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I have switched banks a couple of times too. In all cases, it has been because the bank took advantage of me when I made a mistake. It has always been a variat

I have switched banks a couple of times too. In all cases, it has been because the bank took advantage of me when I made a mistake. It has always been a variation on this same theme. The last time I changed banks was in 2010. I had made a mistake and I overdrew my account by $5 or so. That was obviously my fault and I should have been on the hook for one overdraft fee. My bank, reordered my transactions and caused me to incur 5 overdraft fees. When I called in to complain, they "waived" two of them, leaving me to pay $90 when I should have only had to pay $30. That was it for me. I opened an account at a Credit Union and left about $5 in the bank account so they'd have to keep paying to send me statements. That went on for over a year until the bank implemented a $2/mo convenience fee for paper statements. In three months, my account was drained and the bank closed it. People need to be willing to pick up and leave a bank if the relationship is no longer advantageous. From the bank's perspective, it's always business and never personal. That's how you have to act in return.

jrs235 11y ago
The difficultly, strike that. The complexity occurs when you have setup auto payments. One just has to handle it like any other transitional period. You open a new account with a new bank or credit union and start funding it. You watch your existing bank account for recurring or auto payments coming out and work to switch them over to the new bank account. You have to maintain some money in the old bank account and possibly keep it open for several months or a year. Treat the old account as a temporary savings account with enough money to cover any checks or auto payments that might get drawn against it. After you are certain all auto payments have been transferred or you feel safe and confident then you close the account with the old bank. I primarily use a credit union but I do have a checking account with a regional bank that I use strictly for auto payments, this makes it easy to make sure there's enough money in the account and to transition away in the future should the bank displease me.
- LordKano 11y ago
  I don't do automatic payments. I won't do automatic payments. It doesn't benefit me so I don't do it. They day after payday, I sit down and determine which bills are due and I pay them electronically. It doesn't matter which bank account I use because I handle them individually, every payday. I could switch banks today and my process wouldn't be interrupted at all.
  - nucleardog 11y ago
    If by "automatic payments" you mean ACH direct withdrawals, the benefit is "I don't have to remember to pay my bill." The disadvantage is "An outside entity can remove an arbitrary amount of money from my account at any time, keep it for an indeterminate amount of time, then return it without penalty." I could see have a charge automatically applied to a credit card (where you're able to dispute it, if necessary). I cannot imagine why anyone would ever want to set up direct withdrawals.
    - LordKano 11y ago
      I want to remember. I want to verify the amount of ever withdrawal before it happens.

jrs235 11y ago

The difficultly, strike that. The complexity occurs when you have setup auto payments. One just has to handle it like any other transitional period. You open a new account with a new bank or credit union and start funding it. You watch your existing bank account for recurring or auto payments coming out and work to switch them over to the new bank account. You have to maintain some money in the old bank account and possibly keep it open for several months or a year. Treat the old account as a temporary savings account with enough money to cover any checks or auto payments that might get drawn against it. After you are certain all auto payments have been transferred or you feel safe and confident then you close the account with the old bank. I primarily use a credit union but I do have a checking account with a regional bank that I use strictly for auto payments, this makes it easy to make sure there's enough money in the account and to transition away in the future should the bank displease me.

LordKano 11y ago
I don't do automatic payments. I won't do automatic payments. It doesn't benefit me so I don't do it. They day after payday, I sit down and determine which bills are due and I pay them electronically. It doesn't matter which bank account I use because I handle them individually, every payday. I could switch banks today and my process wouldn't be interrupted at all.
- nucleardog 11y ago
  If by "automatic payments" you mean ACH direct withdrawals, the benefit is "I don't have to remember to pay my bill." The disadvantage is "An outside entity can remove an arbitrary amount of money from my account at any time, keep it for an indeterminate amount of time, then return it without penalty." I could see have a charge automatically applied to a credit card (where you're able to dispute it, if necessary). I cannot imagine why anyone would ever want to set up direct withdrawals.
  - LordKano 11y ago
    I want to remember. I want to verify the amount of ever withdrawal before it happens.