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apogee
climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 30, 2011 - 12:04pm PT
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Bank of America's announcement yesterday that they will be charging $5/month for the use of their ATM cards may be the last straw for me.
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/09/29/bofa-finds-new-way-of-making-money-5-debit-card-charge/
BofA's primary advantage is accessibility- they are everywhere, from the local areas I frequent, to virtually anywhere in the US I travel. Anyone have a similar need and found a bank that is similarly accessible, and less obnoxious to deal with? Post up your experiences with various banks or credit unions- in particular, your experiences with fees, service, accessibility.
I'm sure this topic could easily devolve into shredding of the banking industry and the related politics- hard to blame anyone for that- but it would be nice to hear beta on banks you've had good or bad experiences with.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 30, 2011 - 12:27pm PT
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B of A just closed a friend's mum's account with no explanation. That shows
how well that bank is run - she's only worth eight figures! LOL
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froodish
Social climber
Portland, Oregon
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Sep 30, 2011 - 01:00pm PT
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I bank at a local credit union (Rivermark). Nice people, service has been great and access to no-fee ATMs isn't an issue with the sharing agreements between credit unions these days. There's even no-fee ATMs in 7-11s now:
http://www.co-opfs.org/public/locators/atmlocator/index.cfm
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spidey
Trad climber
Berkeley CA
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Sep 30, 2011 - 01:03pm PT
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Move your money ASAP. If you can get into a credit union, do so.
I used to bank at BofA, but after a while I realized they are evil so I switched. Bank of the West has been reasonable so far. But I would go with a local bank or credit union if you can.
My GF has a credit union that not only does not charge ridiculous fees, it actually PAYS FOR the fees that other banks charge her to withdraw cash from their ATMs. how cool is that?
(SF Fire Credit Union)
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apogee
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 30, 2011 - 01:07pm PT
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</rant> BofA's announcement yesterday is being interpreted as a swipe back at consumers announced two days before one of the new consumer protection laws take effect limiting the amount that banks can charge on 'swipe fees' associated with ATM card use. This monthly fee is a blatant attempt to recoup the losses they will experience from that new law, at a time when BofA's value is decreasing.
BofA really is the scummiest of them all.<rant/>
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Dave
Mountain climber
the ANTI-fresno
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Sep 30, 2011 - 01:14pm PT
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BofA and other banks are slowly implementing these fees. WF is "testing" similar fees. I have used WF for years but will jump ship in a heartbeat to a local bank if they charge them on my account.
My grandfather was a banker - went from a runner in the Depression to Chairman of the board of PNC in the 70's... He'd roll over in his grave to see what the sleaze have done to the industry today.
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Sep 30, 2011 - 01:16pm PT
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This is what you get when you call for more Federal regulation of the banking industry.
But for Dodd-Frank ( Obama ), B of A wouldn't have changed anything.
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apogee
climber
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 30, 2011 - 01:18pm PT
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Yes, Chaz, I'm sure BofA and the rest of the banking industry would have gone on their merry way thinking of new ways to generously serve consumers at a reasonable cost. Those darn regulations!
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Sep 30, 2011 - 01:23pm PT
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I'm the Chairman of BofA. I made some really stupid decisions during the bank bailouts. I got greedy and bought Countrywide Financial when everyone knew they had done a large number of sure to fail loans. So now we're losing money big time. I sent a memo to the VP of card services and asked him how we could raise revenue when customers use their cards, piss off our customers, and do it in such a way we can blame Dodd-Frank. Because Dodd-Frank might protect our foolish customers from another banking meltdown.
$2.50 a swipe meets all of my criteria. I'll ask the Board for an additional $1000000 bonus this year.
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spidey
Trad climber
Berkeley CA
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Sep 30, 2011 - 01:24pm PT
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It's a win-win for BofA, or at least it appears that they think so. The real money they make from their customers is from fees, so they will continue to charge whatever fees they can get away with. If you're not willing to pay them lots of fees they don't want you anyway. They will keep the customers who either don't notice or are too lazy to move their accounts somewhere else.
They may be on the verge of bankruptcy anyway because of their mortgage fraud and resulting lawsuits etc, but I hope this causes them to lose a LOT of customers. They are pure evil. Move your money.
