Recent Posts
I got to express my dissatisfaction with the bank (Bank of America) that used to hold the paper on my home.
How have other folks felt about huge multi-national banks and local banks? I've been very happy with my local bank and had uniformly negative interactions with the big ones.
My note to BoA:
The fact that BoA accepted federal bail out money clearly demonstrates gross mismanagement and incompetence. I am not inclined to do business with a financial institution that is so poorly managed that they had to accept government welfare to avoid bankruptcy. However if BoA had produced quantifiably and substantially better loan terms I would have seriously considered doing business with you. In the end your organization's grossly incompetent and unresponsive customer service made certain that I went with the local originator who closed my loan before your organization ever even offered terms. I am left with the overall impression that your bank is unresponsive, disorganized, unfocused, poorly lead and managed, and simply incompetent.
Thank you,
Steve Martin
So I'm curious has anyone else been completely disgusted by the ineptitude of Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Chase, or HSBC?
I had problems with all of them, and ironically Citi (and maybe Wells Fargo) is the only one I started a business relationship with. In in the case of the others I had accounts with smaller outfits that got eaten up by the Chase, BoA etc.
I have been uniformly pleased with my small local banks in sharp contrast.
I'm curious what other peoples experience has been.
So I'm curious has anyone else been completely disgusted by the ineptitude of Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Chase, or HSBC?
I had problems with all of them, and ironically Citi (and maybe Wells Fargo) is the only one I started a business relationship with. In in the case of the others I had accounts with smaller outfits that got eaten up by the Chase, BoA etc.
I have been uniformly pleased with my small local banks in sharp contrast.
I'm curious what other peoples experience has been.
I gave up on big banks about 4 years ago, simply from the lack of customer service and disgust at paying fees to a company that is already using my money to make more money.
I've been very happy with my local credit union.
See, we've had the opposite experience. We got screwed over royally by a couple of small local banks. BoA has always had good customer service. We've had an account with them for years and never had a problem.
Well, BoA must be doing at least some things right, or customers would be leaving them in droves.
I wonder if the big banks are losing customers, or if they are using their TARP and other funds to buy smaller distressed banks, or both.
Wells Fargo has purchased the note on my home which annoys me to no end. We set up a simple checking account with them when my daughter went to college in Vegas. They screwed up basics like account balances repeatedly and I had to step in and fight them to take off NSF charges for their errors. When she changed schools for Denver she was able to go back to using her old local account. Apparently Peoples can add and subtract.
The fact that BoA accepted federal bail out money clearly demonstrates gross mismanagement and incompetence.
I actually disagree with this statement. Unlike Wells Fargo and Citigroup, Bank of America is one of the few banks that didn't get into the whole subprime mortgage business. As such, they can't be blamed for what happened to the economy. The reason they're struggling right now is because they were essentially forced by the U.S. government to complete a merger with the failing bank, Merrill Lynch.
If any bank is deserving of federal bail out money right now, I think it's Bank of America. If you want to blame someone for their economic troubles, blame our government. They're nothing but a bunch of neo-conservative, socialist, gun-toting, baby-killing, redneck Commies! :P
The fact that BoA accepted federal bail out money clearly demonstrates gross mismanagement and incompetence.I actually disagree with this statement. Unlike Wells Fargo and Citigroup, Bank of America is one of the few banks that didn't get into the whole subprime mortgage business. As such, they can't be blamed for what happened to the economy. The reason they're struggling right now is because they were essentially forced by the U.S. government to complete a merger with the failing bank, Merrill Lynch.
If any bank is deserving of federal bail out money right now, I think it's Bank of America. If you want to blame someone for their economic troubles, blame our government. They're nothing but a bunch of neo-conservative, socialist, gun-toting, baby-killing, redneck Commies! :P
While I tend to agree that the government has created quite a bit of pressure for banks and such to do really stupid things I don't think that excuses the management and shareholders of those banks for bowing to that pressure and doing really stupid things.
Politicians aren't going to stop being corrupt and stupid. I imagine the most effective thing I can do is vote with my dollars and let them know why they lost my business. It just annoys me that now I have to deal with Wells Fargo.
I can honestly say that when I was with the "big" banks they took my money for the least little infractions and then took more of my money for not having enough in my account. Pardon me for being poor. I finally got sick of Walk-all-overya/wachovia and went to my local credit union.
Years later I am happier than ever to be with them. They actually know my face even if they cant remember my name and my credit union doesn't charge me all the stupid fees, I can and have actually have a 0 balance in savings and checking until next pay day(that darned poor thing keeps cropping up) and I never receive a nasty gram from them. Thats why I love my credit union.
