worst bank

[billyboy]

I was wondering if this has been my experience only. Bank of America... I am on the board of a small non profit group. We keep a pretty steady balance of about 1.5 million in the Bank of America. Every dealing we have with them is an ordeal. They consistantly rude and difficult to deal with. They even refuse to cash checks that we write unless the recipient has an account there.It's like they don't even care if we bank there or not. I think that on Monday they are going to get a little surprise. I'm going to move all of our accounts to a friendlier local bank.

[legion]

My recently deceased father had his checking account with Bank of America. I'm on my third try in four months to close the checking account. I'm 150 miles from the closest branch...so this time (after finding out the account wasn't really closed for the *third* time) I decided to call the 800 number to see if they could help...they transferred me to the branch that (allegedly) closed the checking account last time....who then transferred me back to the 800 number.

I think the root of the problem with all mega banks is they went on an M&A spree in the 90's, and never bothered to consolidate their old account systems. (Well, they couldn't because they were completing so many mergers every year.) Now you have tellers that only know the system for the bank they came from, but are clueless when it comes to a legacy system from another formerly independent bank. I wouldn't be surprised if BofA has over 100 different computer systems for accounts...

That said, I bank with a local credit union. They have one branch. The tellers are empowered to fix problems (and not just refer you to another clueless moron). The 800 number rings in the teller area. The CU president's office is ten feet from the teller area...meaning that's literally the distance I physically have to cover to go from the front line employees to the ultimate decision maker. I've never had to walk into the president's office, but it's also nice to know that he can overhear real problems real customers are having. I've never had a problem that hasn't been resolved in any more than one trip and ten minutes.

[Noah930]

My parents have used B of A for as long as I can remember (I mean, like 30+ years). Same local branch. They seem to get great service there. They know the employees/managers, personally, and seem to get all sorts of little exceptions to the (stupid) rules. It's like banking with common sense and reason. I, on the other hand, have tried to maintain my B of A account despite having moved cross-country 3 times these last 7 years. And I'd have to say that my experience has been far closer to what you describe, billyboy and legion. Painful. I feel like I get nickel-and-dimed left and right. As soon as I leave this town in a couple months, I'm switching to whatever the new local bank is and dropping this company that obviously doesn't care about me.

[Dantilla]

I've got a great relationship with a couple of small, local banks.

Ever apply for a commercial loan at WaMu or Key Bank? Never again. The local people are nice and professional, but then your loan package dissappears into the dark abyss known as "the commitee" where time slows down until.......

Until I give up and have the loan closed with the local bank before mega-bank comes back with a request for more information for "the commitee", where I have the great joy of telling them I have no need for their money, as their competitor actually gave me the loan, quite a while ago.

[RANDY P]

B of A has some of the worst trained employees I've ever encountered in a commercial bank. Notoriously inconsistent, and basically every branch has a different intrepetation on how to handle a given situation. I've gotten frustrated at one B of A, only to go to another and have them say "no problem" and simply cash out.

And and Dantilla, you are correct with your observation about WAMU. As a consumer, you're kept in the dark as who knows what happens to your file. [TERRIFIED VOICE]As myself, an insider in the business - they do the exact same to mine.[/TERRIFIED VOICE]

We have a saying in the mortgage broker biz: "Stay away from WAMU"

[alf]

I have banked with BofA for 15+years, local branch provides great service, knows my wife and kids by name. But when i try to cash a check in a BofA in SF, i get the 3rd degree and bad service, had to call my local branch to vouch that i am me despite multiple IDs to prove so.

[HardDrive]

What about Fleet bank on the east coast?Their service was so bad I felt like I was on some kind of hidden camera show, and it was some bad joke. Absolute scum.

My wife exchanged a large amount of money for a foreign currency. Instead of using the exchange rate for that day, they abritrarily picked a number, screwing her out of hundreds of dollars, and LYING and saying that was the current rate. More amazing was the fact that they put it in writting. I was there the next day, receipt in hand, along with a print out the previous days rate. The teller was embarassed and apoligetic. Whatever....scum bags.

[Big Ed]

Originally posted by HardDrive
What about Fleet bank on the east coast?Their service was so bad I felt like I was on some kind of hidden camera show, and it was some bad joke. Absolute scum.

My wife exchanged a large amount of money for a foreign currency. Instead of using the exchange rate for that day, they abritrarily picked a number, screwing her out of hundreds of dollars, and LYING and saying that was the current rate. More amazing was the fact that they put it in writting. I was there the next day, receipt in hand, along with a print out the previous days rate. The teller was embarassed and apoligetic. Whatever....scum bags.

Fleet bank was sold a couple years back, they are now.....

BANK OF AMERICA!

The integration was seamless, ****ty customer service into more ****ty customer service, with some extra fees added for good measure.

