So NOW you give a shit! Fucking bank.

[wring]

My company had a bank account at a local bank. It was an investment account, not used for daily activity. We had that account for many years. And for many years there was no activity other than monthly statements sent and an annual flourry of activity around our corporate year ending date (auditors needed to verify the amount, an annual statement sent).

They decided to start charging us a $10 per month maintenance fee. Our monthly interest was usually over 10 times that amount, but it still rankled me that they charged us. So I recommended to my board to change over. (they did, but that's another topic).

Some 3 years later, I still get phone calls from this original bank, wanting to know if there's anything they can do for us.

Yes, leave me the fuck alone. Had you spent one tenth of this attention and caring to us back when we were your customers, we wouldn't have left.

Bastids.

[Liberal]

I don't know, wring. Maybe it's a good opportunity for you. Tell them what happened, and that you want their charges back plus reasonable interest along with a lifetime guarantee of no-fee service. 'Cause honestly, whatever bank you moved to might be the next bank to fuck you over.

[wring]

Actually, I have absolutely no control over where the money is, I don't have access to the account, it belongs to the 'agency' as a whole, and specifically I don't want access. It needs 2 board members signatures to move. I have told this bank the reason it was moved in the first place was lack of customer service, especailly on the assumption that we'd always stay. (sound familiar?) So we left and haven't looked back.

[Liberal]

Well then fuck 'em. You'd think banks in this day and age would shy away from alienating customers.

[Dogzilla]

You'd think! I hear credit unions are doing really well these days. Just read something today about how they are limited in the amount of advertising, but people who realize they provide all the exact same services and products as banks, only for lower fees and they are solvent... are starting to move their accounts in droves.

My bank was gobbled up by Wells Fargo, who also holds my mortgage. This violates my personal, informal policy of holding all my eggs in one basket. So I'm thinking of moving the banking stuff over to a local credit union.

[MyOwnWorstEnemy]

I've been a huge fan of credit unions ever since they started to offer checking accounts. I'm still a member of the credit union I joined in the late sixties, even though I'm not even in the same city these days. But since everything can be done electronically, it's not a problem. I have a low-interest car loan and a reasonable interest credit card through that credit union and I never worry that they're going to merge with or be bought out by some mega-bank that will then try to raise the interest rates through the roof. I've also joined a local credit union which I can use on those rare occasions when it really does help to be able to go there -- like cashing or depositing a check. My paycheck goes by direct deposit to the original credit union (and so do tax refunds), so the only time I receive an actual paper check is when a friend is repaying a loan or something of the sort.

In summary -- YAY CREDIT UNIONS!

[vison]

Aha. Long Live the Credit Union Movement, is what I say.

I was on the board of directors for our local credit union for 9 years. It was interesting and useful.

Our credit union is really small, about $70 million in assets, one branch. When I go in there, they know not only my name, but my account numbers.

But I also belong to a couple of larger credit unions and must say that here, at least, in BC, big credit unions are buying up the smaller ones. The largest is nowhere near as one of the big Canadian banks (they are BIG) but we're talking $12 or $13 billion in assets.

"Closed bond" credit unions, as in firefighter cu's or police or telephone workers, etc., are generally the smallest and for most people, the best. You can almost always find a closed bond cu, or a neighbourhood one. Get on the board and stop the amalgamation with larger cu's. They get too big and they're just banks.