Your favourite bank,credit union etc

[twinniefan]

With the world seemingly turned upside down with the global financial crisis, I was thinking the other day with so many bank mergers and takeovers happening now and even in times gone by, did you ever have a favourite bank,credit union, building society etc who you are still with, or may be going back to(if they still exist)or actually wish were still around?
The smaller bank I am with called Bankwest is being taken over by the Commonwealth bank(who I detest)so I am taking by business to a building society,Illawarra Mutual(called I.M.B. for short),but I really miss my old United Permanent Building Society, great products, great service and they actually wanted you as a customer,you were not just an annoyance as seems to be the case sometimes these days.
However they were a victim of financial deregulation,(good on you Paul Keating,the world's supposedly greatest treasurer).

 

[goatfarmer]

I still go to the same bank "building" I've always gone to. It started out as National Bank and Trust, changed names about half a dozen times, now it's Wells Fargo.

 

[rapunzel]

Bank of Queensland

They are a franchise so their managers/owners have a vested interest in being customer focussed. The concept takes banking back to the good old days and they charge minimal fees. I used to be with St George, but they are now part of Westpac. Although assurances were given that the St George name and its products remain separate to Westpac, I reckon in five years they will be phased out.

 

[gizmo]

St George takeover by Westpac - The same thing happened here in Victoria - Bank of Melbourne was a great smaller bank, I was both a customer and a shareholder. They were taken over by Westpac, we had assurances that the Bank Of Melbourne brand would remain as would the good service, longer opening hours, etc. After a couple few months the big red "W" Westpac logo appeared next to the Bank of Melbourne crest. It was the kiss of death. The opening hours were cut, and after a couple of years the Bank of Melbourne ceased to exist, all branches were rebadged to Westpac. I closed my account.

The good news story is Bendigo Bank. They give excellent, friendly service, they open longer hours, they have very low fees which are further reduced for term deposit holders and shareholders.

I would not deal with any building society in Australia. They have all but disappeared in Vic since the collapse of Pyramid Building Society a few years ago. Banks are more secure.

Keating is not responsible for the diappearance of so many building societies. Changes he introduced were long overdue, and by freeing banks up to be more competitive, people had less reason to accept the higher risks inherent in building societies. They took their business to the banks. The collapse of Pyramid absolutely spooked the building society industry in Au, the majority of them have merged to get bigger, then become banks. (Bank of Melbourne was previously RESI-Statewide building society, Bendigo Bank was previously Bendigo Building Society, and it swallowed a couple of other Build Socs along the way.)
If you want friendly local service, Bendigo Community Banks are great. In smaller towns and suburbs where the bigger banks have closed branches, Bendigo has gone into partnership with local co-operatives to bring small, partly locally-owned banks which are fully guaranteed by Bendigo Bank, and return local profits to local community projects. (I am both a shareholder and customer of my nearest Community Bank.)

Chris.

 

[polkanut]

Our family has always banked locally. Our bank is Peoples State Bank, which has been locally owned & operated since it was founded in 1962. Of course I have a limited interest in it as well, I'm a stockholder.

http://www.psbwi.com

 

[seamusuk]

Not a bank person...

For me its a Building Society- To quote their early 80s Ad ..

It pays to decide Nationwide

Seamus

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/default.htm

 

[maytagbear]

I've been banking

at Huntington Banks all my banking life..since 1973.

The HRC gives them a 75% ranking. The staff in the branch I go to most often are very polite and efficient. Plus, the branch is close enough to walk.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[j2400]

I've whipped through my share of banking institutions. I started with First Interstate, with a simple savings account. My choice was easy: my parents banked there, ever since they were some other name. I can't remember the name, but I do remember them having stuffed animal mascots that I wanted. (I think it might have been Big Foot.) Now, First Interstate is Wells Fargo.

I got tired of the First Interstate service fees--particularly since there appeared to be little service. (My most vivid memory of the bank we used was the long, long lines.) I switched over to University Savings bank. I think which took my paltry funds, didn't hit me with a service charge, and even paid interest on my paltry checking account balance. This bank later disappeared--absorbed by First Interstate. Can't get away from them.

Later, I tried a name that will be recognized by many: Washington Mutual. They were advertising some great deal--can't remember the details, too long--and I went in to get it. As it turns out, I didn't qualify, but--of course--didn't learn that fact until I'd wasted an hour, and gone through most of the paperwork required. This sort of problem could happen anywhere. But the thing that irked me was how bad the customer service got when it was clear that I couldn't/wouldn't be going through on the Special Deal. The attitude seemed to be: "We have to be nice when we can sell something today, but now that it looks like we aren't, we don't care about you!"