[john70t]

I too had my experience with a WAMU mortgage attempt(for ~150K). I could down over 50%, I was making $45k/yr, and yet they regected my app and wouldn't give me a regection letter.

BofA has a close relationship with the SanFrancisco treasury-basically holding all public assets without paying a dime in interest. They've done some supportive financing in the past with the city though. They were one of the founders of the $1.50+ for ATM usage charge and teller fees.
Pay a bank to hold on to and use my money? No way.

A friend said their good for mortgage rates, as long it's all automatic/electronic and you don't have to speak to a person, but he was into "creative financing".

[scottmandue]

My friend approached B of A right out of collage to establish credit and they gave him a hard time so he vowed "never again".
Fast forward thirty years now he is a successful businessman, owns his own business, has a house in So Cal, boat, probably worth a couple of mill on paper.
He figures that old vendetta is just silly so he give B of A another chance... they dick him around... "never again"

I had a nightmare refi with WauMu... tried to get a 120K equity out of my house that is (was) PAID FOR and is appraised at +500K... took them three months and they gave me a *****y rate.

[RANDY P]

Originally posted by john70t
I too had my experience with a WAMU mortgage attempt(for ~150K). I could down over 50%, I was making $45k/yr, and yet they regected my app and wouldn't give me a regection letter.

That is amazing. 50% down, and they STILL couldn't pull an approval? Laughable. You have to be pretty poorly trained in the biz not to close that - then again this is WAMU we're talking about. It's the LO's fault for that - he must've bunged up the file pretty bad.


A friend said their good for mortgage rates, as long it's all automatic/electronic and you don't have to speak to a person, but he was into "creative financing".

Oh buddy, no they're not. They consistently have the highest rates on a retail level, wholesale too. They do offer weird financing, but even then the rates on that are high compared to their competitors. We don't even sell our loans to them, they are too expensive.

rjp

[campbellcj]

I have had horrid experiences over the years with BofA, Wells Fargo, and US Bank. How they can get away with treating their customers like criminal suspects is beyond me -- I'll never go back. For several years, I've been using City National Bank, which is a small-ish L.A. based bank, for both personal and business accounts, and have been extremely happy. The only downside IMO of the smaller banks is the relative lack of ATM's so you get nailed with fees if you're not near a branch and need to use the yuppie food-stamp machine.

[austin552]

BTW, BOA charges a small fee for mentioning them online also.

[legion]

This weekend's adventure:

Visited the BofA at Butterfield and Naperville Road in the Danada Center in Wheaton, Illinois. (This after visiting the one on Army Trail in Glendale Heights and the one on Diehl Road in Warrenville.) I found the personal banker to be both clueless and rude. He would try pass off BS excuses for why things happened a certain way...then wander off in the middle of talking to us (out of HIS office) and start taking care of other customers in the lobby.

After 45 minutes, he finally decided that he could close the account and print a check...but wait, it was for $5.95 less than was in the account.

"Oh, well, the account incurred a $5.95 fee for being reopened by direct deposit after being closed."

So then I had to argue with him for 10 more minutes to get him to waive the fee. (The account was reopened because my father's apartment company returned a check for his rent after I closed the account and was guaranteed no more rent checks would be printed.)

Basically it boils down to the first branch being incompetent and then them trying to charge me for their mistake.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

So are there actually any GOOD banks out there?

My wife and I have a total of four accounts. Three are with small or relatively small credit unions. The fourth is with a local "mom&pop" bank in my parent's town (where I grew up) with three branches. Somehow they've avoided getting bought out and I keep some small investment type savings there, but that's about it.

[legion]

Originally posted by Porsche-O-Phile
So are there actually any GOOD banks out there?

Sure, the ones that care about keeping you as a customer.

Most are too big to care.

[Nathans_Dad]

Man, lots of BofA bashing going on.

I have banked with BofA for over 15 years now (since it was Nation's bank...then bought by BofA) and have never had a single problem with them. Now, I do my business with the military bank so maybe that makes a difference, but I still deal with the standard BofA branches...

[john70t]

The easiest way to rob a bank.....is to own one.

[MysticLlama]

I've had a few troubles with BofA in the past as well, but no problems at all for the past 6-7 years.

What I find is that it really boils down to the branch. I had no problems in CA, several in OR, and several in WA, but once I switched to a different branch as the primary holder of my account I've had no problems.

I've even bounced a check because of a weird circumstance here and there, had a fee incurred I didn't agree with, etc. Ususally in one call to my branch (not the 800#) I wait a couple of minutes to get on the phone with the manager and they just waive it, usually a 5 minute call at the most.

Have also had no problems at all with BECU, though I've only been with them about six months now for my secondary accounts and auto loan.

[Drago]

+1 on the BofA bashing. I used to bank at a local called SeaFirst, then BofA bought them up. I think I lasted a couple of months with them before switching to a local CU.