Bank rant

That is strange.

lowsoind

 

I saw "bank rant" and expected to see some unrealistic expectations of a customer in here. I had my "my wife works for Wells Fargo" industry knowledge all locked and loaded to refute any of the common ridiculous complaints that I hear all the time but...


Yeah that's pretty dumb. It's hard to tell whether that was official bank policy, or if the teller was just being a douche. Either way makes no sense

 

tellers are weird sometimes, IME. ask for a manager, FTW.

 

2 quick thoughts: how is that bank ever going to recruit new business with such poor public service? and how about those convenience stores and other businesses that won't take anything over a $20.?

 

Gas stations can be a decent place to break $100 bills, as they tend to have lots of people throwing 20s at them when they have cash paying customers.

 

I don't get it. Why would you expect a random bank to make change for you? If you asked a cashier to make change somewhere else, he/she would tell you to buy something or get out. So why should a bank make change if you are not a customer?

 

^ I would consider it a common courtesy...but courtesy is sadly not very common anymore

The stock answer is usually "the risk involved with counterfeit bills, but that's not a huge issue in most cases. Some days we get everyone wanting to pay with $100 bills and we just don't have any change

 

I've told this story before, and many people didn't believe it, but it is 100% true.

When I lived in Meadville I had an account at Northwest Savings and they wouldn't let me close my account. No joke. For some reason they thought my address did not exist because my apartment was a letter instead of a number. So every time I went in to deposit my paycheck they'd ask for my address, and I'd tell them, and they'd always say, "well then why does is say here that your address is incorrect?"

After squabbling back and forth for a while I'll finally say, "alright, just close my account then." They always refused stating that I didn't have a good enough reason. Even the branch manager would tell me that.

I finally brought in a copy of my lease and all the mail they had sent me in the last few months, then asked them to explain why they thought my address didn't exist. That was the end of that......on their end anyway. But since they had pissed me off I decided to be an asshat every time I went in there. After signing my check and filling out the deposit slip I'd crumple up my paycheck and drop it on the counter. They'd always tell me that crumpled paper was difficult to run thru the scanner. I'd look them straight in the eyes and say, "yeah, I know."

When I moved to Erie, I went into another Northwest branch and asked to close my account, the teller did it without asking me any questions.

EDIT: Meadville is a small town where everybody knows everybody else, and it always seemed like these tellers would be stuck-up and snotty towards you if they knew you worked for low wages, which I did back then. But the tellers also work for low wages, so I could never figure out why they would act like that. And no, I did not have a reputation for being a criminal/drug user/scumbag.

 

I got too distracted re-hashing my story to tell you my first thought: I HATE BANKS! Banks pride themselves on being successful, but how do they get successful? By charging fees. I've been in many banks with marble floors and whatnot, and wonder how much all of that cost. Why banks want to flaunt their money (which came from your fees) is beyond me.

 

I'll tell you what really gets me about banks. When I used to do work as a contractor, and people would pay me with a check, I did not want to deposit a check, (especially a large one), and hope it was good. I used to go to their bank, and cash the checks just to be sure there were no surprises. Eventually, some banks wanted to charge me a fee because I did not have an account at the bank the check was written from. I would tell customers of those banks that I would only take a check from their bank if they paid the fee. (They probably did not like that, but it didnot bother me). Now it seems that all banks are that way. I tried arguing with the banks, asking if they charged my bank, since my bank also did not have an account with them, to no avail. It seems logical to me, that a check written on an account should by law be required to be cashed by the bank holding the account with no fee to the person to whom the check was written.

 

The OP's frustration is understandable, but the bank's position is too--even if it was just the cashier, not bank policy.

There are a lot of counterfeit hundreds out there. A whole lot. Some of them are very, very good. Many change hands in legitimate transactions without being detected; sometimes even bank tellers miss them.

No bank wants to surrender a counterfeit bill to the Secret Service, and no teller wants a drawer to come up short. So...it's really not surprising they're reluctant to take on the liability.

 

i've had banks demand to ink my finger and place my fingerprint on a check i was trying to cash. uhmmm no

 

There's always the option of putting all of your money in a shoebox and not utilizing those businesses

 

Paper currency is of a very specific type. There are pens that will be black on any but the valid(and hard to acquire) paper. The are other ways (all that hidden stuff in the bill).

 

I hate taking checks, and won't even take a homeowner's check...why a contractor would take a homeowner's check in this day and age is beyond me.

cash can't bounce, and a PIN on a bank card or signature on a CC receipt aren't easily disputed. Funny thing - I often hear "Well I can't give you my debit card because there's no money in there(!)"

good point - I did not think of that!

 

You didn't happen to be dressed like your avatar did you???

 

Not until my employer starts paying me in cash.

 

I went to a bank I have an account at for years ......

I have money in my accounts.


I took a $35 check from an old escrow account I received ,made out to both me and my exwife . She signed it and so did I

The teller said both me and my ex have to be present to cash it ,but she could deposit it . So I deposited it and took $35 out of my account .

I felt that was pretty goofy.

If it was a $3500 check I could understand ,,,,I'm not risking fraud for a whole $35