One other thing to do---Banks!

[danaeris]

I almost forgot that I also have to arrange banking!

Opinions please:

What are the most evil banks in the SF Bay area?

What are the nicest, most gentle banks in the SF Bay area?

Bah. Banking is always a big nuisance.

Comments

my story

[chrisla.livejournal.com]

When I moved to SF, I wandered into a bank to open an account (Bank of America). They started to create an account when they found I was on http://www.chexsystems.com they then got really rude and kicked me out, and said not to come back for five years. I had no clue who chexsystems were (they make your life a nightmare and you can never get removed), or why I was on it. It turns out my mom (ask some time) had written a bunch of bad checks on a joint account, and fucked my record. This scenario was repeated at just about all of the bay area banks. I finally found someone nice at http://www.calfed.com that took a letter from the bank back in NH saying it was not my fault and that the debt had been paid. She was able to get me an account. So overall I like them best.

Re: my story

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

wow. That's an... impressive story. I'm glad things eventually worked out for you. :)

[tyrsalvia.livejournal.com]

Wells Fargo seems to have a lot of horror stories, though I haven't had too many major problems with them (note all the qualifiers there). I use them because, like Chris, I am on chexsystems and can't get an account elsewhere (and I've had accounts with them since I was a kid, so they can't get rid of me).

I've heard good things about CalFed and Washington Mutual.

[truthspeaker.livejournal.com]

When I lived out there, I had a Wells Fargo account (mainly because it was a convenient bank for me). I didn't have any problems with it.

My opinion of Wells Fargo is similar to my opinion of Fleet. (It's more convenient, but there are bad stories even though I've never had a problem with them. There are better banks, but that would take more effort than I am willing to put into it. Besides, convenience is worth something to me.)

Some of my family used Bank of America. I didn't like it so much, but at the time it was less ATM-friendly. There were also unsubstantiated rumors of questionable business practices that I didn't approve of.

[amberite.livejournal.com]

I use Bank of America, and I've never had any problems with them (knock on wood.) My workplace also uses them, and there was once a problem with the deposit -- namely, it didn't post for a long time, and my boss almost got fired over it, since the district loss prevention manager had seen a deposit not post 28 times before and only once had it ever been a mistake. In the end, this doubled his control group. The lost deposit, however, didn't have much to do with Bank of America; we could accuse them at most of poorly designed ATM slots, because it turns out the envelope had physically fallen behind something and gotten stuck.

Anyway, B of A has treated me pretty well, and lets me have a checking account free as long as it receives one direct deposit per month (it would be $5.95 otherwise.) And every time I've gone in there being pissy about something, they've fixed it very nicely. (In fact, I first went in there because Wells Fargo wouldn't take me.) And they just approved me for a student credit card with an $800 limit.

My only gripe is that they have no goblins. (Ever since watching the Harry Potter movie, I've had this distinct feeling that something's missing.)

[zunger.livejournal.com]

I use SFCU, and wouldn't recommend them to anyone. All they seem to do is try to avoid providing any services.