Fear and Intimidation At Your Local Bank

Last month, I had quite the disturbing incident at a local bank. I had gone in to redeem a certificate of deposit that had come due. At some banks, this is not a big deal. You go up to a teller window, give them your ID and paperwork, and they type up a cashier's check and you are out the door in less than 10 minutes.

Unfortunately, this trend is going by the wayside in favor of "personal banking." Personal bankers are people in the banking industry trained to harass customers into giving out personal financial details and preferences and calling you at home with the excuse that they are "just checking to see if there's anything you need." And NO, I do not want to open another checking account! I hate personal bankers.

Back to the story.........I enter this branch where they insist that you sit down in a little cubicle with a personal banker if you want to redeem your CD. I sat around in the lobby waiting for a personal banker to get off the phone, while three tellers stood around twiddling their thumbs. Once the personal banker had time for me, her first question was, "What are you going to do with the money?" I tried my best to say, "None of your damned business" in the nicest way possible, but when that didn't work, I told the truth. I was going to another bank with better interest rates. Like they don't know that! She then proceeded to attempt to talk me out of it. She tried to guess what bank I was going to (I wouldn't reveal that) and then used scare tactics with details about the poor financial situations of other banks in our area. Umm Lady........just give me my money! When she saw I wasn't going to budge, she said that she'd be right back with my check and then she left me alone. I was seething as this had already wasted 15 minutes of my time. Little did I know.........

A few minutes later, a slick young man entered the cubicle and feigned friendliness with a handshake and introduction. He then began his own pressure tactics with all these facts and figures about what great financial shape his bank was in and why in the world would I want to take my money elsewhere? At this point, I was getting kind of nervous. This three-piece suit resembled mafia intimidation to my overactive imagination. I finally told him I wasn't the least bit concerned about putting my money somewhere else because wasn't there a little thing called the FDIC?? That didn't stop him. He told me my money could be tied up for DECADES if a bank went under. I stood my ground and told him I'd take my chances. With barely a nod goodbye, he stormed off, perhaps in pursuit of another customer.

I waited around another 10 minutes until personal banker lady came back with my check. I don't know if she thought I'd give up and leave without my money or if she was trying to round up more troops to surround me and my fat purse. I pried the check out her hands and did my own storming out.

Since then, I have told everyone I know about my experience with this bank, including other banks I like, just so they get the hint that customers do not appreciate these methods. I will never return to that bank, even if their interest rates on deposits go up to 15%. And now I'm kind of hoping a personal banker from that bank will call me so I can tell him/her that.