I have been chased from one bank to another for years, only to have the new bank eventually gobbled up by successive banks until it belongs to some shitty giant banking corporation. But since 1984, I have also belonged to a credit union, that has only once merged with another credit union to offer expanded services and membership. It was seamless and everything has basically stayed the same. I have always just used it to squirrel away money, until now. It was known as CWA Long Island Federal Credit Union, and it was only open to CWA (Communications Workers of America) union members and their families. Yes, it's true, I was once a member of that union and was out on strike for 9 days in spring 1986. I have used the credit union to buy two houses, at least a half dozen cars, and fund large home improvement projects. Their rates were reasonable and pay back was painless. They are now known as Island Federal Credit Union based on Long Island in Hauppauge, NY. I have dealt with some of the same credit union personnel for years and their customer service is outstanding.
My current bank is Peoples United Bank (the name always had a commie ring to it) and it has been gobbled up by M&T Bank that I had never previously heard of. Normally when a bank takes over another, routing and account numbers stay the same, the computer systems are programmed to combine everything in an event called Conversion Weekend. Not this time. They are changing EVERYTHING forcing customers to do the same. Guess what? If I need to change routing numbers and account numbers for every financial transaction and payroll direct deposit, then it will be to somewhere else. My wife filed her direct deposit paperwork too late for today's payday but it should be in force next week. She also needs to move the bulk of her savings account funds to her new savings account before they shut down the entire banking system over labor Day weekend to do the conversion.
"Glypto, why are you such a crabby old bastard about this? you may ask, "just suck it up!" Well, let me tell you the entire tale. Then maybe you will understand this crabby old bastard.
My Mom went back to work when I hit middle school and she got a job at First Federal Savings and Loan in East Hartford. Over her long and distinguished career, she went from a simple secretary (Administrative Assistant for you young `uns) to an officer of the bank to an Executive Vice President when she retired. Because she worked there, we all got banking services for free, low interest rates, and pretty much guaranteed approval for loans. I was a customer starting at age 11 in 1973 when I needed to open a savings account for my paper route. That came to an end for me in 2001, when the bank was sold to the Savings Bank of Manchester. Oh, we stuck it out for a while with SBM, but as I asked a teller near the end, "Did they force you people to take stupid pills to work here?" They could fuck up the simplest transaction. That was it, we left for another small local community bank called Tolland Bank in early 2002. Things were great for a short couple of years. Then, out of the blue came the creation of New Alliance Bank, which cobbled together SBM, Tolland Bank, and New Haven Savings Bank. All of those were once small community banks, but now we're back to dealing with some of the same knuckleheads. Before the merger was complete, we were out.
Next up for us was to go to Rockville Bank. It was another local small community bank dating back to 1858 that was lorded over by its president and CEO William McGurk. Bill was a great guy that did a lot for our community and that bank was his baby. However, Bill was nearing retirement and wanting the bank to continue independently as it always had, he hand-picked his successor. He retired in 2011 leaving the bank in the hands of one William H.W. Crawford IV. In 2014 Rockville Bank and United Bank merged putting Crawford a the helm and dropping the Rockville part of the name. At first, United Bank was good for us because nothing changed except there were now a shit ton more branches available to us in CT and western MA. Doing most of our banking online worked really well, and the few trips necessary to a branch were fine. In 2019, United Bank merged with Peoples United calling the new mash up Peoples United Bank. Things seem to change and not for the better. One of the things that REALLY irked me was the on-line bill payer service. If I paid a bill electronically, they would take the money from my account, sit on it for a few days to earn interest, then pay the bill. Now, I understand the bank needs to make money, but prior to Peoples United the delay was only like two days and absolutely predictable. In my opinion, they made their bill payer service totally unusable. I had bills getting paid late incurring late charges, so I deleted all the payees I had set up and began paying all my bills directly on the company websites, which continues to this day. When I got the paperwork about M&T, I was not at all happy with the crap I was reading, particularly the limits on transactions and such.
Now you may be wondering about the availability of branches since the credit union is physically located on Long Island. Credit unions are a cooperative, meaning there is a local credit union that has a branch a couple of towns away that I can do in person transactions if I need to. There are also branches and fee free ATM's all over the state, so if the need arises, I am covered. Since they do allow check deposit by online banking, the need for a physical branch is pretty limited.
We have been members of our credit union for the 30 years of our marriage. They have changed or merged with a couple of other credit unions, and just changed their name, but nothing else, this past month. We use them for most all of our transactions.
ReplyDeleteMy wife has an account that she uses for our 25 year old disabled daughter who lives with us, who gets a monthly SS check, to keep track off her expenditures. And I have an account that I use to pay our internet bill. I had that account before we married, and never closed it. I don't have more than 1500$ or so in it, and never put any more than that in it just to pay that one bill, and as an emergency fund, plus we both have a small safe, with a bit of cash, as another emergency fund, that we can get to if a banking failure or other major problem hits.
Gone are the days when I worked 40 miles from my hometown, and could call from work, and talk to the banker from my hometown bank, ask for a thousand dollar signature loan, and pick it up on the way home from work. Even my old hometown bank, where I no longer live, has merged with other banks, and they have 4 or more banks in their group. I now live in the city where I worked for 35 plus years, and am now retired and still live here.
I never had any problem with banking until all of a sudden, it happened that the banks wanted to make more money, and I suppose that the regulations changed by congress, and wham, it all changed, and nobody was safe from the banks doing their stunts, such as doing debits before deposits, and other things that could make them a dollar or two.