRA rules.

With Regards to leaving the $hit hole BAI is, I left in Summer of last year. I worked there for 7 years. Also 3 of my co-workers left too. The first week, I recieved a letter from an attorney BAI hired. That was it. You can take all your clients and they are not going to do anything. They are so screwed up, they can’t even track the accounts that you take because as soon as you leave, they will reassign all your accounts to all the $hitty brokers that are still there. And if you have problem getting some clients to move at first, don’t worry. No one at BAI will ever follow up after you first leave. So keep sending letters and keep calling them. They will come. Not all, but do you really want all of them? Especially now with them letting going 2/3 of Market Directors. They do not have a clue on how to run a brokerage business. With all the bad news and the cluster fuc with Merrill Lynch, you will do fine wherver you go. I went to another bank and let me tell you, referrals at BAI = 0, new bank unlimitted. I am so busy with new clients, I barely have time to call my old ones. Cutting bonuses and getting rid of Premier, BAI is turning into a wire house. Good Luck with that. If you are smart, you would leave now. There will never be a better time.

leave BAI now.  as for the note negotiate the payback.  you dont necessarily have to pay it back in a lump sum.

Any idea how long they will allow you to spread the payback over?  Also, any idea what will they settle on?  I have heard they would take 50 cents on the dollar. 

Any idea how long they will allow you to spread the payback over?  Also, any idea what will they settle on?  I have heard they would take 50 cents on the dollar. 

thanks, that is great advice!!!  What was I thinking offering 50 cents.  I planned on dragging out the fight of the payback for as long as possible as I plan on going independant and will need some breathing room in the begining.  I still owe over 130k, so I would be real happy to settle for anything less than 50 cents.

You can always tell them to take you to Judge Wapner, Judge Mary or whatever “peoples court” is on tv.  Tell them they ruined you, and you only have 2.97 cents to your name!! What can they do Would play it be ear and hope for the best, got to be thousands of guys leaving these firms, cant imagine what a mess it is.

Good Info. I’ve been interested in this question. I’ve spent a lot of the money trying to build a fee based book from scratch and or lost a lot in the market like everyone else, so I defenitely can’t repay the whole thing, but wouldn’t want the interest tacked on every year that it wasn’t repaid. Supposedly we had a guy leave a few years ago and he sends them a check for $50 a month on the $115,000 up front bonus he had. Never have heard if they’d pursued him or not. I just can’t imagine that with billions in writedowns that they’d worry about thousands from advisors, but I’m sure I’m wrong.

deleted  ----  tmi  -----  per attorney

I got the letter from their attorney about 3 days after I left.  Are the notes really negotiable?  Have any of you actually negotiated with BAI, or is this just hearsay?  Everyone I know that has left (which is only 4 people) have had to go to arbitration and lost.  They ended up owing not only the note, but the lawyer fees, and the interest.  If the note is negociable who do you negociate with? 
It feels great to be free.

as far as i know you can negotiate a payback schedule.  example 12-24 months and negotiate the interest rate.  i havent heard of anyway settling for 1/2 of the lump sum or less than the amount actully owed.  please tell me if anyone has heard of anything else.

I left Banc of America in July of 2008.  I owed them about $92,000 for the last year of a forgivable loan.  I was very tempted because of the circumstances not to pay them (yeah, yeah, bla, bla, bla.. everybody’s got something).  <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

They initially over-nighted me a letter requesting their money two days after I had left.  After this initial contact, they then called me every week to inquire about their payment. 

Then in September, unprompted by me, they said they would like to settle for $80,000 and allow me to spread out the payments over 12 months with no interest due. 

I contacted them and said I understood their new offer and they would hear back from me with my counter-proposal.

I then contacted an attorney in late October and we proposed to them a settlement of $42m for a variety of reasons.

They countered offered with $48m.  We essentially accepted this offer.  I need to have a check and a signed acceptance document to them by the 9th to finalize it.

So yeah, I think you can do a "50 cent on the dollar" settlement. 

Now my question to you or anybody that would like comment is; do you sign and pay or do you just roll the dice and hope they die in their own vomit?

Oh yeah, the retainer for the attorney was about 2,000 bucks.       

Dont know about of BofA specific, but have seen about 20 guys leave places Ive been at and I only know of 1 guy who they made pay something back.  But he went to another firm, but he played hardball and dragged it out for awhile.  He only owed about 80k, and eventually paid them back 10K.  That was at MS.  Most of the guys ive seen have left the business or got fired for doing very low numbers.  They did not ever pay back anything.  I would think in these times its a total mess and could easily settle for 25% or less…if you get fired or leave the biz I would think if you have the fortitude, drag it out for as long as it takes.

How about promissary notes? I came to BAI about a year ago on a backend deal. Within two months the manager who brought me over left, my CM got fired, and the platform that was sold to me no longer exists.  Everything that I was told was all BS. I have a promissary note coming to me with a 6 year forgivable period. I'll hit my numbers, but with how things are shaping up with Merril, the future doesn't look to bright.  If I end up leaving the biz, do I have any rights to any of the $? Talk about about getting royally F'd!!  I am not looking for any sympathy, but all comments and advice would be appreciated.

I don’t know how much this helps,  but that was a 6 year <SPAN title=“To see spelling suggestions, click word” =“squiggly” splc=“splc” state=“new” word=“promissary”>promissary note I was talking about.

I came to BAI a little while ago and quite frankly it was the best place. My book grew, I hit my numbers, and the work environment is awesome. But know it is a circus. All my CM’s were laid off, and what is even more hilarious is that my branch has gone through over 7 Branch managers in 2 years. What kind of firm thinks they can run a succesful operation with out good leadership. Anyway, I got my upfront money and and my bonuses. Had I known they werent going to keep the referral platform I would never have accepted the money. I feel as if this a breach of verbal contract. My strategy is simple. Who the hell knows whats going on in this environment. If the market goes to 5000 we are all f**ed. Fee based will get crushed and no one will be trading. I figure for know I might as well go get a check somewhere else, (Morgan, JP Morgan, UBS) and if it does not work out than I give the money back. But hell in this market haveing a couple hundred grand in the bank to pay the mortgage and the tuition bills is a hell of alot smarter than staying at a firm that will becme a whirehouse anyway with a sht payout. So I say f*** these firms, they want to take 70% of your hard work and give us a bad name than I will f*** them by taking there money.    Does anyone know if Brokers are leaving for JP Morgan?