Foo - I need a new bank

I've had an account at my locally owned bank since I was a kid, however they have been recently bought by a national chain.

If I deposit a check it now takes "up to two weeks" for the money to register even if the check comes from this bank. If I try to cash a check, even though I've been a customer for 30+ years and have known the tellers most of their lives, I have to provide two forms of picture ID (my DL and bank card no longer sufficient), fingerprint the check, sign the check, and pay a $5 teller fee for any transaction.

They are trying to push electronic banking by making going into the bank an utter hassle.

Thats terrible. Leave them immediately.

Thats terrible. Leave them immediately.

+1

Which national chain bought them out?

my bet's on Chase.

My local bank was run by morons, so I switched to a bank that was 300 miles away. If your comfortable with online transactions, statements, and such, it's not that big a deal to mail off checks to the bank.

I'm using WaMu. Seems like a decent insitution.

i have bank of america. boa=bunch of ***holes i would leave them in a heartbeak if their cd rates weren't so good.

Which national chain bought them out?

I think it's Synovus.

If you want service, with a smile, and generally low to zero add-on fees, you should look for a credit union.

I've been a member of my employer credit union for 10+ years. Limited hours, and they don't keep cash on site, but no fees for counter service, cashiers checks, money orders or even travelers checks, low interest/low fee/painless closing loans, and just plain easy to deal with.

Oh, and they charge to get change now too.
I was going to buy $10 worth of quarters so I could wash cars. $5 transaction fee apply there too.

I've come to the conclusion that creditunions are the best for service. Every chain seems ready to pounce on any occasion to charge a fee or make you sit thru a sales pitch for lousy products.

Besides, I'm not comfortable with banks that have names like "Chase" or "M-T". :lol:

I have been very satisfied with Chase. The only real issue we have ever had was of our own cause.

My wife deposited a refund check from our investment advisor late. So late in fact that it was no longer valid. We got charged a fee when the check was refused. Not happy about it, but overall, I think we get good service from Chase.

I get good service from Wamu, both online and in brick and mortar. I guess it depends on the branch employees though...

My local bank was run by morons, so I switched to a bank that was 300 miles away. If your comfortable with online transactions, statements, and such, it's not that big a deal to mail off checks to the bank.

I'm using WaMu. Seems like a decent insitution.

Washington Mutual is dying.

My mother used to work there as a Call Center Representative.

The management is horrible, the pay is crap and there continue to be more and more layoffs and center closings every week as WaMu outsources their call center stuff to India and the Philippines.

I would move my money to another bank or a local credit union. because Washington Mutual is on it's way out.

Note their stock prices have gone from over $40 per share to less than $5 in a year's time. This has resulted in more layoffs and more new hires who don't know what the hell they are doing.

WaMu is a mis-managed, poorly staffed company that will be dead very soon.

Washington Mutual is dying.

My mother used to work there as a Call Center Representative.

The management is horrible, the pay is crap and there continue to be more and more layoffs and center closings every week as WaMu outsources their call center stuff to India and the Philippines.

I would move my money to another bank or a local credit union. because Washington Mutual is full of crap.

Note their stock prices have gone from over $40 per share to less than $5 in a year's time. This has resulted in more layoffs and more new hires who don't know what the hell they are doing.

WaMu is a mis-managed, poorly staffed company that will be dead very soon.

Oh wow! Good to know, but I'm not a huge fan of banks, and our local credit union just crapped out due to the same issues. They're back up, but I don't really trust them right now.

wachovia has been nice to me. they're supposed to be having troubles though.

I get good service from Wamu, both online and in brick and mortar. I guess it depends on the branch employees though...

+1

Washington Mutual's stock may be hit hard, and it may be bleeding money, but the employees are still friendly and helpful (at least at the three branches I usually go to), fees are virtually non-existent, and my online savings account has a rather high interest rate.

Sounds like an awful turn of events. :mad:

Credit unions FTW.