Since that time, I've used various local credit unions. They work for the customer, not the stock holder and CEO. Although, I'm not necessarily adverse to small banks, since at least a few seem to understand that if there is no customer, there is no bank.

 

[whirlcool]

We banked at Texas Commerce Bank for years until it became Chase Manhattan. They were pretty good until they merged with Bank One. It seems the Bank One culture won out. Chase is a horrible bank. They jacked up their service charges sky high, and they frequently lose credit card payments, even if you pay at the bank itself. I found most of the people working there to be rather surly.
We switched to Compass Bank a realatively minor bank here in the Houston area, but is based in Mobile, AL. They have pretty decent customer service. So far we are happy with them.
It was funny. When we opened our checking account, they seemed pretty non chalant about it. But when we transferred over $75K into this checking account, the customer service really improved. Suddenly all the bank officers knew us by name, all the tellers addressed us by name. It was also rather embarassing how good the customer service got.
But then when we transferred about $70K of that to our brokerage, its amazing how the customer service changed again. Suddenly most people forgot who are names were. Oh well.

 

[appnut]

I've always used Credit Unions. The first one was one associated with who I worked for for 20 years (I still maintain minimum account there). Now I use a local credit union (had to when I lost my old job and the branch was pulling out of the city). I also have a savings account at the employee credit union where I work now.

 

[JerseyMike]

I deal with a small very local (6 branch) savings and loan association. It used to be called Haven Savings and Loan -- it now calls itself Haven Savings Bank. I ran into one of the vice presidents in the supermarket the other day and she greeted me by name. Thanks to direct deposit and ATM's I haven't been inside the bank in years, so I was surprised that she still remembered me. (I've been a customer since 1973.)

They're very big on customer service, because of their small size they belong to a nationwide ATM network called Allpoint that allows people to withdraw cash from ATM's without paying surcharges. When I was at a conference in Las Vegas last summer, some of my friends were complaining about having to pay $4 and $5 surcharges. I walked to a Walgreen's that was about a five minute walk from my hotel and was able to withdraw cash without having to worry about surcharges. I did the same thing when I was in San Francisco last summer. (I found surcharge free ATM's by going to Allpoint's website and entering in my hotel's zip code.) I can walk into any Duane Reade in the City and not have to worry about surcharges. (I'm so spoiled that I was very annoyed the other night when I was on the Upper East Side and discovered that the Duane Reade on 72nd Street and 1st Avenue (which looks like it's about to move across the street) didn't have an ATM and that the ATM in the ATM in the Walgreen's on 2nd Ave and 70th Street is not an Allpoint ATM. LOL.)

Before the financial meltdown, I was a little concerned that they were a take over candidate, because they keep opening branches in upscale suburbs.

Mike

 

[charbee]

Credit Unions rock. No service charges, local, friendly, and not subject to the "takeovers" like banks.

 

[twinniefan]

Thanks for the replies

Thanks for all the replies guys,
Chris,Yes I vaguely remember the Bank of Melbourne, actually the vey same thing happened to Challenge Bank in W.A.,absorbed by Westpac and within a year or two the Challenge branches turned into Westpacs,there is a little Bendigo Bank where I live so I will keep them in mind in the future,yes there are only about 3-4 building societies left in NSW too, the I.M.B.,Newcastle Permanent and the Greater building society are the only ones I can think of.
My United Permanent merged with the Royal Bank of Canada in the mid 1990's and became National Mutual Royal Bank and were still pretty good with service and products, however they were eaten up by ANZ.
Rapunzel,I have also heard good things about the Bank of Queensland,I do not blame you for leaving St. George and I totally agree with you,Mr. Swan said the St.George brand must stay for 3 years, but after that you can bet your bottom dollar they will be phased out and there will only be Westpac,my real concern with this economic situation is will B.O.Q and Bendigo Bank be next and will we end up with just the big 4 banks, and then will they be allowed to merge together under the guise of financial stability?
Cheers.
Steve.

 

[ronhic]

It depends what you want from the institution

I worked for years for ANZ group and still have all my accounts and loans with them. It doesn't hurt that I know 1/2 the staff in Canberra either....nepotisim can be a good thing

Look at the fee structure and how you use your accounts. If you have loans, do you get any benefits as a result (some Credit Unions are fantastic at this www.communitycps.com.au is a good example)

I have nearly opened an account with AMP credit union. They have only one office, but if you are not an habitual branch user, they offer most services (including ATM) for free... check out www.ampcu.com.au given you are in Sydney, they could be just the ticket....

http://www.communitycps.com.au

 

[ronhic]

AMP link

...and here is the AMP link

http://www.ampcu.com.au