So, in my last post, I let you know that, once again, I was denied an account at BECU. I’ve given up on getting an account there, and am moving on to try local banks. The first step, of course, is looking at their websites to decide which banks will be the best to visit, considering my financial situation. I’ll share the information with you after the page break.
Tag Archives: bank reform
Starting May 4th: Wells Fargo fee waivers now even harder to get
I got a message in my inbox from Wells Fargo the other day. Starting May 4th, transferring money back and forth between linked accounts will no longer be an easy way to waive their $10 monthly fee. Now you have to either have more money, or juggle things around like this:
“You can waive the current $10 monthly service fee when you have three additional linked accounts or services (such as a Wells Fargo debit card, savings account, online banking or direct deposit) and one of the following:
- Maintain a $1,500 minimum daily balance, OR
- Maintain a qualifying monthly direct deposit of $500 or more1, OR
- Maintain a monthly automatic loan payment from this Package checking account to a Wells Fargo home equity/personal loan or line of credit, or Wells Fargo Home Mortgage® loan” (Source: my Wells Fargo message inbox)
I’m not staying. As soon as my May “Qualifying Direct Deposit” (SSDI) drops in, I’ll be closing my Wells account for good. Of course, there’s another big reason to get out that I just found out about last week.
Wells Fargo is the second largest stockholder in a private prison company called GEO Group. Now, full disclosure, I worked for six months at a private juvenile prison in Missouri. Even though they pretended to care about the kids and rehabilitating, it was still an awful place. And the private adult prisons are worse.
So next week I better go back up to BECU again and see if they’ll let me open an account. Because it’s not just about the fees. I could waive those with my direct deposit. I cannot let my money support private prisons, especially since I know better.
If you want to read the full fee message, it’s below the fold. I’ve included for an FYI, and because I know there are other folks like me who skim stuff and throw it out. This one’s important. Thanks to the customer service folks who put it back for me. 🙂
Is It Time to Move Our Money
I read this article today about banks starting to charge $3/month fees for using your debit cards. It’s not all banks, and not all states (yet). But it is Wells Fargo (where I bank) and it is Washington State (where I live). I wasn’t too sure what to do about it. After all, I started up with WF because they have branches everywhere I have people, including rural Michigan. A lot of folks have been saying that it’s time to move our money to credit unions and local banks, but I didn’t think would work for me.
And then I saw that Salal Credit Union is part of a nationwide network of Credit Union ATMs. Apparently, a lot of them have agreements with each other to honor transactions. Including one in rural Michigan. Where I have people. And where I was a member growing up. So now I’m thinking about it.
One of the organizations working on this back to the credit unions and local banks/divorce the giant corporations movement put up this video on YouTube:
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Do you think it’s time to move our money?
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