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Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

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Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#331
post #38

Something has happened to big banks along the way, where they no longer actually provide banking services to their customers. When I walk into a Wells Fargo branch now and sit down with a "banker" to take care of my accounts, it consists of sitting next to them while they call 1-800-WELLSFARGO for me and talk to a call center. There simply is no service anymore. I walked into my local branch to open up an IRA last we…

It's definitely an industry ripe for rebirth. For instance, I should be able to partition my money into several lightweight accounts - one for groceries, one for home expenses, investment, etc - and automatically have fractions of my deposits sent to those accounts so my budgeting and money management are handled without any effort on my part. I should have lightweight cards available for each of those accounts with…

I mean, most of what you want is already available, the majority of banks allow you to open multiple checking accounts, between my husband and I we have four Navy Federal checking accounts - one for me, two for him (long story why), one joint account. You have to go through the "account opening" procedure, which I guess isn't "lightweight," but it's not difficult or anything. Some banks don't even make you type in your personal information if you are logged in.

Then you can get a debit card for each of account and you can set your paycheck to deposited into each account with your company's payroll. Automatic transfers would work too. I do some budgeting per checking account, the joint account is for household bills. Savings is automatically deposited into my investments account too - did that with payroll.

Problem is some banks want fees per account or want you to jump through hoops to get the fees waived, but it's possible to get a no fee per account bank.

Youd be MUCH better off doing this with separate credit cards rather than separate bank accounts though for many reasons. Credit cards are big on account alerts - not sure if bank accounts really do account alerts, haven't looked into it. Just get a "grocery" credit card and a "fun" credit card, "bills" credit card etc. I, personally, have seventeen (17) credit cards.

I have a few other checking accounts with different banks, most of which are opened only temporarily, I churn bank account bonuses.

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#332
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chase seems to have moved their "hands on" banking to their "Private Bankers" (who you qualify for if you have some minimum amount of money or debt across your accounts).

Yes, I am a Chase Private Client and, to be honest, it's awesome. I call and a friendly human answers immediately. But beyond that, I think Chase does a pretty good job overall with in-branch customer service. Their online/mobile banking is great. They're the best big bank by far IMO.

In-branch customer service has gotten super annoying in the last 3 or 4 years. I walk in to do something simple, there's like 8 bankers standing around in suits, doing nothing, and one of them rushes up to me like I just made their day and starts enthusiastically helping me with my simple thing... it's better than a long line and a disinterest in doing their job, but god damn it's creepy.

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#333
post #38

Something has happened to big banks along the way, where they no longer actually provide banking services to their customers. When I walk into a Wells Fargo branch now and sit down with a "banker" to take care of my accounts, it consists of sitting next to them while they call 1-800-WELLSFARGO for me and talk to a call center. There simply is no service anymore. I walked into my local branch to open up an IRA last we…

It's definitely an industry ripe for rebirth. For instance, I should be able to partition my money into several lightweight accounts - one for groceries, one for home expenses, investment, etc - and automatically have fractions of my deposits sent to those accounts so my budgeting and money management are handled without any effort on my part. I should have lightweight cards available for each of those accounts with…

Ripe for rebirth? They broke the law and faced no substantial consequence. And no, a fine isn't substantial.

We need a complete overhaul of our society, starting with the banks.

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#334
post #72

I had high hopes for Bank Simple some time ago when they came out. Then they got acquired by a bigger bank. This industry is nearly impossible to disrupt. Just like the Oil companies back in the day, these banks are so big and powerful that it's impossible to innovate in the current market conditions.

Banks, Oil, social networks

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#336

Remember: This isn't the Trump administration. This results from the regulation that was put in place and the enforcement that was started before, and that his administration is busy trying to deconstruct. Setting the political aspect aside, there seems to be a broader consensus that this "bankster" behavior is bad and needs to be reined in. And investment depends upon a certain degree of stability as well as reliabl…

[dead]

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#337

Something has happened to big banks along the way, where they no longer actually provide banking services to their customers. When I walk into a Wells Fargo branch now and sit down with a "banker" to take care of my accounts, it consists of sitting next to them while they call 1-800-WELLSFARGO for me and talk to a call center. There simply is no service anymore. I walked into my local branch to open up an IRA last we…

Yeah. I already had an account with Charles Schwab (based in San Francisco), and I set up a roth IRA for this year in about 5 minutes by myself, online.

So it's not that financial institutions can't be good at this, it's that the big banks fundamentally don't care about customers who aren't wealthy or institutional in nature.

But there are definitely alternatives like credit unions, online banks, and brokerage firms with banking services. Not that everyone of these is good, but you have options, especially if you live in a city, like most people on HN probably do.

Quit big banks. Join a credit union, tell your friends about it. Encourage your employer to switch banks too, if you are in a position to do so.

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Simple[1] is pretty close. Create "Goals" for any amount and time period, Save $X by Y Date . Simple automatically allocates money to your Goals from your Available Balance daily, every friday, or any other schedule. They show you a "Safe to Spend" balance which is your Available Balance minus your total Goals. You can associate a Goal with a spending category, say Groceries, and have all transactions marked Grocerie…

I liked the idea of simple, but didn't like the fact they couldn't send me checks to use. They'll mail them on my behalf but not send me an actual checkbook to hold onto for one off situations. I rarely use them, but sometimes contractors or landlords prefer this method or charge exorbitant fees to use a credit card. Also if I come into a decent size amount of a cash payment, I can't walk into a bank to deposit it. M…

FYI, they just started offering paper checks. It's in beta I believe. I received my first Simple checkbook and wrote a check just a couple weeks ago.

Re: Wells Fargo Hit with $1B in Fines

#339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There won't be any reward for you, or opportunity to say I told you so, after Mint reveals the shocking news they were hacked X number of years from now. So, I'm giving it to you now. This is just smart and logical. You do not need technical proficiency to reason out the risks, or the daily "12yo exploits MOST-SECURIST-EVER IOT device in 20 minutes" articles. With that said, without public support, and government law…

> Equifax data breach: The number of victims may be impossible to know Just assume all of them. Every last customer. Probably closest to the truth.

Not customers. You don't have to have done anything with the company, they collect data on anyone who has any credit history.
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