I can see thier office building from my window. Want I should head over there at lunch and kick a shin or tow?
Seriously - Walkalloverya, has got to be one of the worse banks I’d ever had to deal with. The only good legacy of my first marriage was my membership in the State Employees’ Credit Union.
[QUOTE=Number]
Oh, and the phrase is “take off”, not “dust off”. “Prepare for dust off” is from one of Hicks’s other lines.
[/QUOTE]
What makes you think I was quoting? I was offering my own heartfelt advice.
[QUOTE=Roland Orzabal]
Kyla: My pleasure. 
badbadrubberpiggy, have you ever had any accounts with them at all? One thing that sometimes happens at banks is that, while accessing your accounts to help you with a legitimate concern, a teller or phone rep will place a note on your account stating that he or she “spoke with the customer about a loan application”, even if this never actually took place. They do this in order to receive referral credit – and the money that usually comes along with it – if you ever do choose to take out a loan. If that’s what happened here, the guy calling you isn’t lying to you; he’s just misinformed. The real culprit is whoever placed the note in the first place.
Obviously, it’s a wrong thing to do; perhaps not so obviously, it doesn’t thrill the bank either…and you’re a perfect example of the reason why. Banks, generally speaking, don’t want to piss off their existing customers by constantly badgering them about products for which they have no use, especially via phone, and double-especially when it involves claiming that you actually requested the calls when you know perfectly well that that’s so much bullshit.
What you can do is to call Wachovia’s customer service line, and ask them to remove you from their telephone solicitation list (if you haven’t already). This will prevent anyone from calling you with a sales pitch in the future. You might also mention the reason for your request, and ask the representative to report the false sales note on your account. At the very least, they’ll stop calling you, and who knows, you might even get an apology out of them.
[/QUOTE]
I have actually never had any dealings with Wachovia at all, aside from what I posted above, that’s why it’s so strange. The guy I actually spoke to sounded surprised, so I’m pretty sure he was just going by the note and was assuming it was true. He said he’d make a note of it, and that I shouldn’t get any more calls. If I do get more, then I’ll call customer service, but the rep I spoke too sounded sincere and was apologetic.
[QUOTE=Kyla]
This thread has taught me one thing, though - Pitting doesn’t just make you feel better, sometimes it actually accomplishes stuff, if the right people read your thread. Thanks, Roland Orzabal!
[/QUOTE]
Right on!!! Another thanks to you, Roland Orzabal!
Well, what should come in the mail today but a letter informing me that my student loan has been sold to Wachovia. Woo hoo.
[QUOTE=badbadrubberpiggy]
I have actually never had any dealings with Wachovia at all, aside from what I posted above, that’s why it’s so strange.
[/QUOTE]
Have you ever had dealings with First Onion? Walkalloverya bought them a couple of years ago. That could be where the note cam from.
[QUOTE=Maus Magill]
Have you ever had dealings with First Onion? Walkalloverya bought them a couple of years ago. That could be where the note cam from.
[/QUOTE]
Nope! Heh, First Onion sounds made up, I’ve never even heard of it.
My banks:
Citizens
BOA and whatever it was right before before that (Fleet, I think)
Currently I use a local credit union, which isn’t affiliated with Wachovia as far as I’m aware
[QUOTE=badbadrubberpiggy]
Nope! Heh, First Onion sounds made up, I’ve never even heard of it.
My banks:
Citizens
BOA and whatever it was right before before that (Fleet, I think)
Currently I use a local credit union, which isn’t affiliated with Wachovia as far as I’m aware
[/QUOTE]
Sorry - First Union.
I want to say that either FU (another favorite nickname) or Wachovia bought Citizens in the '90s.
[QUOTE=Maus Magill]
Sorry - First Union.
I want to say that either FU (another favorite nickname) or Wachovia bought Citizens in the '90s.
[/QUOTE]
Then it’s possible. I had Citizen’s in high school, which was during the mid to late 90’s. I certainly wouldn’t have told them to send me an application for consolidating my loans, though, since I didn’t have any at the time.
Ah well, I think I’ll just have to chalk it up to one of those weird things.
For what it’s worth, I remember hearing commercials on the radio for a First Citizen’s bank; I guess FU (heh) bought them out?
