a banking rant
I have opened a new account with a bank I stopped doing business with several years ago. The reason I left was this: when I changed my address with them, they changed it with all but one of my accounts. They continued sending the credit card statement (for a little over $100) to my old address and when I didn’t pay them (because I wasn’t receiving it of course) they reported that I hadn’t paid for 30 days to the credit bureaus, even though they knew I had moved to my new address.
When I learned of what had happened, I immediately sent in a check for payment in full and called them to get it straightened out. The lady I spoke with was of no help, so I eventually asked to speak with her manager. When the manager came on she said that it didn’t matter that I didn’t get invoices, I was still responsible for paying the money and they wouldn’t do anything. After more discussion she finally agreed to take the negative item off of my credit report but it’s been several years now and it was never removed.
You may be asking yourself why I would ever do business with a bank who treated me so poorly, and my response would be, “that’s an excellent question.” The answer is that their savings account has the highest interest rate I have been able to find. I thought I could also give them a second chance, in the hopes that they would treat me better this time.
After opening the account I got my deposit slips and a welcome letter, but I had also requested an ATM card which never arrived. I called to see where it was and they said it had been mailed two weeks ago. She asked for my address, and can you imagine what the problem was?
That’s right, after over four years of having closed every account I had ever had with them, they sent my ATM card to the old address. I can’t fathom the incredible incompetence needed to make such an inane decision. I open a brand new savings account with my current address and they send the deposit slips and the welcome packet to the correct address, but for some inexplicable reason send the ATM card to an old address that they happen to find in their database, which has all its associated accounts closed.
Does that make sense to you?
Me neither.
The high interest rate can’t be worth bothering with this bank unless that rate is a whole lot higher than their competitors. Are you going to stay with them?
It is a whole lot higher, and I’m hoping that once I finish with the hassles of opening the account, there shouldn’t be much else that can go wrong (I know, famous last words). I’ll just be depositing money, and they’ll be paying me interest.
Given this bank’s track record, you’re better off stuffing your money in your mattress.
I’m confident that they’ll at least pay the interest they say they will, and that’s all I want (once the address issue is resolved).
Arggh! Infuriating! And don’t be lulled into false security that nothing else will go wrong now. Recently, my dad didn’t get his last couple of bank statements and after doing some checking, found out someone with the same last name as him had moved. When they did their change-of-address at the bank, the bank also changed the address for my DAD! Totally separate accounts!
I haven’t seen my dad so mad since I was a teenager.
Dang, now you’ve gotten me concerned.
that is almost as annoying as ordering a 20 piece chicken nuggets at McD’s waiting for 7 minutes and then only getting 19 nuggets.
I use the bank in question regularly with no particular problems. Maybe they just don’t like Dan. ;)
If I might ask, what bank was it so I can know to avoid it.
I sent you an e-mail with the name. I don’t want to be accused of libel.