I belonged to a bank that was later bought out by BoA from infancy when my parents started my baby savings account. I was a loyal customer with multiple accounts and credit cards until a few years ago, when I found the amount of corporate loopholes and red tape I had to deal with to do anything got to be too much. There was a noticeable shift over the course of a few months from the bank listening to my situation and circumstances and helping me to the bank seeing and treating me like a statistic. So I switched to WaMu, which was great, until they got bought out by Chase. So far, no problems with Chase, but I fear it's only a matter of time until they do the same stuff BoA did. My fiancee uses Citibank and has had her own set of problems. Sadly, there are getting to be fewer and fewer options, as the big banks keep buying up all the little ones.
I belonged to a bank that was later bought out by BoA from infancy when my parents started my baby savings account. I was a loyal customer with multiple accounts and credit cards until a few years ago, when I found the amount of corporate loopholes and red tape I had to deal with to do anything got to be too much. There was a noticeable shift over the course of a few months from the bank listening to my situation and circumstances and helping me to the bank seeing and treating me like a statistic. So I switched to WaMu, which was great, until they got bought out by Chase. So far, no problems with Chase, but I fear it's only a matter of time until they do the same stuff BoA did. My fiancee uses Citibank and has had her own set of problems. Sadly, there are getting to be fewer and fewer options, as the big banks keep buying up all the little ones.
I concur, and this isn't really a new problem. In 22 years of living here in Colorado Springs the first local bank I did business with in the late 80's got bought out by a bigger bank then that one got bought out by yet a bigger one. The customer service went to crap, so I moved my scant funds to a new smallish local bank. After the first Gulf war the same pattern happened, and I closed my accounts and went to a small regional bank after having to correct huge accounting errors on the banks part. I stayed with them for years (their service was exceptional) until I went with US Bank for work and travel reasons. I got sick of US Banks endless fees and charges, and wound up with my current local bank. I just hope they don't get bought out and go to crap too.
I also used to have an account with Providian which got acquired by WaMu which then got acquired by Chase. I've terminated that account as well.
I've heard generally good things about credit unions, but I have never been in one IIRC.
Credit unions are full of awesome! However, you need to be part of an organization that belongs to one in order to get in. Seriously, if you ever work for an organization that has one, get in on it. You'll never regret it.
Personally, I was able to get into the Partners Federal Credit Union because I used to work at Disney. In fact, they helped me buy my first car. I still use BoA for my primary checking and savings, however, because while I can use any federal credit unions' ATM machines, there are a hella lot more ATMs for Bank of America then there are for credit unions, and I like not having to pay a $3 service fee every time I want to withdraw money.
I've heard generally good things about credit unions, but I have never been in one IIRC.
Currently, I do my banking with Navy Federal Credit Union, which rocks! Prior to that, I was with the Jefferson Parish School Board Employee Credit Union, which also rocked. Great service, low rates. What's not to love!
The credit union I belong to is family-oriented (meaning one of your family that already belongs has to get you in). I've had my account with them for over ten years and have never had an issue. When my checkbook got stolen once, I went over, talked to them, told them what checks were not mine, and they immediately reversed it. No hassle, no fuss. I like that.
Currently, I do my banking with Navy Federal Credit Union, which rocks!I'm actually looking at bailing from Navy Federal. I've been fighting with them over my truck loan. They jacked my interest rate from 3.9% to 20.9% and when I called them the next day they told me that I never turned in the title. Which was B.S. because the dealership electronically transferred the title. I had also walked in a physical copy of the title to 2 different locations prior to deployment. Talked to CSR, her manager, then her manager, then his manager and was told that they would check into the matter. When I explained I was on deployment they "helped" me by lowering it to 10.9% and told me that when I got back and could show them that I turned in the title, they'd lower the rate back to 3.9%. The Monday after I got back from deployment I walked in the Navy Fed by my house and not only did their records indicate that the title had been electronically transferred, they also showed that I had turned in the 2 copies. It took us less then 5 minutes to find that information. It took us a 2 hour phone call to Richmond to get it resolved. Instead of lowering the rate back to 3.9% I got stuck paying 10.9%.
So far, Navy Fed has been nothing but a pain in the...
I'm sorry to hear about your trouble. I love Navy Fed, might I suggest you use the direct line to the president of the union. I get the mailing list all the time so if you scream loud enough you'll get it back down to 3.9. Good luck.
I left BoA years ago. They bought Seafirst and made changes I wasn't happy with, including the decision to charge me money every time I actually had to go into the bank and speak with a real person about a transaction instead of doing it through an ATM. I switched to Washington Mutual and was quite happy for a while.
Now WM is Chase bank and its the same thing all over again. Looks like I'll be investigating other local options.
I dont have a link but I read on yahoo that BoA is now trying an experiment with their credit cards. Even if you have Excellent credit they are going to charge you a fee. They havnt done this before and alot of their customers are going to close their CC accounts. BoA seems to want to do everything to drive customers away?