the saga continues

[mamajoan]

I still have not gotten a debit card for my new Wainwright Bank account. I posted on davis_square asking for people's experiences with this bank, and the results were very interesting. They were about evenly split between "I've used them for years and had no problems at all, love them" and "they suck, I had a horrible experience and was scarred for life." And very little in between. Weird!

So today I called again to say that I still haven't received my debit card and it has been almost three weeks since I was told that I would be getting it within 5-7 business days. The woman on the phone today said that I would get it by Monday or Tuesday of next week. I told her I was rather skeptical and she said "I understand." Not "I'm sorry this has been such an issue for you" or anything like that, just "I understand" and a reiteration of her claim that I'll get it early next week. Well, we shall see.

On the one hand, I'm motivated to stick with Wainwright because a) I want to have a local, rather than online-only, bank and b) they are environmentally friendly and community-friendly and all kinds of good stuff like that. OTOH, if the multiple problems I've had since opening the account only two months ago are indicative of how it's going to be in perpetuity, well, that's not going to be acceptable.

NetBank, which I have been trying to flee, got bought out by ING Direct, which is another online-only bank. ING offers REALLY good interest rates on their savings account (which you can link with a non-ING checking account) and their online-only checking account (which you can use to pay bills online but not to write paper checks). And they're offering me $25 to open a new account. So I'm a little bit torn. I do still need to have paper checks for some things, but maybe an ING savings account to earn the interest, and transfer money to the Wainwright checking account periodically so I can pay the bills that still require paper? Oh, I don't know. I don't seem to have the cycles lately to really thoroughly consider a decision like this. I need more brainpower, Scotty.

...which would be a great segue into an update on the sleep situation, but I'm not in the mood. urgh.

Comments

[mofic.livejournal.com]

still have not gotten a debit card for my new Wainwright Bank account. I posted on davis_square asking for people's experiences with this bank, and the results were very interesting. They were about evenly split between "I've used them for years and had no problems at all, love them" and "they suck, I had a horrible experience and was scarred for life." And very little in between. Weird!

That's pretty much what I'd expect, and not just with banks. It's the people who have had experience on the extreme ends of the scale that are more moved to write.

Do you have a Commerce Bank near you? I switched there because they opened up a branch next door to me, but I really love banking there. They're open 7 days a week, they don't charge for ATM transactions, and they *reimburse* you if you use another bank's ATM and that bank charges.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

No, we don't have Commerce Bank here, alas. We do have plenty of smallish local banks that do all the stuff you described, and I've gotten plenty of recommendations. I just feel like, I chose Wainwright for a reason, based on its "green" policies (like the loan where they reduce your interest rate if you reduce your energy consumption) and community involvement. So I don't want to just jump ship after a few little glitches, because it does seem like a great place.

OTOH, the little glitches are piling up and making my life difficult. So I'm definitely torn. I guess I'll see how I feel if the end of next week comes and I still have no damn ATM card.

[hawkeye7.livejournal.com]

I can offer you no insight; we don't have Wainwright here. I have dealt with ING because Nokia uses them to run the superannuation fund. They have been reasonably easy to work with, although their structures are a little complex at times.

I am curious though about what you still need cheques for. Generally speaking they have been superceded by BPay and other forms of electronic banking. And they cost more money because at the least they require an envelope and stamp to post.

[mogwar.livejournal.com]

I don't use checks for anything in the mail anymore, but I still use them at school constantly. Field trips, hot lunch, anything that requires money. I rarely have the exact change in cash, and they don't tend to keep a huge petty cash fund around to make change for me. Most of the rest of the world, I can use my credit card, but school isn't for profit, and the credit card fees are bit steep for them to make it easy for me to use my card. I can, in a pinch, but it's a major pain. So usually, I write a check.

There have been a handful of other similar situations where a paper check is still preferable - kidlet's guitar lessons, renewing my driver's license (they don't take credit cards), stuff like that. It's rare - I probably write less than twenty paper checks a year, but it happens, especially with kidlet.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

I mainly use checks to pay for daycare/preschool; neither of them takes credit cards. It doesn't require an envelope and stamp either, though, fortunately. But that's two checks per week at minimum.

I also write checks to babysitters (easier than remembering to have enough cash on hand) and, just recently, a plumber. And occasionally to my mom to repay her for various loans. That's about it. I don't write a huge number of checks, but I can't bring it down to zero.