Banks will reactivate a closed account if an electronic deposit or credit, like an automatic bill payment, is made

Some customers who closed bank accounts at Bank of America last fall recently received an unwelcome surprise: Their accounts reopened. Perhaps even more perplexing for these customers: It's the bank's policy.

Bank of America will reactivate a closed account if an electronic deposit or credit, like an automatic bill payment, is made. "If we receive something, we may reopen the account to accept the item, and the account may be subject to associated fees," Betty Reiss, a Bank of America spokeswoman, told The Huffington Post. "We remind [customers of that] when they are closing the account."

JPMorgan Chase also will automatically reopen a customer's account after it's closed if the bank receives a deposit. The bank, which recently eliminated its policy to charge customers an account-closing fee, indicates in its fine print that "any closed account may be automatically reopened if we receive a deposit to the account." JPMorgan Chase declined to further comment.

Complaints about closed accounts coming back from the dead have shown up on blogs and message boards for several years. But so far the complaints have not led to a policy change.

Read on.