From the day I started earning money banks have been my pet peeve.
They are just so irritatingly condescending, as if they are doing you an almighty favour by looking after your funds. Hah. Now isn’t that a joke. They grab it off you and stick it in their big pot and skim most of the profit off the top before offering you their paltry few cents.
I know it’s my own fault. I have a bad attitude because I hate dealing with money. It tends to slide through my fingers.
So, wanting to be more responsible, I got myself advice. Did what was recommended and put some money on the market, distributed “conservatively” of course. God knows what would have happened if I had been tempted to take risks.
Well, of course, the market immediately took a nose dive. Now I know it’s all figures on paper and what goes down eventually comes back up, if you’re lucky. In the long run it evens out, hopefully.
But I didn’t want to play that game at all. I wanted the old style CD that earned regular interest over a period of time. You weren’t going to get rich but at least your funds were safe as long as your bank stayed in business. You could get 4% interest, more even, back when. Then, when I needed to put some money away, the best CD you could get was offering a pathetic .5%. Give me a break.
These days it looks as if you can get a CD with 2.5% interest.
Whoopee.
That is information I acquired from the Internet. I have a new adviser now but we seem to barely speak the same language and the man irritates me to distraction.
My requirement was very small and straight forward. It should have been done and dusted in 30 minutes.
But he waffled and mumbled and piled so much unneeded information on my head, I almost began to plead for mercy.
Why didn’t I just walk out? Why didn’t I just stand up and say “OK, this isn’t what I need.” It didn’t have to be rude. But no, muggins is always so afraid of offending people. So sure she (me) is just an idiot, obviously, and should try harder to understand.
I’ve come to believe, though, that it’s not me who’s the idiot, except in that I didn’t walk out.
Just as well, I suppose, the IRS fleeced me last year, which was all due to my having been screwed by my previous bank. Not to bore you with the excruciating ordeal they put me through, I’ll just say that they pulled the plug on the loan that had finally been approved, 2 hours before signing, leaving me to fall back on using my IRA fund. So at least now I don’t have much left to worry about!
A couple of weeks ago, my new bank decided to have a go at me. Their website is not friendly. Perhaps I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed but I’m also not stupid, and I have used computers for a long time. However this bank’s bill-pay takes you round in circles, and what happened was that my loan payments were incorrectly recorded, so it looked as if I was delinquent. Oh no! In fact I am paid up through April.
A phone call sorted that out. Today I got one of their lovely little communications, so tactfully worded…”If you don’t pay this amount within four days, please call XXX XXX XXXX to let us know when we may expect these funds.” Plus a huge penalty, of course. Snide. Nasty. Creepy little bastardly banks. I hate them all.
As it happened, Grant and I had just picked up the mail and we were driving past the bank in question, so Grant did a U turn and parked in front. “Go in and give them hell”, he said.
Perhaps on two occasions that I can recall, in my life, I have actually been sufficiently wound up to really give someone hell. Mostly it amounts to me spluttering and making loud, incomprehensible noises and making a fool of myself. So I normally restrain myself. Also, having dealt with “the public” for such a very long time, I know only too well that the person who receives hell is almost never the one who deserves it and upsetting them can only magnify your own problem.
So, meekly I offered “I just received this letter in the post and the matter should have been resolved ten days ago, so I’m not very happy”. I managed not to add “sorry”, which I have an awful tendency to do when I ask for assistance.
Pathetic, isn’t it?
I’m considering the mattress option….
Oh, you are so right about banks, they are horrible, deplorable!
You sound so much like me as I hate to offend and very seldom makes waves.
But one time during a conversation with someone who knows everything and is always right and argues about everything and she was getting very testy and I told her to stop.
But, she would not stop lecturing me.
I then told her that argumentative was her middle name.
She told me that I was hateful and hung up the phone on me.
We still are friends but their is a distance between us now!
I have one like that too!
I find that I like dealing with small, local banks. You can get to know the people. I’d consider joining a local credit union if I were you. Then I’d see about refinancing my mortgage with them. Yes, the cost of the refinancing adds to the loan, but if they treat you well, would it be worth it? And, credit unions often have lower interest rates.
Thanks, Kathryn.
You’re welcome.