Corporate a$$holes - your friendly local bank division

[dreamshark]

Those of you who bank with TCF, check your statement carefully this month.

1) They are implementing a monthly fee for their No-Longer-Free-Checking service if you don't maintain a monthly minimum balance (which appears to be $2,500, if I read the tiny-print gobbledygook correctly). I don't actually object to this, since a checking account is actually a useful service and I think I'd rather have them charge for it honestly rather than instituting cheap accounting tricks and usorious fees to break even. However, I'm annoyed by the format of the notification which is practically unreadable and on a slip of paper so small that I wouldn't even have looked at it if I hadn't read about this upcoming change in my local paper.

2) THIS IS THE PART THAT MAKES ME MAD. Unless you send back an opt-out form (on your own stamp, incidentally) within 30 days they will start selling your address and account information to unnamed 3rd parties. The opt-out form is at the bottom of what looks like a standard privacy statement - be sure not to miss it.

Assholes.

Comments

[mle292.livejournal.com]

Have I ever mentioned to you how completely awesome a credit union is?

Given the choice, I would NEVER, EVER, EVER go back to a for-profit bank. They suck hard.

[davidschroth.livejournal.com]

And you're surprised that Bill Cooper's bank are into ripping off their customers why?

Me, I'm very happy with my credit union (Genisys Credit Union), and I highly recommend moving one's business from a bank to a credit union.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

I once worked for a company that had a credit union associated with it somehow, so I joined it. They turned out to be jaw-droppingly incompetent. They would do things like credit a deposit twice on one month's statement and then subtract it on the next statement. And they habitually mailed out 2-page statements in two separate envelopes. When asked why they did this, their explanation was that "the computer" just did it that way and they did not know how to reprogram it. This did not inspire me to seek out another credit union. I'd rather deal with an avaricious corporation that is at least capable of keeping track of the amount of money that is in my account.

[mle292.livejournal.com]

I've never had any trouble with mine either, I'm sorry to hear that you had a bad experience.

I wonder if you had one bad apple.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Oh, probably. It did make me wonder, however, just how credit unions are regulated.

[vanaabegra.livejournal.com]

Totally Free, until we change it.

NOTICE: THIS NOTICE APPLIES IF YOUR ACCOUNT IS "TOTALLY FREE CHECKING," AND IT AMENDS THE TERMS OF
YOUR ACCOUNT CONTRACT WITH TCF EFFECTIVE 02\25\2010. YOUR ACCOUNT IS BEING CONVERTED TO "TCF
CONVENIENCE CHECKING." THERE IS NO MONTHLY MAINTENANCE FEE FOR TCF CONVENIENCE CHECKING IF YOU
HAVE MONTHLY DIRECT DEPOSIT(S) ON YOUR ACCOUNT TOTALING $100 OR MORE, MAINTAIN A MINIMUM ACCOUNT
BALANCE OF $500, OR IF THE COMBINED BALANCE OF ALL OF YOUR DEPOSIT ACCOUNTS WITH TCF IS $2,500 OR
MORE. OTHERWISE, THE MONTHLY MAINTENANCE FEE FOR YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE $9.95.

The above is not really that bad, considering I direct deposit into the account, thus meeting the minimum. I wonder what new "Totally not free" accounts are going to be...

I am glad you warned us about the opt out. I would have missed that entirely since I have the paperless option.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Glad it was helpful. That was my reason for posting.