Here's a site that helps you evaluate a bank or credit union's financial strength:

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/safesound/ss_home.asp

Washington Mutual is dying.

My mother used to work there as a Call Center Representative.

The management is horrible, the pay is crap and there continue to be more and more layoffs and center closings every week as WaMu outsources their call center stuff to India and the Philippines.

I would move my money to another bank or a local credit union. because Washington Mutual is on it's way out.

Note their stock prices have gone from over $40 per share to less than $5 in a year's time. This has resulted in more layoffs and more new hires who don't know what the hell they are doing.

WaMu is a mis-managed, poorly staffed company that will be dead very soon.

I'm betting they're going to get a tax-payer financed bail-out...

Still, they have great service.

Definitely a credit union is the best way to go. Only reason we're not relying on ours more is a bigass commercial bank (Wells Fargo) is treating us nice (some times) 'cause we got a mortgage from them.

Definitely a credit union is the best way to go. Only reason we're not relying on ours more is a bigass commercial bank (Wells Fargo) is treating us nice (some times) 'cause we got a mortgage from them.

My mortgage was sold to Wells Fargo a couple of years ago. I will actively avoid doing business with them because they keep calling me trying to sell me insurance after I have told them not to call any more.

i have bank of america. boa=bunch of ***holes i would leave them in a heartbeak if their cd rates weren't so good.

-1

I have BofA and everyone who works at the local branch knows me by my first name and treat me like royalty when I am there.

I have an account at Capital One bank, and they treat me great.
The catch is they only have banks in a few states.

I think it's Synovus.

Sounds like a disease that comes with an array of exotic rashes and blisters.

Sounds like a disease that comes with a array of exotic rashes and blisters.

They charge separate blister fees and rash fees. And whelps, $5 each

They charge separate blister fees and rash fees. And whelps, $5 each

Jerks

I'm using WaMu. Seems like a decent insitution.But aren't they on the verge of bankruptcy? Who knows how they may end up.

i have bank of america. boa=bunch of ***holes i would leave them in a heartbeak if their cd rates weren't so good.I'm with BofA, and the only problem I have with them is that it takes forever to transfer funds from my IRA to my checking account. I almost always end up having to go back or call to complain before they finally get around to completing the transfer.

But aren't they on the verge of bankruptcy? Who knows how they may end up.

There's a big difference between a bank losing a bunch of money and being on the verge of bankruptcy. The former is not your problem, and the latter is but a mere annoyance since your account (up to $100k, anyway) is insured by the FDIC. And for personal checking/savings, any larger amount really should be somewhere other than a bank anyway.

If you want service, with a smile, and generally low to zero add-on fees, you should look for a credit union...


I've come to the conclusion that credit unions are the best for service...

+1.

The local bank I was using was bought by Sovereign a few years ago, ending the ability to use ATMs that were part of the SUM program in order to avoid the double surcharge (one from the bank, the second from the ATM itself). They also made it so that in order for a transaction to post the same day, it had to be in the teller's computer by 5 p.m., otherwise it wouldn't post until the following business day. I was at a teller window cashing my paycheck one day when a woman a window or two down from me asked a teller if her deposit would post that day, she was told that since it was after 5 p.m. that it wouldn't post to her account until Monday (it was Friday afternoon). She told the teller that she wanted to use her debit card over the weekend, the teller said that they already "rolled over" to Monday's date. She grabbed her slips from the teller and said, "I HATE this bank!" and walked out. That was the turning point for me - a few weeks later I closed my account there and joined a credit union, I feel much safer there especially in this day and age of banks buying banks at a rate that could easily send many to the looney bin....

There's a big difference between a bank losing a bunch of money and being on the verge of bankruptcy. The former is not your problem, and the latter is but a mere annoyance since your account (up to $100k, anyway) is insured by the FDIC. And for personal checking/savings, any larger amount really should be somewhere other than a bank anyway.My point was that since they are in trouble, they may be taken over by another bank, and past experiences with their level of service become meaningless.

