Stay away from Wells Fargo if you can....especially their ATM.

Times Article

Wells Fargo is prolly the worst of the worst.

I'm over 20 years with a credit union for regular savings and checking, and don't see a bank in my future.

Community bank or credit union. Keep your dollars local.

Amen, Andy. BTW, why does anyone bank at these uber-huge banks? They treat customers like crap and deliver the poorest service.

I was sold on small town banks when I was in college. I wanted to buy a new car and talked with the bank prez, a former high school classmate's dad. I had half the money, wanted to make monthly payments until I returned to school, and make no payments until after I got a job the next summer. Without looking up anything he said, yeah, that shouldn't be a problem, and I made my first ever credit purchase. Sometimes I wish I still had that car.

Oh how I wish!

I'm stuck with BoA...


Nice thing about BoA...Traveling abroad.

They have partner branches all over the place.

...that and if you have the 'gold' account you don't pay jack in fees.

Wells doesn't pay sh!t for their residential appraisals BUT they gouge the heck out of you borrowers with the fee. Bunch of crooks.

I've never had the slightest problem with Wells Fargo, Skank of America however, don't get me started on.

Tom

Stick with the small banks for sure. Long ago canned Wells when I stood in line for 30mins with two people up front and three standing around B.S.ing over coffee. Never did step forward to speed up the line. Lazy POS's. That was a San Fran wells though which is likely worse than most. I was always amazed that with their fine service they stay open.

Kitsap bank kicks but on the Kit Penn. You know everyone there and always want the first shot at lending. Never again with BofA or Wells. Even Chase sucked.

My guess is that if you could poll big bank customers and ask them why they chose that bank, many would tell you they didn't choose that bank. Rather, it became their bank by way of a buyout of their smaller regional bank. As we all know, changing banks can be a pain, so I suspect most just eat as much crap as they can stomach from the big banks before they decide they've had enough and switch to a different bank (which likely will soon be swallowed up by a big bank - maybe even the same bank they just left - leaving them back at square one).

Small banks/credit unions for me, all the way. Thankfully, this is one of a dwindling number of industries in which there is still some level of competition (read hope for consumers). Hopefully, the big banks will continue to piss off enough customers to keep smaller banks alive.

As regards this story in particular, my limited understanding is that Visa is the big bad guy in the debit card fee fiasco. They own something over 60% of the market share, so they more or less make the rules. Being a big, profit-motivated corporation, they tend to make rules that hurt both consumers and retailers alike.

There is some reference to an effort in Washington to place strict limits on debit transaction fees in the article Marty posted. I had heard mutterings about this effort while managing a recent project wherein we implemented an online payment system. We did a feasibility study (sadly after the project had already been approved and initiated) to determine whether or not we should accept credit card payments. We found that, thanks in large part to Visa's abusive policies, we actually stood to lose large sums of revenue on some of our larger transactions, so we decided not to accept credit card payments. Those of you who use online payment systems will understand how much less valuable this exclusion made our project. Apparently, more and more businesses and institutions are refusing to accept credit card payments for this very reason. One example that I found particularly interesting was that this is why Washington State University does not accept tuition payments by credit card.

MM's link was about debit cards & fees changes. The new rules put in place by the current Obama administration restricted fees and at the time the banks said flat out they would find a way to get the income back. It was a argument between retailers ( who did not like the % the banks charged ) and the banks covering cost plus profit. Congress sided with the retailers ( consumers got zip in the form of lower prices by the way ) so now the banks are doing what they said would happen.

Cards work pretty much anyplace from most banks, mine is BOP Visa, so not much diff in banks. Home loans / small business? Not yes but hell yes! Go with your local bank if you can, the man hanging out here steered me to a solid refi and it was a pleasure to work with the bank staff. If you think BOA is bad, the old WAMU made them look like angels!

Any recommendations there Dog?

We don't accept credit card payments over $10,000 at work.

Kitsap Bank would be the primary community bank in your area.

+12,000

Those sonsabitches should be in prison.

Nope, I'll keep my distance from them folks, bad juju there. I'll stick with 1st Security of Washington.

Never had a credit union try and screw me over.


Fishy

I hate to bring this thread back alive...but BOA and the rest of these damn banks make me sick.

Credit Unions are the way to go!

BOA $5 fee

+1 Credit Unions.

Big banks = Poor customer service & fees, fees fees.