I am sick and tired of putting up with it. I give and give and give but all I ever get in return is take, take, take. If I make one little mistake on ANYTHING I get zinged like there’s no tomorrow. I look at others and wonder if they experience the same thing. Some of them I’m sure are getting more from their relationship than I am. They boldly flaunt it.
I’m getting a divorce from my bank.
It won’t be easy. My bank and I are joined together, tangled even, in so many ways. My mortgage is with them, I have a savings account there, my children have their savings accounts there, and did I mention all the automatic drafts and payments we’ve set up together? This won’t be easy, but it has to be done, despite the sticky hassle it might become. Why am I and so many others ready to divorce our banks?
- Too many crazy fees
- Other banks offer higher interest rates
- ATM fees
- A really bad online interface
What’s my plan for divorcing my bank?
First, I don’t plan on leaving all at once, but over the course of several months. I plan to leave a few bucks in my old checking account just to be on the safe side. There could be a quarterly draft or something I’ve forgotten to switch over and I don’t want to get zinged again because of one little mistake. That way, every time I see another automatic draft on the old account, I can switch it over.
Second, I’ll closely monitor both my old account and my new account online. By doing so, I can easily monitor my relationships with my mortgage , car insurance company, life insurance company, and others to make certain they’ve started drafting from my new account and not the old one. I have sent checks to some companies in the past that waited 4 or 5 weeks to deposit them (picture me shaking my head).
Lastly, I don’t plan to burn any bridges with my old bank. I’ve had an account there since I was six years old! I’ll also make sure they have my correct contact information so that any 1099’s or interest statements (though they will be small amounts) will be sent to my proper address.
Wherever will I go, whatever will I do?
There are a couple of options I’m considering.
- WT Direct is currently offering a $150 BONUS to new account holders. Free money is ALWAYS good.
- Bank of Internet provides online banking services including high interest checking as well as mortgages. Interest rates on their savings accounts are running 2.06 percent APY as of today. Do you know the difference between APR and APY?
- EverBank offers outstanding yields on money market accounts, right now as high as 3.15 percent.
The main thing I plan to do is spread my money around. Right now I’m worried because my main checking account (where my main paycheck is deposited) is at the same bank where my mortgage is located. I’ve heard some horror stories about a mortgage payment being a few days late and the bank draining your checking account. The result? A boatload of overdrafts and fees. While I don’t plan on ever being late on a mortgage payment, I can never know the future and I think it makes sense for me to maintain some separation.
What about you? Have you gotten disgusted at your bank’s money grab in ATM fees, overdraft charges, lack of service, horrible online interface, or dreary interest rates?
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Banks suck……unless you are a shareholder….oh wait….didn’t the taxpayers just have to mortgage the grandchildren’s future to bail some of them out….
On a slightly more serious note, I use multiple banks in Hong Kong:
1. bank #1: where my pay goes, where I do unleveraged securities investments intended to be held long term (i.e.low turnover) and which provides my credit cards (on which I do not carry a balance). I never owe this bank anything more than the monthly balance on my credit card. Picked for a combination of good service and good credit quality. I negotiated no fees on my credit cards, got a waiver on the annual account fee and have a personal banker I can send an e-mail to whenever I need something. The reason I do not use this bank more is that the fees for transactions are very uncompetitive (i.e. expensive)
2. bank #2: where I do more active investments/trading. Picked because their fees are very competitive, their internet interface is excellent and they have good credit quality. Phyiscal branch access is not convenient but I don’t need that. I could probably ditch bank #1 but prefer to split my assets between two banks as I am over the deposit protection limit
3. bank #3: where borrow money – mortgages on the home and the investment properties. Although I have never been late on a payment, I still like to keep the liabilities at a separate bank from the ones where i keep my cash etc. I keep a float equal to about two months of mortgage payments. While this bank offered very good terms on our mortgages and recently agreed to reduce our rate without doing a formal refinancing when I told them I could refinance elsewhere at a cheaper rate, their other services are a bit limited compared to bank#1 and bank#2. Fees are modest because I seldom do anything that triggers a fee
Given how competitive the banking industry is in HK I would divorce any bank that I felt was too expensive on fees or provided shoddy service.
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Haha…nicely played sir. You had me at divorce.
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Nice segue.
ATM fees and overdraft fees are your own fault. That just seems like carelessness to me. You should be aware of the bank’s policies before signing up. that’s one reason why, when i need cash/spending money, i withdraw the maximum $400 from the ATM so as to minimize the chances if exceeding the bank’s limit on ATM visits, which i frankly find ridiculous.
I share your disdain for banks i general, big banks in particular. I would advise a credit union or community bank, which will treat you better in every way.
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Admin 's reply:
July 23rd, 2009
“ATM fees and overdraft fees are your own fault. That just seems like carelessness to me. ”
I see your point, it’s just that my bank has this (new) endearing little habit of rearranging my debits and credits so that I get hit with their fees. I’ve been making the same automatic deposit for over 7 years (the 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month) but they recently decided to hold a deposit until the following Monday. Yes, they refunded their fees back into my account, but I still had fees from the merchants I had visited over the weekend and had to fight with them over those. That deposit should have been “live” on Friday morning like it was for the other 150+ times. They did this twice.
Plus, though they have an extensive ATM network, they’re not everywhere. With my newly planned banking arrangements, I’ll get 100 percent of all ATM fees refunded.
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You got me on this one! I was feeling for you!
Well, I know the feeling… JUST DO IT! Don’t think it twice!
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Hah! Had me going. Nicely done, sir.
I think its a worthwhile endeavor, though I’m sure it’ll be a pain in the butt. Keep us posted.
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Whew! I really thought you were gonna do it.
But if all you’re divorcing from is your bank, I think that’s fine.
I hope you’ll soon settle with a better one.
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Phew, you scared me with that title. Tricky.
I keep meaning to do the same thing with my bank accounts – and I feel a little wary having my mortgage and savings account at the same bank. I think it may be time to switch banks soon.
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Saw the title and felt real bad for you. Then read first paragraph and thought “man, is this guy upset, he probably should get divorced!”
Nice! I like how you are going to keep the old account open for a while. I’m always paranoid about forgetting about some bill somewhere I have scheduled. Reminds me that I need to keep better track.
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I had all my stuff at one bank once. At Christmas one year because my business income had dropped so low, I was behind on my credit cards. Two days before Christmas the bank drafted ALL, every dollar, I had in their bank out and applied all to the credit cards. That was a bad thing to happen at any time. More to this, I will not go into, but ever since then I keep monies seperate from where I have ccards and loans.
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