PLEASE READ THIS!

I decided every time my bank tries to give me the shaft, does something unsavory or provides lousy service, I was going to post it here and elsewhere. I have 3 for you now.
Sometime before the official word went out that WaMu was history and just before Chase took over and received a bailout, they started holding my deposits over a certain amount. Although this had never happened before, my bank insisted this was always there policy. Essentially, they were calling me a liar as I always pay attention to my account especially since changing from Wells Fargo, another big uncaring institution.
I have never been give a satisfactory answer or one that made any sense.

The banks of course encourage use of a debit card which means you better have money in the bank or your screwed. I personally will not use a debit card. Then you have the instant check thing going on now where they hand it back which means it is immediately or soon after taken out of your account. Sort of like a debit thing but I’m grateful some places do it because I write a lot of checks. So, we have here the bank holding my deposits and yet they expect immediate payment. Nice, real nice.

Ok, then a couple of months ago I take cash out of the ATM just before my vacation. Mind you, the beauty of the ATM card is you need to punch in a secret code in order to access your account. Also, I took the money out at my branch. No problem right? Wrong. I go to take out additional money a couple of weeks later after I get back and I can’t. I have no idea why and go into the bank and they said they put a hold on my account because the activity “looked suspicious” I asked them what was so suspicious about taking money out of my own account at my own branch. She said: “because you did it two days in a row”. “Uh yeah, but that’s because you have a daily limit of $300 and I wanted more” “And besides” I added, I thought that is why you provided me with a secret code” I said: “it’s not like I took money out in Georgia or another country, I did it at my own branch”
And what is the point of the camera I wondered? If they are suspicious they should review the camera rather than inconvenience me and if the secret code thing isn't working, come up with something that does.
She said they tried to call me at home. I told her that maybe it should have occurred to the bank that maybe I was gone on vacation and that that was the reason I took money out. Then she asked me if I wanted to provide my cell number. Why the hell would I do that, so I can tell you I’m on vacation and that I may need to get money????????
She said I’m sorry but it’s all automatic and they have no control over what happens. I was livid.
So, let’s review:
They want us all to have automatic deposit. They discourage the use of checks. Although, I have an ATM card, they would prefer I use a debit card, yet charge fees as do a lot of retail and other places of business. They hold my deposits but expect immediate payments and want us all to use auto pay. If I decide to have a wild weekend and take out my own money, they automatically put a hold on my account even though their policy says you can take out up to $300 a day without any mention of the fact that you can’t really unless they say you can. My money…..not their money.

Oh, but I’m not done. They charged me a fee because my savings balance dropped below a certain level. Never mind that I have had 1000’s of dollars in there for months which they were using but paying me no interest.
Did I mention that at some point my bank decided to change their policy to where, rather than having an 'average daily balance' of say $300.oo, it is now a ‘daily' balance of $300? In other words, your 'daily' balance can never drop below the minimum(even for a second, minute, hour, a day, 3 days, whatever) even if your average monthly balance is well above that. Nice, real nice.

But……..it gets better. Try and fight it. I called and made a stink. The teller said they cannot reverse the charge because the computer will deny it. I asked her: “what computer” “What is this, Star Trek?” I said: ”put a base ball bat through the damn thing and give me my money back” I really said that.
She said lots of people make the request and it gets denied. Then she said it was WaMu’s policy, not theirs.
What, the blame game? Taking cues from Obama are we?
I asked her who runs the bank, people or computers? I said get a manager and get this resolved. She said the manager uses the same “program” What? They have no control what so ever? What the F*&K are they even there for?
Certainly not to serve me, that's for sure. My mattress is looking real good about now.

The horror of ever-growing bureaucracy, answerable only to "the system" and not to the customer. It's funny you mention Obama - he's the guy pushing that sort of bureaucratic control over ever-greater aspects of our lives.

For some sympathetic laughs, watch a Cuban film called "Death of a Bureaucrat". It is English-dubbed. Well worth the two hours.

I wonder if the other posters here can recommend a better bank to you...

This is a result of Obama's new restriction on fees and other procedures credit card companies had in the past. New rules take effect first of the year, so they are finding all kinds of other ways to collect fees since restrictions have been placed on them.
Some of the "new rules" sounded great to consumers when Obama and his cronies (most of whom are criminals and tax cheats) started spouting they were going to make the credit card companies (which means the banks that issue the cards) shape up and stop "gouging" the consumers. Yeah, right. Just like all the other nice things Obama is doing "for" us, it ended up screwing us more because now there will be fees for things that used to be free to compensate for losing fees they used to get for such things as late payments (a perfectly reasonable thing to ask a late fee for that), and other things they were doing to make money that Obama did not like.

Yep, Big Daddy is lookin' out for you. Don't you just love Big Government? Wait until they control your health coverage. That should be really,really helpful.

Liberals are so used to being told what to do they voted for Big Daddy so they would never have to make a decision on their own again. Problem is, we all got the jerk!

Sunlandkid, try a credit union, they will treat you the best of all. Or, WestAmerica Bank is great! When I moved to Oregon I had to find new banking as there are no WestAmerica branches here, but during all of the process of setting up new accounts, transferring investments etc, I never had a problem at all with WestAmerica Bank. They even honored transactions over the phone for me, all I had to do was provide proof of who I was, but usually not even that because my branch was in a small town and all the tellers knew me. They just know how to treat their customers.
But, Credit Unions are best- fewer and lower fees, and you are part owner.

I refuse to use banks.
I use Credit Union's.
Credit Unions will usually reciprocate with each other as well. So no charges like bunks.

You can get an account with Patelco or any other credit union in Sonoma County. Also people say they love Redwood, Summit, Sonoma, Exchange banks as well. Sometimes the big banks really are not the place you want to park your money.

GL!

Thanks for the suggestions.I actually know better, I'm just lazy. Now, I have no one to blame but myself.