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I guess that is the problem with stereotypes. Believe it or not, not all old people are bigots and racists.
You're right not all are.
Just most from what I've experienced. I don't really mind if they are as its a free country. Its that combination of being a bigot and being old enough to feel entitled to tell everyone about it that I find reprehensible.
We've recently changed the way we bank to eliminate ATM and debit usage. We were using ATMs and Debit so much it was almost impossible to keep track of what was happening in our account via thousand page statements with debit/credit line items for mere dollars. We opened new accounts that don't have ATM or debit/credit cards attached to them whatsoever.
I don't care for debit, but ATM is useful at times because, you know, I need to get cash occasionally and it might not be when the bank is open. (For a long time I had an ATM-only card, but the more advantageous account terms basically force you to carry a debit although do not force you to USE it that way, so I don't.) But, I do find that I only need to get cash every few weeks because I just don't use it THAT much, and also I don't find a point in making the withdrawals too small. I watch some people get $20 out at a time; that's silly to me, only meaning you need to go more often. Which doesn't mean I carry $300 in cash or anything but I don't feel uncomfortable with 100 bucks in my pocket at times when I've just topped off or maybe a little more if setting off on a driving trip. (When I drove to FL I had about $150. Never came even close to needing to tap ATM but in emergency could have been useful.)
Since I've been depositing checks regularly anyway I tend to just get cash then, but sometimes I have deposited those at the ATM as well. It just depends upon the timing and whether I remember to do it when the bank is open. There's a reason they call it "bankers' hours" you know. (Even if for some banks they are not as bad as they used to be. Although, check out S&T for good old fashioned banker's hours in action. 9-4 hours at a suburban branch. Also when I saw a new independent store in Wexford recently with posted 10-4 or 10-5 hours on weekdays, I deemed it "Wexford hours". Hours that work only for the no-need-to-work crowd I guess....)
Most (perhaps even all?) of PNC atms will now even print an image of the check you deposited on your receipt if you want them to.
I haven't paid a dime to PNC to bank with them since I bounced my last check about 8 years back. Ypu qualify for performance checking which gives you pretty much everything free, including some non PNC atm surcharge reimbursement, if you have a direct deposit of $2000 or more a month. I realize not everyone makes enough to qualify for this, but its not exactly rich people only territory.
Well, I can see many of you are foolish when it comes to business. Effective banks will try to secure enduring long-term relationships with clients, through their bullish years and bearish years. Just because I'm poor now and in my mid-20s (nice way to backhandedly knock me, by the way) doesn't mean I won't be affluent and in my mid-30s. PNC subversively telling us "we don't want business from the poor" by nickling-and-diming them away is a great way for me to eventually invest my assets with another institution that doesn't discriminate once I DO have assets to invest. Hell, when I worked there they would always talk about courting and prioritizing sales leads with "good clients" (i.e. those with lots of money with us). So the poor people are "bad clients"? What if they're only temporarily poor due to an economic hardship and will soon be back on their feet? What about those who may have $100 with PNC and $50,000 with Dollar Bank? When I worked for the bank I worked to build great relationships with everyone, and I even asked those who weren't "well-off" if they had spoken to anyone recently about their retirement plans. You'd be surprised how much sales success I had employing this strategy of treating clients EQUALLY. Believe it or not EVERYONE bleeds red---both rich and poor.
Ironically one of my chief complaints about PNC's employment was that they worked fastidiously to recruit top talent but then did nothing to retain top talent. When I first started working in my position many of my clients were upset that the bankers they had been building relationships (i.e. TRUST) with kept getting fired or leaving the company. It took a while to gain their trust and confidence, as they were skeptical of how long I would last, and now I, too, am no longer in their ranks (due to a former troll on here who admitted via Facebook to posing as a client to get me fired), meaning those same clients will have to work---AGAIN---to rebuild relationships with another newbie (or just go elsewhere out of frustration).
Banks have transitioned away from being more concerned with humanity and more concerned with shareholders (the majority of whom are meteorically wealthier than the typical Pittsburgher, anyways). My generation generally doesn't care WHO their banker is or whether they know them on a first-name basis or not as long as we accomplish our mission of opening a credit card, securing an auto loan, being approved for a mortgage, etc. In my banking experience the older generations, though, (the ones with the moolah and the ones the banks call "good" clients), DID want to speak about retirement, investments, etc. with FAMILIAR faces because that's the world they grew up within and felt more comfortable with.
Sure, PNC may gain money in the short-term by charging fees that will drive away their poor clients. They'll lose money in the long-run, though, when those alienated clients improve their fiscal situations and build relationships elsewhere (i.e. I'm speaking to someone at Dollar Bank TODAY about a mortgage---not PNC).