I like wamu

I N G

I use US Bank. I had to deal with some bad apples before I found a branch that treated me well. I was with BofA a few years ago. They were not nice.

We had a weird BoA thing, where they bought our old bank (SeaFirst) and I found myself a year or so later on the east coast needing cash and the BoA machines couldn't read my BoA card. I went to the window (a potentially billable offense) and it turned out they hadn't straightened out the account numbers yet, east and west coast had different numbers of digits and the whole thing broke down from there. It took them an hour but they finally got me the cash I needed but it was a very hands on thing involving all the worker-bees behind the glass and lots of phone calls from them to wherever.

We use Capital One. We switched from Chase (which was the latest in a number of name changes) mostly due to their policies on credit cards. They jacked the interest rate on my wife's card after a "review" showed that I was late with a payment one time on a totally different account several years ago ( a department store, I think). Chase was unapologetic.

We paid the card off and took our savings and checking balaces out and gave them to Capital One.

$20 closing fee per account
$5 processing fee to cut a check, or $20 for a bag for the money, or I forgot the fee to transfer cash to a new bank
$5 teller fee to be handed the bag or check


Still looking for a new bank so First Jerk still has my money. I don't think we have any locally owned any more. :(

total ripoff

$20 closing fee per account
$5 processing fee to cut a check, or $20 for a bag for the money, or I forgot the fee to transfer cash to a new bank
$5 teller fee to be handed the bag or check

I've seen commercials making fun of this kind of thing. I thought they were exaggerating for comic effect. I guess they weren't, because they didn't have to. :rolleyes:

.

I have been happy with my local Citibank.

I used to use WaMu, but felt they were going downhill.

$5 processing fee to cut a check, or $20 for a bag for the money, or I forgot the fee to transfer cash to a new bank
$5 teller fee to be handed the bag or check

Can you get the $20 back if you bring the bag back when you're done with it?

Stopped at credit union yesterday, they have a free change sorting/counting machine in the lobby!

Still looking for a new bank so First Jerk still has my money. I don't think we have any locally owned any more. :(
Sadly, there are very few locally owned anywhere anymore. I would definitely look into credit union possibilities.

Hey Donna.

We do have a credit union in town. They seem to be nice folks.

Hey Donna.

We do have a credit union in town. They seem to be nice folks.

Do it, Allen. There's something about credit unions that seem to make everyone nicer.

I used to be bitter with Bank of America, but I think that they are one of the better banks:

- Deposited checks/cash are available immediately (if the state of the check matches the state of the account holder, and is deposited in that state), and $100 are made available for deposits made through ATM

- Avoiding overdrafts is REALLY flexible (if you credit your account enough to remove the overdraft, the OD is not hit with a surcharge), and they even let one go (for students)

- Free student checking and savings; very cheap checking and savings for everyone else

- Few slip-ups.

Oh, and can anyone that uses ING comment on their savings account? The interest rates there look REALLY impressive, but I haven't manned up to make the switch...

We use ING for savings. Yep they pay a lot of interest. They do not print out statements and mail them to you. They will for like $5 or $10 per statement.

Ironically the fee per statement had a big role in driving us to Wells Fargo rather than the Credit Union for our mortgage. Wells Fargo would accept our printout of the statement pdf from ING's webpage, and the CU would not, they insisted on mailed statements going back several months which would have been pushing a hundred bucks in fees (we had stuff spread across a couple accounts) (and the CU's rate was higher too). Then again, the CU's value hasn't plunged from taking on poorly documented mortgages, so who knows (but I'm not a shareholder in WF either so why do I care...)

I LOVE ING.

Then we have a tiny USBank account just in case but we have only needed to use it one time since we had ING.

how cna they make you pay these charges if you've never signed anything with them saying you have to pay these charges? your contract was with your old bank, not this one.

You don't have to sign a contract to pay charges.
They just sent out a letter saying that the new policy is to charge fees for everything under the sun.