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[Thales]

Well today I almost had a heart attack. I checked in on my Wachovia checking/savings accounts today at lunch to find that my checking account was $530 (+/-) overdrawn. A quick check to my main savings account showed that it sat untouched with a balance in excess of $1600 (+/-) and that my secondary savings account had it's usual balance of $8,000 (+/-). Earlier this morning I checked in on some transactions and saw that I had a balance of about $1,000 (+/-) so I was baffled as to where my money went.
After some searching I found that $600 (exact) had been transferred from my account to another account... no idea what account as I just had the last four of the account number. I've had trouble with Wachovia before which has included holding cash deposits made well before their deposit cut-off times, crediting me incorrectly and even dropping the overdraft protection from my savings account and credit card. I was pissed. I called and essentially got stonewalled, they said that I had authorized the transfer to this other account and that I had been over drafted when several transactions hit, I think 5 of them, I was then told that I needed to learn to balance my account and manage my money to prevent this from happening again. I exploded and demanded to talk to a supervisor, after holding I got someone and did my best to explain my situation. I was put on hold while the issue was researched for about 10 minutes, the manager came back on the line and began profusely apologizing. Seems they had transferred $600 to an account that was not mine and it had not been authorized by me, someone's fat fingers or a "computer glitch" (His words)... They immediately apologized and transferred the $600 back in and started their end of call spiel. I pointed out that they also needed to refund the NSF fees, they did. Turns out the over draft protection had been removed for some reason, so I had been charged $35.00 per NSF instead of $10 for the whole enchilada. Again another apology, it was rectified and the call was ended.
So, I've calmed down quite a bit and I'm looking for some advice. I've had accounts with a few credit unions, BoA, WaMu, Regions and RBC Centura and found them all to be lacking. Does anyone have any suggestions for ditching my bank? I'm thinking of putting in a safe and leaving only the minimum in my checking account for auto-draft bills, has anyone else gone this route or have any suggestions for keeping money safely at home? I'm done with being slave to someone's fat fingers and some fictional numbers.
-fin
Thales

[rfarrell]

Lacking in what way? I bank with a credit union and couldn't be happier.
For savings, you lose if you keep it in a safe due to inflation. I'd look into a money market account or short term CD to earn some interest on it. You could go long term as well as long as you don't having a pressing need for liquidity with it.
As for other places in the home, you could try under the mattress. Lay a shotgun there as well

[Thales]

Lacking in what way? I bank with a credit union and couldn't be happier.
For savings, you lose if you keep it in a safe due to inflation. I'd look into a money market account or short term CD to earn some interest on it. You could go long term as well as long as you don't having a pressing need for liquidity with it.
As for other places in the home, you could try under the mattress. Lay a shotgun there as well
I've used Georgia Federal Credit Union and Pen Air Federal Credit Union, the latter screwed up my direct deposit during my deployment so when I got stateside I had no money... it took them two weeks to figure that out, the former sucked out $1k from my account as a down payment when I bought my truck and financed it with them even though I handed them a $1k check from another account when I did the paperwork, they refused to correct that issue.
I'm considering a CD and a safe. Also, I do keep a Mossberg 500 with slugs and buckshot in the magazine under my bed. I have no intention of keeping it under my mattress but I'm thinking of finding a nice safe place to keep it... some sort of locked safe hidden away.
-fin
Thales

[Nick H]

It's hard to find the right place...I know this from experience.
I bank with a local credit union. It's small - that's the key. I would NEVER bank with a large "chain" bank ever again. They are way too big and do not care about the individual customer.
Where I'm at now, if I ever need something done, I call the Vice President of the credit union (that's how small it is) - and with a business account I have his personal cell phone number. I've had countless overdraft fees reversed - even when they were my own fault. All the tellers know me by name - and they have free coffee and donuts every morning while you wait in line (which isn't very long most of the time).

[Disgruntled]

I have had no problem with Mountain West Bank. Unfortunately they do not have branches in Alabama.

[Barti1987]

Under your mattress.
Peace,

[dreamcodedesign]

I also bank with a local Credit Union but, for personal only though. I wish they offered business accounts but they don't. It's a more personal feeling. Wamu now Chase has been great for business. I think this article should help you a bit. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21405927/
All the best,

[RandyT]

Wachovia (http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=745756) sure likes to rip people off. (Read that thread)

[MikeDVB]

Lacking in what way? I bank with a credit union and couldn't be happier.
For savings, you lose if you keep it in a safe due to inflation. I'd look into a money market account or short term CD to earn some interest on it. You could go long term as well as long as you don't having a pressing need for liquidity with it.
As for other places in the home, you could try under the mattress. Lay a shotgun there as well
I could see the shotgun as being an "uncomfortable lump" in the mattress...

[WireNine]

Can't trust banks these days! I closely monitor all financial bills and statements after my cellphone/cable provider overcharged me quite a few times accidentally. Thank god so far I've not experienced anything of this sort with banks, my bank always calls my personal number to verify any huge/unusual transactions.
Hide the money under the carpet in your bedroom corner

[Thales]

I don't believe it... they've done it again. They transferred my balance out of my checking account to an account with the same last four digits as before. They sucked $800 from my checking account and started tagging on overdraft protection fees, thankfully that worked. This is ridiculous. Going to call them again and I'm going to close out my accounts today.
-fin
Thales

[Mike - Limestone]

That's horrible, Thales. I didn't have a great experience with Wachovia, but it was better than your experience.
-mike

[rickb12]

If you are eligible, I highly recommend USAA Federal Savings Bank. Although they don't have local branches, their bank is second to none, in my opinion.
https://www.usaa.com/inet/ent_utils/McStaticPages?key=become_member_main