Okay, that did it! Good-bye, bank!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

I innocently thought that I had about $40-50 left in one of my checking accounts. I planned not to use that checking account for the rest of the month, and then I'd be fine, right? Not so fast.

I came home to find an overdraft notice in my mailbox. My balance is now -$172.00.

I hurried upstairs, turned on the computer, accessed my accounts, and found out that the overdraft was due to: 1 forgotten ATM withdrawal of $20, a whole bunch of fees that the bank has tacked on over the past three or four months, and assessments of $31.50 EACH for the two overdrafts.

This isn't the first time they've done this. They keep coming up with new fees that are hell on someone with an unsteady income.

After surveying the damage, I went to look at a long-ago bookmarked site, that of a local credit union which is open to any resident of Minneapolis. I discovered that if I wait about three weeks until my birthday, I will be eligible for their special services for (ahem!) older customers, including free checking, no minimum, free checks, and all kinds of other good stuff.

In any case, I have to keep the account open at The Bank till then because customers from Japan will be wiring in fresh shipments of money :-) between now and the end of the month.

But my days there are numbered.

First Qwest drives me away to Vonage, and now The Bank is driving me away to the credit union. I wonder which business is going to drive me away next.

[knitter4democracy]

1. Once you go Credit Union, you never go back.

I love, love, love ours. We even live over an hour away from the closest branch, but that's no problem at all. They bend over backwards for us--and that was before we made more than the poverty level. Banks are evil. They charge you fees for the privilege of making money off of your accounts, and they need to be stopped.

Gee, am I a little bitter?

[emulatorloo]

6. Loved my Credit Union until they charged me "dormant account fees"

when I didn't deposit money for a few months. . .glad yours is working out for you though.

[knitter4democracy]

10. Really? Wow. Ours never did, and I'm not sure they would.

They're doing our mortgage on our new house (best rate, and boy, are they easy to deal with), they've got our car loans, and if they did business accounts, they'd have that one, too. I'll have to go to another credit union for that.

You should talk to them about that. Do they have much competition from other credit unions in the area? I think that's why ours is so good.

[emulatorloo]

11. I was able to get them refunded

after basically pitching a fit!

Anyway, fortunately we still have a local bank w ties to the community, and so far they have been very good to me.

[knitter4democracy]

14. Oh, that's good, then.

I miss local banks. :( They're so good for the community, and they're a dying breed.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

7. They charge ridiculous fees for everything.

They poor mouth, raise fees and add new ones (ones that don't justify the cost of doing business), then post record profits.
I went Credit Union as well after this.

[Mutley]

2. That bank wouldn't be Bank of America would it?

Those bastards pull that shit on me all the time.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. No, but a bank that's also multistate

U.S. Bank

I went with them because they were one of two nearest where I live, and the other is local and owned by outright evil Republicanites.

The credit union's brances are all halfway across town, but I do most of my banking online anyway.

[northzax]

13. er, US Bank and Bank of America and one and the same, no?

[Left Is Write]

19. No.

They are separate entities.

[ClintonTyree]

3. It's been tough on the old S&L's since bush took office.....

and I literally mean TOOK office. Sorry to hear about your woes. At least you've got us here at DU to commiserate with.
I'm on a fixed income myself, so I have to avoid all of those hidden charges too. I got bit by them once and learned my lesson. I'm in a Credit Union now myself. Haven't had a single problem. Good luck to ya' sweetheart! ;)

[AndyTiedye]

4. I Just Said Good-Bye to My Mortgage

Paid it off this morning.
Paid all my credit card bills yesterday.
Don't owe nobody nothin'.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. Congratulations!

That's what I'm aiming for!

[LSK]

9. you are lucky indeed!!!

I just eliminated my car payments and I never have any credit card debt, so only 20 some odd years of mortgage payments till I am free too.

[Left Is Write]

20. I would love to pay off my mortgage.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

12. That happened to me last month as well..........

but only for me it was due to a charge I made back in Jan that had fallen off my online pending charges roster! Like you, I had plenty of cash in the bank to cover any recent charges, but after the fiasco, I was down $198. The kicker is that I would have had enough money to cover the charges, but the ISF fees cascaded and screwed me on like 5 withdrawls.

[tjdee]

15. Same thing happened to me a few weeks ago.

Glad I didn't need that $100 bucks for anything other than giving it to the bank! :grr:

[MissB]

16. The credit union will be much better

Bummer that you have to wait until you're, um, older. :shrug:

Happy Birthday in advance! :party:

[Left Is Write]

17. I would LOVE to unload Qwest.

But I'm pretty happy with my bank.

Good luck to you! It stinks that you're mired in so many fees.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. I got rid of Qwest after my monthly bill went up[ $11 in three months

without any changes in service or any long distance calls.

I'm happy with Vonage--a phone line, 500 anytime anywhere minutes/month in the U.S. or Canada minutes, AND a dedicated fax line for half of what I was paying Qwest for just a plain vanilla local phone line with no long distance. :-)