Well, I can see many of you are foolish when it comes to business. Effective banks will try to secure enduring long-term relationships with clients, through their bullish years and bearish years. Just because I'm poor now and in my mid-20s (nice way to backhandedly knock me, by the way) doesn't mean I won't be affluent and in my mid-30s. PNC subversively telling us "we don't want business from the poor" by nickling-and-diming them away is a great way for me to eventually invest my assets with another institution that doesn't discriminate once I DO have assets to invest. Hell, when I worked there they would always talk about courting and prioritizing sales leads with "good clients" (i.e. those with lots of money with us). So the poor people are "bad clients"? What if they're only temporarily poor due to an economic hardship and will soon be back on their feet? What about those who may have $100 with PNC and $50,000 with Dollar Bank? When I worked for the bank I worked to build great relationships with everyone, and I even asked those who weren't "well-off" if they had spoken to anyone recently about their retirement plans. You'd be surprised how much sales success I had employing this strategy of treating clients EQUALLY. Believe it or not EVERYONE bleeds red---both rich and poor.
Ironically one of my chief complaints about PNC's employment was that they worked fastidiously to recruit top talent but then did nothing to retain top talent. When I first started working in my position many of my clients were upset that the bankers they had been building relationships (i.e. TRUST) with kept getting fired or leaving the company. It took a while to gain their trust and confidence, as they were skeptical of how long I would last, and now I, too, am no longer in their ranks (due to a former troll on here who admitted via Facebook to posing as a client to get me fired), meaning those same clients will have to work---AGAIN---to rebuild relationships with another newbie (or just go elsewhere out of frustration).
Banks have transitioned away from being more concerned with humanity and more concerned with shareholders (the majority of whom are meteorically wealthier than the typical Pittsburgher, anyways). My generation generally doesn't care WHO their banker is or whether they know them on a first-name basis or not as long as we accomplish our mission of opening a credit card, securing an auto loan, being approved for a mortgage, etc. In my banking experience the older generations, though, (the ones with the moolah and the ones the banks call "good" clients), DID want to speak about retirement, investments, etc. with FAMILIAR faces because that's the world they grew up within and felt more comfortable with.
Sure, PNC may gain money in the short-term by charging fees that will drive away their poor clients. They'll lose money in the long-run, though, when those alienated clients improve their fiscal situations and build relationships elsewhere (i.e. I'm speaking to someone at Dollar Bank TODAY about a mortgage---not PNC).
Might I suggest a credit union as an option because the fact is most banks don't really want your (not you personally) checking account. Banks lose money on most free checking accounts, thus the new convenience fees and high overdraft penalties.
That said, you'll likely find the hyper-local banks (Dollar, Allegheny Valley, etc...) are going to be a bit more personable and accommodating to small depositors because they do want to have you as a long term customer that will use the financial products they have to make them money. What you'll also find is that they are far more risk adverse than the big banks and will be stricter with credit requirements and less generous with loan pre-approval amounts.
I don't care for debit, but ATM is useful at times because, you know, I need to get cash occasionally and it might not be when the bank is open. (For a long time I had an ATM-only card, but the more advantageous account terms basically force you to carry a debit although do not force you to USE it that way, so I don't.) But, I do find that I only need to get cash every few weeks because I just don't use it THAT much, and also I don't find a point in making the withdrawals too small. I watch some people get $20 out at a time; that's silly to me, only meaning you need to go more often. Which doesn't mean I carry $300 in cash or anything but I don't feel uncomfortable with 100 bucks in my pocket at times when I've just topped off or maybe a little more if setting off on a driving trip. (When I drove to FL I had about $150. Never came even close to needing to tap ATM but in emergency could have been useful.)
You might want to shop around because our new accounts at PNC don't require debit attached and it's one of the best account terms. I really don't know how we're going to adjust to this new change we made. It has been many years since I've had cash in my wallet. We have a few ideas. We may use credit cards and just pay them off each month. I total agree that there is no need to get small amounts of cash. We can withdraw a budget amount if we decide to go the cash route.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bong477
I haven't paid a dime to PNC to bank with them since I bounced my last check about 8 years back. Ypu qualify for performance checking which gives you pretty much everything free, including some non PNC atm surcharge reimbursement, if you have a direct deposit of $2000 or more a month. I realize not everyone makes enough to qualify for this, but its not exactly rich people only territory.
