# Snot nosed bank won't make change **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 5, 2024, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snot-nosed-bank-wont-make-change/1008476 "2024-10-05T16:46:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snot-nosed-bank-wont-make-change/1008476/81 "2024-10-10T03:12:45Z")
I mean, upgrading to take credit cards is a capital investment, and i imagine the landlord doesn’t want to deal with it. But it sucks that they haven’t. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snot-nosed-bank-wont-make-change/1008476/82 "2024-10-10T03:36:21Z")
I bank at a Regional Credit Union. No fees, you can get change, better interest rates, no worries. Why aren’t **you** a credit union member? ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snot-nosed-bank-wont-make-change/1008476/83 "2024-10-10T12:56:01Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I mean, upgrading to take credit cards is a capital investment, and i imagine the landlord doesn’t want to deal with it. But it sucks that they haven’t. They also have to pay a processing fee, and I believe most cards have a minimum the retailer has to pay per transaction, so the price for laundry is going to go up. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snot-nosed-bank-wont-make-change/1008476/84 "2024-10-10T15:27:31Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Why aren’t **you** a credit union member? The last time I was a member of a regional credit union, it was a piece of shit place that kept screwing up my balance. I eventually closed my account because I was sick of having to go in there and have it corrected over and over again. To their credit, they’d always fix it, but dammit the point of putting money in a bank is supposed to be that professionals and their systems are keeping track of it, if I wanted to have to keep track of my money on my own all the time I’d stick it in a safe in my house. I opened an account at Bank of America and have never had a single problem with them for almost 25 years. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snot-nosed-bank-wont-make-change/1008476/85 "2024-10-10T15:37:01Z")
Years ago I lived in an apartment building that had a coin laundry. The manager emptied the quarters from the machines every Saturday morning then sat at a table in front of his apartment and traded quarters for bills. He said it was much easier to deposit bills at the bank especially after the bank started requiring depositors of large amounts of change to count and roll the coins at the bank in front of an employee. Some of the folks that lived in the apartments started painting their coins so they could buy back the same coins every week. I painted mine yellow. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snot-nosed-bank-wont-make-change/1008476/86 "2024-10-10T15:45:40Z")
Try a different credit union. BTW—BankOf America was repossessing peoples homes, who did not even have a mortgage, a few years back. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snot-nosed-bank-wont-make-change/1008476/87 "2024-10-10T15:53:31Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Try a different credit union. No thanks, I’ll take my 25 years of good service, thanks. Plus, I’m not going to find branch offices all over the country for a regional credit union. The idea that they are somehow inherently superior to banks is fiction. > [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > BTW—BankOf America was repossessing peoples homes, who did not even have a mortgage, a few years back. Sucks for those people I guess. They’ve treated me great. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snot-nosed-bank-wont-make-change/1008476/88 "2024-10-10T16:42:32Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Why aren’t **you** a credit union member? Because I’ve been a member of three, and they were all terrible administratively. Meanwhile I’ve had 30 years of great service from one of the most maligned giants of banking. I have had access to a no-fee ATM in dozens of countries seamlessly. They’ve helped me with emergencies, and never tried to upsell me anything. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snot-nosed-bank-wont-make-change/1008476/89 "2024-10-10T16:46:05Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > **@Two_Many_Cats2** file a complaint with them; you can just call any number you find for them, including the branch; they have to take it & regulators do look at them. Sure , they can file a complaint - but in the absence of a regulation that the bank must provide change to non-depositors it’s not going to go anywhere. And I’d be really surprised if there was any regulation that required that. > [@BigT](#): > > But most places I know will give you change without purchasing anything. Most places I know will not - sure, if I’m a regular customer at Mike’s deli, he’ll give me change for a dollar or two without me making a purchase at that moment. But it’s really unlikely that I will be asking for change where I am a regular customer- the times in my life when I was looking for change always involved either 1) a parking meter 2) a pay phone or 3) bus fare. And the convenience store next to the bus stop is not going to give change to every non-customer who asks. What they usually will do however, is give me extra change - so that if I buy a bottle of water, they will give me an extra dollar worth of quarters. Laundromats always had change machines ( or someone working there who could give change) > [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Why aren’t **you** a credit union member? I am - but my credit union has very few branches or free ATMS. If my main bank accounts were at the credit union, I’d be paying Citibank or Chase or some other bank a $3 ATM fee _plus_ a $3 fee to the credit union whenever I did want cash. So I keep my main accounts at a large bank and basically never pay an ATM fee. Banks have never done all that much for non-depositors - they aren’t required to cash checks for non-depositors and some don’t. The ones that do charge a fee. When I worked at a bank 40 or so years ago, we didn’t even cash checks drawn on a account at that bank unless it was a payroll check from a business that had arranged for us to cash their payroll checks- for a fee, of course. Even depositors had to pay a fee for rolls of change. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snot-nosed-bank-wont-make-change/1008476/90 "2024-10-10T16:58:23Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > BTW—BankOf America was repossessing peoples homes, who did not even have a mortgage, a few years back. That’s not a Bank of America thing. All sorts of banks have foreclosed on the wrong house. Your credit union has probably foreclosed on the wrong house. It happens a lot more with bigger banks because they have a lot more mortgages. It’s not malfeasance, it’s administrative error. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snot-nosed-bank-wont-make-change/1008476/91 "2024-10-10T17:58:23Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > my credit union has very few branches or free ATMS. If my main bank accounts were at the credit union, I’d be paying Citibank or Chase or some other bank a $3 ATM fee _plus_ a $3 fee to the credit union whenever I did want cash. So I keep my main accounts at a large bank and basically never pay an ATM fee. I joined my credit union when I worked – it was affiliated with my company (the company name was part of the credit union name). It was convenient when I was working, but now that I’m retired, the closest branch to me is 40 miles away. But I haven’t had to physically go to my credit union in decades. Fortunately, it’s part of a network with a branch of another c.u. super close to me where I can withdraw money and deposit the rare checks I still get. I’m nearly 100% cashless now. It’s been well over a year since I’ve made a cash withdrawal. But I’ve never had a problem with my credit union, although I’ve had small to large problems with Wells Fargo, BofA, and the long gone Security Pacific. Seems like I was always getting pissed off and changing banks! ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2024, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snot-nosed-bank-wont-make-change/1008476/92 "2024-10-10T18:01:15Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > BTW—BankOf America was repossessing peoples homes, who did not even have a mortgage, a few years back. One of whom returned in kind. > **[Homeowner Forecloses on Bank of America | TIME.com](https://business.time.com/2011/06/06/homeowner-forecloses-on-bank-of-america-yes-you-heard-that-right/)** > > A couple of foreclosed homeowners in Naples, Fla., reportedly foreclosed on a Bank of America branch last week. Their attorney had moving trucks pull up in front of a Naples branch to execute a judgment against the bank. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2024, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snot-nosed-bank-wont-make-change/1008476/93 "2024-10-11T06:17:14Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > Some of the folks that lived in the apartments started painting their coins so they could buy back the same coins every week. I painted mine yellow. Why on earth would anyone care enough to do this? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2024, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snot-nosed-bank-wont-make-change/1008476/94 "2024-10-11T10:43:52Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > > [@BigT](#): > > > > But most places I know will give you change without purchasing anything. > > Most places I know will not It used to be that most places would give change, on the assumption that you were a customer who needed a quarter for the meters. They wouldn’t have given you a roll of quarters, but they would give you 4 for a dollar. For that matter, it used to be that random people on the street would do that. I’ve been on both sides of that transaction, and once gave someone 3 quarters and a dime for a dollar bill because that was all the change i had and he didn’t want to get a ticket. But now most people and most establishments don’t carry a lot of change. I’ve had merchants give me incorrect change (to much or too little) when i made a cash transaction because they basically don’t carry cash, and _couldn’t_ give me correct change. The meters use an app. The bus uses a credit card. The local laundromat uses credit cards. (I misremembered my Laundromat story above, it takes both credit cards and coins, but the coin box was jammed and i hadn’t brought my credit card. That’s why the manager gave me a freebie, he didn’t want to make me drive home to get a credit card. I offered him the handful of coins i was trying to feed the machine and he declined.) My bank is incredibly helpful, but i don’t know if they’d have a lot of coins lying around if i didn’t ask them in advance. Americans just don’t use coins much any more. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2024, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snot-nosed-bank-wont-make-change/1008476/95 "2024-10-11T15:38:58Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > Why on earth would anyone care enough to do this? Made it easier for the manager to know whose quarters were whose. I knew that the $4 I spent on laundry last week will be available next week. Plus I could give the manager a 20 and knew my laundry quarters would be available for the next 5 weeks. The few that didn’t paint their quarters ran the chance of having none available then having to go someplace to get change. It also provided a game for the residents, finding painted quarters in the wild. When I moved out I left my quarters for the next tenant with a fresh coat of paint. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snot-nosed-bank-wont-make-change/1008476.md?page=4)