What financial institutions should I consider?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve been banking with Washington Mutual for 4 years, and until recently never had a problem.

Starting in November, they’ve been holding my funds and locking my debit card for absolutely no reason. I’ve had my card locked 3 times for making small purchases, and before that never did out of the ordinary spending. Now they’re holding the majority of my deposit from yesterday, and I’ve deposited more money than that before! It was my paycheck and a refund from school. I did make the deposit through the ATM, but I’ve done that before with a larger amount of money and they’ve never held anything! I’ve had the same job for 3 years, so they shouldn’t have to check the validity of that company, and my refund came from the Seattle Community Colleges…not all that suspicious either.

When I called to ask about my most recent card lock, I was told it was due to an online purchase I made recently. Considering that I’m not exactly a stranger to online shopping and it was a purchase just over $23 made on Amazon.com - I didn’t see a reason to lock my card. The last few locks are under similar circumstances.

I check my transaction history regularly, so I know that there hasn’t been any unauthorized spending going on. I’m also up to date on my credit and nothing fishy is going on there either.

I’m seriously considering switching banks, but I don’t know which one. I’ve always raved about WaMu and I have no idea what else is better out there. I’m not even considering Bank of America as I’ve heard entirely too many horror stories, and I’m not too comfortable with Wells Fargo either.

Any suggestions?

2

You might consider a credit union. But I’m sure you can find horror stories about every bank, savings and loan institution and credit union. (Bank of America, which you mentioned, has millions of customers, so even if only one in ten thousand has a bad experience, that’s many “horror stories” that result.)

3

I am a former member of Global Credit Union when I lived in northern Idaho, And I was very pleased with them. Very friendly people, numerous locations, free checking, free online bill pay(IIRC), etc. Check em out. I am not as pleased with my current bank, Chase. Nothing wrong with them, but I prefer the warm friendly customer service of a credit union, then the cold capitialistic feel of BankOne/Chase.

4

We were with a small regional bank for 18 years. They recently changed ownership and we noticed all kinds of mistakes and general bullshit with regard to service. We went to a local bank just this weekend. Better rates, nice people. Time will tell if they’re any good. My advice is to shop around on line. Most banks have websites and you can get the basics from there.

Nothing more frustrating than bank bullshit. Pull the plug on 'em!