5 ms·

Honest question, since I haven't done it in 10 years, but what is the big hassle in switching banks? Shouldn't it be as easy as signing up for a new account an

Honest question, since I haven't done it in 10 years, but what is the big hassle in switching banks? Shouldn't it be as easy as signing up for a new account and taking a cashiers check out of the old one and closing it. I'm curious to know what other hurdles they put in place to keep you locked in.

ars 15y ago
You don't need a cashiers check, you can write an ordinary check. If you have bill pay setup then you have to copy all those accounts to the new account. You have to keep track of which checks you have outstanding, and especially if you have some people who take their time to cash them you may have to wait 6 months before you can close the account.
- fletchowns 15y ago
  You are just making my point more. Not only are you missing a bunch of other things that would need to be done (What about my HSA? What about all my other recurring payments not setup through the bank? What about my direct deposits?), it would take a substantial amount of time to take care of that. Why would I want to waste a day doing all that crap? I would definitely forget some things too. Yes, it's possible, but it's a pain in the ass. I should be able to export my entire account from Bank A and login to Bank B and import it in a matter of minutes. They know that it is difficult, that's why they are doing these fee raises and getting away with it.
  - eru 15y ago
    In the UK (and some other countries) your new bank often offers to take on all that hassle with your old bank, as an incentive to switching.
Retric 15y ago
Banks don't close accounts. So you can have a reoccurring charge on a canceled debit card show up on a canceled bank account get charged for it get an over draft, have a negative balance which you get charged for every day. Then once the balance is negative enough they sell your 'debt' to a third party debt collector. PS: The first half of this happened to me costing me close to 300$ in 2 weeks and it's only me double checking that everything was fine that I got informed. At no point in this process did they attempt to contact me and they would have gladly let this grow into the thousands before contacting me for payment etc. O and the debt card had been canceled for over 3 months before that transaction happened.
- jcampbell1 15y ago
  They don't by default, but they can completely close an account. When they politely refuse, tell them your debit card and checks have been lost and need to be canceled. The bank is on the hook for charges to a debit card that has been reported lost, so it solves the problem of recurring charges to the debit card.
  - Retric 15y ago
    I had reported the card lost which is why it was canceled for 2 months before I closed the account. However, reoccurring charges setup before that point are transitioned into direct bank drafts and continue after that point. As to closing the account, they teller said "it's closed" what are the magic words to say after that?
    - CaptainZapp 15y ago
      Send a letter by certified mail to the bank informing them that Mr T. Eller confirmed that the account is closed and that any additional fees, costs whatever are not your responsibility any more? In that case they either have to react or, if they dream up some fantasy fees later, you have at least something in writing (and maybe grounds for a complaint about fraud with the DAs office) ? I'm amazed with what US banks can get away: Selling your private data to some sleazy marketing organization, unless you opt out? A criminal offense here Charging more the 15% annual interest on any credit granted (including cards)? A criminal offense here Threatening you because some scumbag used your "pre-approved credit card" scamogram (for which you never asked) to defraud you? They'd be laughed out of court While I don't believe that it should be the governments role to protect consumers from their own stupidity it should crack down hard on this sort of outright fraud. Good faith is a basis of contract law and contracts designed to defraud one party should be outright illegal (and are actually unenforceable in a lot of countries)
    - eru 15y ago
      > As to closing the account, they teller said "it's closed" what are the magic words to say after that? "Could you write that down for me, sign and stamp it, please?"
Dobbs 15y ago
Bill pay, direct deposit, automatic savings withdrawal, subscription services, saved billing info (iTunes, Amazon) to name a few.
- gujk 15y ago
  Free startup idea: create a pseudo-bank that provides a pass-through account number for all this stuff.

ars 15y ago

You don't need a cashiers check, you can write an ordinary check. If you have bill pay setup then you have to copy all those accounts to the new account. You have to keep track of which checks you have outstanding, and especially if you have some people who take their time to cash them you may have to wait 6 months before you can close the account.

fletchowns 15y ago
You are just making my point more. Not only are you missing a bunch of other things that would need to be done (What about my HSA? What about all my other recurring payments not setup through the bank? What about my direct deposits?), it would take a substantial amount of time to take care of that. Why would I want to waste a day doing all that crap? I would definitely forget some things too. Yes, it's possible, but it's a pain in the ass. I should be able to export my entire account from Bank A and login to Bank B and import it in a matter of minutes. They know that it is difficult, that's why they are doing these fee raises and getting away with it.
- eru 15y ago
  In the UK (and some other countries) your new bank often offers to take on all that hassle with your old bank, as an incentive to switching.

Retric 15y ago

Banks don't close accounts. So you can have a reoccurring charge on a canceled debit card show up on a canceled bank account get charged for it get an over draft, have a negative balance which you get charged for every day. Then once the balance is negative enough they sell your 'debt' to a third party debt collector. PS: The first half of this happened to me costing me close to 300$ in 2 weeks and it's only me double checking that everything was fine that I got informed. At no point in this process did they attempt to contact me and they would have gladly let this grow into the thousands before contacting me for payment etc. O and the debt card had been canceled for over 3 months before that transaction happened.

jcampbell1 15y ago
They don't by default, but they can completely close an account. When they politely refuse, tell them your debit card and checks have been lost and need to be canceled. The bank is on the hook for charges to a debit card that has been reported lost, so it solves the problem of recurring charges to the debit card.
- Retric 15y ago
  I had reported the card lost which is why it was canceled for 2 months before I closed the account. However, reoccurring charges setup before that point are transitioned into direct bank drafts and continue after that point. As to closing the account, they teller said "it's closed" what are the magic words to say after that?
  - CaptainZapp 15y ago
    Send a letter by certified mail to the bank informing them that Mr T. Eller confirmed that the account is closed and that any additional fees, costs whatever are not your responsibility any more? In that case they either have to react or, if they dream up some fantasy fees later, you have at least something in writing (and maybe grounds for a complaint about fraud with the DAs office) ? I'm amazed with what US banks can get away: Selling your private data to some sleazy marketing organization, unless you opt out? A criminal offense here Charging more the 15% annual interest on any credit granted (including cards)? A criminal offense here Threatening you because some scumbag used your "pre-approved credit card" scamogram (for which you never asked) to defraud you? They'd be laughed out of court While I don't believe that it should be the governments role to protect consumers from their own stupidity it should crack down hard on this sort of outright fraud. Good faith is a basis of contract law and contracts designed to defraud one party should be outright illegal (and are actually unenforceable in a lot of countries)
  - eru 15y ago
    > As to closing the account, they teller said "it's closed" what are the magic words to say after that? "Could you write that down for me, sign and stamp it, please?"

Dobbs 15y ago

Bill pay, direct deposit, automatic savings withdrawal, subscription services, saved billing info (iTunes, Amazon) to name a few.

gujk 15y ago
Free startup idea: create a pseudo-bank that provides a pass-through account number for all this stuff.