Just Tell Big Banks to Shove It and Join a Sacramento Credit Union

Chase Bank is the largest bank in the country and to me the worst.

Chase Bank just sent me a notice to say because my account balances have fallen slightly below its outrageous $75,000 minimum, it has now started to charge me $25 a month to keep my money in its bank. I complained and was told I should just deposit more funds. Now, I am not a huge fan of big banks. I typically bank at a credit union, The Golden 1. The problem is the maximum amount the FDIC insures. Meaning if a person wants to keep liquid funds, she needs to spread it around at various banking institutions. I realize exceeding the FDIC maximum is not everybody’s problem, and I’m not boasting about my own dilemma as some people would love to deal with this sort of specific issue, but I find that I just can’t stand Chase Bank anymore.

I’ve reached the end of my rope.

For starters, when I opened the account years ago, it was just a place to stash an overage of funds. The bank’s staff started hounding me shortly thereafter. I got the phone calls and letters asking me to choose a personal financial advisor so Chase Bank could help me to invest. I’ve already got a financial planner, and I don’t need some person at Chase to harass me. I asked them to please stop with the phone calls, but it continued until one day I let them have it. I yelled and ranted like a crazy person. It worked. They haven’t called me since about investing.

But Chase Bank does continue to contact me because, as it turns out, you cannot put money into a bank and let it sit there. No sirree. They think you’re either laundering money or maybe you’re dead. The bank continually pressures me to make additional deposits or withdrawals to show activity on the account. They have also threatened to seize my accounts and send the money to the state of California. A Sacramento credit union would never behave in this manner.

Last month, I stopped at Chase Bank near my house in Land Park to get a cashier’s check. I asked the teller to insert a specific clause in the memo line, and she flat-out refused. I zipped across Broadway to The Golden 1 to obtain a second cashier’s check and asked for the specific clause in the memo line, no problem. The clerk wrote what I needed on the check. This is the problem with big banks. They have policies and procedures. Employees have no leeway to make decisions for the customer.

So, thanks but no thanks, Chase Bank. I’m going to a different Sacramento credit union on Monday. Probably Safe Credit Union, since it’s near my Lyon Real Estate office in Midtown, and moving my money out of your bank. A Sacramento credit union cares if its customers are happy. We are all shareholders.