We didn't have fees. I just didn't like that it would have been next to impossible for me to determine if someone was using my card numbers. Our accounts would have been a bottomless pit for a thief. I became worried around the holidays when I was traveling in New England because they don't have normal debit/credit terminals a registers in the region where I was. Their registers are computers. You hand them your card and they perch it up on the keyboard and start typing before they would swipe it. I would try to see what they were typing, sometimes I would ask. Always got a different answer. It made me very nervous so I switched to only using cash while I was up there---even for my hotel bills.
Well, I can see many of you are foolish when it comes to business. Effective banks will try to secure enduring long-term relationships with clients, through their bullish years and bearish years. Just because I'm poor now and in my mid-20s (nice way to backhandedly knock me, by the way) doesn't mean I won't be affluent and in my mid-30s. PNC subversively telling us "we don't want business from the poor" by nickling-and-diming them away is a great way for me to eventually invest my assets with another institution that doesn't discriminate once I DO have assets to invest. Hell, when I worked there they would always talk about courting and prioritizing sales leads with "good clients" (i.e. those with lots of money with us). So the poor people are "bad clients"? What if they're only temporarily poor due to an economic hardship and will soon be back on their feet? What about those who may have $100 with PNC and $50,000 with Dollar Bank? When I worked for the bank I worked to build great relationships with everyone, and I even asked those who weren't "well-off" if they had spoken to anyone recently about their retirement plans. You'd be surprised how much sales success I had employing this strategy of treating clients EQUALLY. Believe it or not EVERYONE bleeds red---both rich and poor.
Ironically one of my chief complaints about PNC's employment was that they worked fastidiously to recruit top talent but then did nothing to retain top talent. When I first started working in my position many of my clients were upset that the bankers they had been building relationships (i.e. TRUST) with kept getting fired or leaving the company. It took a while to gain their trust and confidence, as they were skeptical of how long I would last, and now I, too, am no longer in their ranks (due to a former troll on here who admitted via Facebook to posing as a client to get me fired), meaning those same clients will have to work---AGAIN---to rebuild relationships with another newbie (or just go elsewhere out of frustration).
Banks have transitioned away from being more concerned with humanity and more concerned with shareholders (the majority of whom are meteorically wealthier than the typical Pittsburgher, anyways). My generation generally doesn't care WHO their banker is or whether they know them on a first-name basis or not as long as we accomplish our mission of opening a credit card, securing an auto loan, being approved for a mortgage, etc. In my banking experience the older generations, though, (the ones with the moolah and the ones the banks call "good" clients), DID want to speak about retirement, investments, etc. with FAMILIAR faces because that's the world they grew up within and felt more comfortable with.
Sure, PNC may gain money in the short-term by charging fees that will drive away their poor clients. They'll lose money in the long-run, though, when those alienated clients improve their fiscal situations and build relationships elsewhere (i.e. I'm speaking to someone at Dollar Bank TODAY about a mortgage---not PNC).
Citizens has more fees for poor people. I know because we were forced to open a Citizens account for one of our children who lives out of state. The charges are insane. No free checking for poor people there.
Why go to a bank about a mortgage? Use a mortgage broker.
Why go to a bank about a mortgage? Use a mortgage broker.
<Off-Topic to Hopes> Fair point. I'll ask our Coldwell Banker Realtor on Saturday morning for a referral for one of their mortgage brokers. I'm making a $1,000 payment today on my credit card, which will bring my overall credit utilization below 25% and should dramatically boost my credit score when this credit card company reports to the credit reporting agencies around the 21st of the month. I just hope the house I have my heart set on doesn't sell by then!
<On-Topic to Others> I suppose I just have a divergent mindset when it comes to business in general. If I were PNC I would be willing to stomach smaller short-term losses catering to low-income clientele (ESPECIALLY students) with free checking accounts in hopes of strengthening those relationships and reaping more profit from them in the long-term once loyalty had been established.
I suppose "loyalty" just isn't in most people's vocabularies anymore. Hell, the divorce rate is over 50%, isn't it? Many people job-hop every few years, and employers pull the rug out from under loyal employees without giving them the opportunity to explain a situation. I guess I just yearn for a bygone era where businesses WANTED your business.
Again, NorthWest Savings bank. They know me by name and I am by no means rich. Very little in the way of fees, on-line banking is great, and they have free tootsie rolls.
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Define "old."
(Even if for some banks they are not as bad as they used to be. Although, check out S&T for good old fashioned banker's hours in action. 9-4 hours at a suburban branch. Also when I saw a new independent store in Wexford recently with posted 10-4 or 10-5 hours on weekdays, I deemed it "Wexford hours". 
