Banking Woes

I sort of closed a bank account today. “Sort of” because this bank apparently thinks its job is to make things as difficult as possible for its customers, and I won’t be able to officially close the account until sometime in the coming work week.

I’ve had a savings account with my credit union since I was eleven. I opened a checking account there when I got my first “real” job at the age of 15. When my credit union started telephone banking, and later online banking, I was right there with them. I have never had a problem with my credit union. And every account I open, no matter the balance, is interest-bearing.

Over the years, I’ve had various other bank and credit union accounts, as I moved to different cities and different jobs. Again, other than the occasional math error on my part, I’ve had no account trouble at any of them. No problems accessing online statements, transferring funds from one account to the other, closing accounts. No trouble at all.

Except with this one account … the one I sort of closed today.

I opened this account about three years ago, for convenience’s sake. You see, my credit union has offices all over town, but I’m smack in the epicenter, equidistant from all of them. It takes about 15 minutes for me to get to any one of the branches. And while my paycheck is automatically deposited, and so is my child support check, there are occasionally reimbursements from my company, or editing checks, or supplemental child support checks that I must deposit in person.

And, at that time, X kept writing me bad checks. So I would spend an entire lunch hour going to the closest branch of my credit union and trying to deposit or cash a check, only to be told that there were insufficient funds in X’s account, and they could not honour the check at that time. (He  uses the same credit union.) So I finally decided that I needed a back-up account at a more convenient location. The bank I chose was down the street from my mother’s house and less than five minutes from my office. Since my mother keeps my sons while I’m at work, and since I go to her house for lunch with my kids every day, this bank seemed a perfect choice.

And the people were very nice. But I soon ran into snags. The first was when I needed to cash a check instead of depositing it. The check was for $200, and there was only $175 in my account. So the most they would allow me to cash was $175. I thought, “well, it’s a new account, so it makes some sense.” Only it kept happening. For all three years.

And there was the fact that unless I signed on for internet banking, which had a lot of stipulations and restrictions, I could not earn interest on my checking account. Still, it was merely a “convenience” account, so I didn’t keep a lot of money in there, anyway.

Then there were the hours. When I first opened the account, the lobby was open 9-5 on weekdays, and the drive-through was open from 8:30 to 5:30 on weekdays (except on Friday, when it was open until 6:00), and from 9:00 to noon on Saturday. About a year ago, they changed their hours. The lobby now closes at 4:30, and the drive-through at 5:00 (except on Friday, when the drive-through stays open until 5:30). So when, pray tell, am I supposed to conduct my banking business — since I have a JOB from 8 to 5 on weekdays? And their personal account reps took lunch at the usual time — there are pretty much only tellers in the lobby from noon to about 1:30.

Then there was the online banking. Since this was a back-up account, I didn’t use it a lot. And I didn’t have to check it online very often. Well, their computer system resets your password every 30 days. The number of times they reset my password and I couldn’t access my online account was just outrageous. To gain access, I would have to call the customer service number and go through a long rigmarole to verify my identity and change my password.

Well, today was the last straw. I went to log-in to my online account, and it wouldn’t accept my user-name. After a number of attempts, I called customer service, only to be told that since it had been so long since I accessed my account online, my user-name had been purged. And I would have to reapply for online access … a process that takes THREE BUSINESS DAYS.

Now, I was completely civil and polite with the customer service person. I was not abusive. I wasn’t cursing, swearing, or shouting. I simply said, “You guys really need to re-evaluate your online account access, because it is very user-UNfriendly.” And the customer service rep hung up on me.

So I called the branch, and asked if it would close the account if I withdrew all of the money. “No,” I was told, “You have to come in and fill out some paperwork with one of the personal account representatives.”

I have to take time off from my job to close the account? How ridiculous is that?! I went and withdrew all the money anyway, and took it straight to the credit union. And, since I’m on vacation this week, I’ll be at that bank on Monday morning to sign the paperwork and close the curtains on a very unsatisfactory business relationship.

Tags: challenges, customer service, True Stories