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tolman_paul
Trad climber
Anchorage, AK
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Sep 30, 2011 - 01:32pm PT
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I've done the majority of my banking through USAA for the past 20+ years. I've never been to one of their branches, they are based in Texas, but they are super to deal with. Asside from that I use a local credit union for some stuff.
I remember my college roomate being jacked around by BofA, and that was in the late 80's. So f'n with their customers is nothing new. Biggest isn't always best, mostly with finance firms the opposite is true.
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jstan
climber
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Sep 30, 2011 - 01:33pm PT
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When a non-local bank is taken over by FDIC or NCUA you can run into stressful situations. It always helps to be able to walk into the bank and talk to a human.
Credit Unions, as a rule, give better results to the customer than do banks but it is simply good due diligence to go over their statements of condition.
NCUA claims their insurance fund is in better shape than that of FDIC but there is a wrinkle. NCUA is smaller and they have a subset of corporate credit unions with very large investments in REITs and with very few natural person customers. Their investments to capital ratio is running 85:1 while the others are running closer to the 12:1 guide line. The Corporate Credit Unions have their necks stuck way out to the tune of 100 billion dollars. Why the regulators have allowed corporations to put the taxpayers at risk in this way is beyond me. Quite beyond me. I just don't understand.
Sheila Bair has left the FDIC so paying more attention to the FDIC is also called for.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 30, 2011 - 01:49pm PT
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jstan, was Buffett's buy of BofA stock purely a short time cynical move or
does he see something good in the long run that we don't?
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Moof
Big Wall climber
Orygun
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Sep 30, 2011 - 01:55pm PT
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We were with WaMu and liked them a lot. Then Chase took over, and it has been hassles since. We've now moved most of our banking to a credit union. A little quirky, but no less convenient as it turns out. We're just waiting for the last of our direct deposit paperwork to go through to finish closing our Chase accounts.
Years back we kicked Wells Fargo to the curb after they constantly messed up my wife's account and could not get their story straight on what she had to do to avoid fees (each month she would change account types, to the one they said would work for our situation, and each month a new monthly fee would pop up).
Pretty much I think credit unions are the last haven of non-bastard banking.
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tolman_paul
Trad climber
Anchorage, AK
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Sep 30, 2011 - 01:57pm PT
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Buffett has typically been a long term investor. But the thing is, you need to look at not only that he is putting $ into BofA, but that he is taking it out of something else. I'm just as curious what he's dumping.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 30, 2011 - 02:01pm PT
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Buffett isn't taking it out of something else - Berkshire has $75 BILLION in cash burning a hole in his pocket and not earning much.
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spidey
Trad climber
Berkeley CA
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Sep 30, 2011 - 02:15pm PT
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Buffett is putting his money into BofA because he knows they are going to get another bailout if they ever need it (and they most likely will).
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jstan
climber
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Sep 30, 2011 - 02:22pm PT
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http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/08/26/5-things-to-remember-about-buffetts-
deal-with-bank.aspx
The deals Buffett strikes with these companies are basically heads he wins, tails he wins
even more. Those who try to ride his coattails flip a whole different set of coins.
Buffett generally works to a long horizon and calculates value. As pointed out in the link, being Warren Buffett does not hurt. I would be fascinated to hear what Graham has to say about his student.
Edit:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/JPMorgan-BofA-sued-over-rb-
4268611515.html;_ylt=AolU43ijfi027e1cfBlT8MG7YWsA;_ylu=X3oDMTE1YXFrcG5rBHBvcwM4BH
NlYwN0b3BTdG9yaWVzBHNsawNqcG1vcmdhbmJvZmE-?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=5&asset=&ccode=
Bank of America is seeking court approval of an $8.5 billion global settlement covering
investors in mortgage pools with $174 billion of unpaid Countrywide principal balances.
B of A's purchase of WaMu with Treasury encouragement had to mean some assurances
were given. Ill-advised ones apparently.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 30, 2011 - 02:31pm PT
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Spidey,
I don't think Buffett invests 5 billion based on ifs and maybes.
Granted, he made 20% on his first day owning BofA so he did better than most of us .
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spidey
Trad climber
Berkeley CA
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Sep 30, 2011 - 03:21pm PT
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No ifs and maybes about it. He has certainty that they will be bailed out, or at least that his money is safe...He made out like a bandit during the 2008 crisis and will certainly do so again during the next one.
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