Are you nuts?

please explain

big career mistake. take it from someone who was an fa for bac. don’t do it, and thank me later. if you do it shame on you.

I think they really want 350k plus for transfers

BAC is the worst place you could go to.  they will sell you a bill of goods and never deliver.  i urge you to talk to all the recruits that came over in the last few years and see how they feel.

run Forest run!!!

It would be the worst mistake you could make.  Please believe me and
the others who have posted.  After a very lengthy career with a major
wirehouse firm and many opportunities throughout the years to be
recruited elsewhere, I moved to BAI because I believed they truly had a
different business model that would allow me to grow my business.  It
was full of empty promises.  In addition,  you would not believe what
you have to put up with on a day to day basis just to do business. 
Further, the payout is low, you earn bonus based on meeting metrics for
production you really already earned.  I could go on and on.  Look
anywhere else but there.

They said that the client managers would bring me referals, that I would not have to worry about leads, and that a check would be offered.  They have not mentioned a check amount yet.  Do you all know how much they usually offer?  ALso, I see everyone’s negativity towards BAC, but what is it that they do so wrong?  How is their payouts low?  I need some good answers because to me it seems like a good deal right now.

Who's they? I was told that years ago too and it never happened. When I left, I was generating 90% of my revenue off clients I brought. Which leads to the next point. Get it in writing that what you bring to them is yours. Your client managers will be cross selling bank products to clients. Not sure of the area/location but that could have something to do with your success. Also, will you have one or multi cm's? How long have they been there? If you are taking over from a previous rep, why did they leave.

I have not had the opportunity to question them yet on those questions.  They is the VP of marketing who has been interviewing me.  Also, why did you leave?  I am glad to hear from more than one person as this could persuade me not chose BAC.  Are you now indy?

I am indy. I have worked in all three channels. I left because since I was already doing everything myself and did not get any support, why give them anything. Don't leave just because you think you will get access to more clients to work with. Rely on yourself for that.

I remember there being a story a couple of years ago, it was pretty well known at the time, of BAC recruiting a multi-million dollar producing team from Merrill in Ohio I think, to move them to San Diego with promises they would have access to the entire Southern California area BAC clients.  Well a year or so into it, they were denied that access and lost a ton of money in production due to it. 

Wow.  Any ideas on if BAC is still like this?  Most of the stories I have read have been from the last few years past.  Have they changed?

There are generally several ways that you can be partnered.  One is to have a Premier Banking Client Manager, another is to have a branch(es) to which you are assigned.  Other possibilities are to be partnered with a Business Banking CM or a Commercial Bank CM.  One or both of the first two is most common.  What they don’t tell you is that the CM’s usually have other FA’s that they work with and that they are not necessarily loyal to you.  Further, that the incentive they have to refer to you changes all of the time.

As far as the up front money, I can only tell you that I would never have accepted a deal structured the way it was if I knew then what I know now.  You received a smaller percentage up front with a higher percentage available at the end of 13 months or 25 months upon hitting certain percentages of your trailing 12 production.  Most other firms structure their deals as all up front or small variations of that and the total deal is higher.  The up front money is structured as a promissory note which you agree to pay back no matter the reason for leaving.  This is a source of a great many arbitrations if you look at the FINRA site.

Instead of focusing on production which is your main reason for being there, they require that you do a certain number of financial plans for clients, that you enter notes of all of your client contacts into a new but awful contact management system, that you do a certain number of referrals to your CM or Private Bank, etc.  These are some of the metrics that your bonus is contingent upon.  Remember, your bonus is money that is held back from your production (ie. you have already earned it) that they are now going to arbitrarily pay you with it.
 
Further, you must get trade pre-approvals for $100m trades of just about anything, that you have switch letters signed or break point forms approved before entering mutual fund trades, etc.  Try seeing how user friendly the research is if you have transaction based accounts.  They also hold back 10% of your gross produced from an account that is referred to you from your CM for one year.  I could go on and on.  If you compare the grid to the other firms it is lower almost across the board.  There are additional elements to the payout that can/do reduce what you ultimately get.

Let this fool go over to BAC and learn for himself.

alwaysbullish put it well. 

today1 is right on point also.  I didn’t have time to elaborate when I was writing my previous post so, thank you today1 for explaining it further.  I have spoken to many other recruits who have taken a huge financial penalty for going to BAI, including myself.

A friend of mine switched to BAC 1.5 years ago. He has extensive industry experience with a regional and a wirehouse. He loves it there. I ignore everything I read on this forum.