(This would have been fifth grade or before…so the early '90s, definitely.)
[QUOTE=Jeep’s Phoenix]
For what it’s worth, I remember hearing commercials on the radio for a First Citizen’s bank; I guess FU (heh) bought them out?
(This would have been fifth grade or before…so the early '90s, definitely.)
[/QUOTE]
Nah, First Citizen’s is still around; we have a couple branches in this area. Since SunTrust bought NBC, First Citizen’s seems to have replaced them as “official bank of being inside Kroger”.
Also, dirty little secret: First Union actually more or less bought Wachovia, but kept the name because of the bad reputation “the big F.U.” had built up over the years. Different name, but the corporate structure, the account numbering/classification system, the home office locations…all First Union.
Hmm. In this area, SunTrust is the “official bank of being inside Harris Teeter.”
I remember reading about the nature of the buyout, and the switch to a First Union business model; I’ve always wondered if that explains why Mom’s personal banker suddenly started calling her trying to push various investment options.
Kyla, since at some point Wachovia records suggested that you were seriously in arrears, I’d strongly recommend checking your credit reports as soon as possible to make sure they haven’t screwed you over there as well. If you haven’t pulled your free credit reports in the last 12 months, you can do that here. If you already have, you can truck on over to myfico.com and retrieve any or all three of the Big Three credit bureaus’ reports for you.
Check now, and give yourself peace of mind… you don’t want to find out that they slapped you with a 90-day late payment or worse, which does horrible things to your credit score and impacts your ability to get future credit. If you do find problems, you can handle at least one or two rounds of disputes easily enough online. The credit bureaus have 30-45 days to investigate your dispute and get back to you, so the process of correcting problems can sometimes take a while.
I should say it’ll require giving out your social security number, and other past/present credit account information (sometimes account numbers, old addresses) to verify your identity. If you don’t think you can do that securely from where you are, maybe your parents can retrieve your credit reports for you. Good luck!
[QUOTE=Roland Orzabal]
Also, dirty little secret: First Union actually more or less bought Wachovia, but kept the name because of the bad reputation “the big F.U.” had built up over the years. Different name, but the corporate structure, the account numbering/classification system, the home office locations…all First Union.
[/QUOTE]
Sorry for the misinformation. That’s what I get for washing my hands of banks years ago.
Remeinds me - I need to head to my local SECU branch at lunch. The manager needed me to look at some of my loan papers. (Wow - personal service. That’s something I haven’t seen since the eighties.)
So I guess I’m the only one to wonder why I’d not heard of the country of Wachovia before and didn’t know why Bush was going to invade it :o
[QUOTE=Pushkin]
So I guess I’m the only one to wonder why I’d not heard of the country of Wachovia before and didn’t know why Bush was going to invade it :o
[/QUOTE]
Hey! I’m not George Bush! What kind of insult is that?!
I thought you were using the royal, editorial “I” 
I’ve dealt with US loan companies before through the university, I understand its a hell of a hassle compared to the UK’s one student loan company.
[QUOTE=Pushkin]
So I guess I’m the only one to wonder why I’d not heard of the country of Wachovia before and didn’t know why Bush was going to invade it :o
[/QUOTE]
For fuck’s sake, don’t give him any ideas. A Bush-ordered attack on Wachovia would destroy about 1/3 of downtown Roanoke and a good portion of the outlying areas. Manhattan would be fucked as well.
Bank of America and First Citizen’s are probably safe. SunTrust? I dunno; sounds kinda commie. Sanctions, perhaps.
[QUOTE=Roland Orzabal]
Bank of America and First Citizen’s are probably safe. SunTrust? I dunno; sounds kinda commie. Sanctions, perhaps.
[/QUOTE]
What if he decides he is the only first citizen and is rebuffed trying to make a withdrawl? Besides, First Citizen sounds a bit elitest-commie in itself.
When I first saw “Wachovia Bank” in print, I thought of “watch over you,” which seemed positive enough. Later, I heard it spoken on television, and they used a K sound. That makes it “walk over you.” Walk Ovah Ya Bank; is that a good corporate image? It’s like going to Hugh Lou’s Casino.