The Best Retail Bank (For The Depositor, Not A Robber) (Laramie: mortgage, credit)

[OldChina]

Would someone of average means coming to settle in, say, Buffalo, be better-served by a local or national bank? And would a user-friendly local bank, particularly if not a Federal Reserve Bank member, be able to proffer facilities similar to those of a branch of an international one? In matters of foreign exchange, etc, it can be hard enough to find someone who understands such dealings even in the latter category. Now I'd like to point out that I came to this forum several weeks ago as BoCosmo. Shortly after, I forgot the password, which is too long-winded for its good. I never write them down, you know. And so I return as OldChina, which, in Cockney parlance, means something like friendly old geezer

[OldChina]

Decades ago I worked in the foreign exchange and associated markets in the City of London, in the course of which I had dealings with many US banks, several of which no longer exist in their own right. In particular, I can recall interacting with Bank One, Society Bank, The Mercantile Trust Company of St Louis, American National Bank And Trust Company of Chicago, etc. Alas, each is now part of a holding company. But how good it would be to find a bank that's similarly pleasant, with branches in Wyoming! And just how local do the banks get? For instance, would one in Laramie be any better than a bank in Jackson?

[sunsprit]

I think it's impossible to generalize about the banking industry in Wyoming, and you need to shop your requirements at any given time with the banks that are readily accessible to you at the time.

I've had good ... and bad ... experiences with small locally owned banks and national affiliate banks in Wyoming.

For example, I had a small bank V.P. try to buy a repo file property out from under me by refusing to approve my well-qualified loan and offer on the property. My offer was over $100,000 more than he wanted to pay to get the property out of the file. It was plainly obvious what he was up to, my offer had been accepted, my loan app had been processed and approved, I had the down payment cash in hand, I had the creditworthiness to afford the mortgage ... and he squashed the deal the day before the closing on a pretext based upon requiring more net assets than I'd disclosed on the loan app. What he didn't know was that I had more assets if needed to support the loan app, but he shut the deal down with no time to submit a revised application, and time was of essence on the commercial property at stake.

I got a signature loan the next day from a national affiliate bank down the street for that property, and took all my banking business to them. But they changed management a few years later and I shopped my banking needs again ... finally chose another major national bank with better policies/fees and service.

Every few years, I shop my banking needs again ... and the locally owned banks I've approached were indifferent to soliciting my business; ie, my question is "why should I bank with you, what do you offer me that I should bring my business and portfolio to you?. Of the three I interviewed last year, none had any response for me .... not even that they'd appreciate my business and welcome me to their bank. All they did was give me their printed rate sheet for services, and there was no advantage to moving to their bank over my current bank. They didn't get my business, and yet ... there may be a day when they will be willing to make a better offer. We'll see.

[jody_wy]

heck I get hand written thank you card from one of the local banks I do business with

[ScottStielow]

Since you mentioned Buffalo Wy. There are four banks:
Buffalo Federal Savings located at 106 Fort St.
ANB Bank located at 99 S. Main St.
First National Bank of Buffalo located at 99 S. Main St
First Interstate Bank located at 40 E. Hart St.
I believe a lot of people like to use and support their local bank.
It will be up to you to research which bank would best support
your needs.
Best of luck,
Scott

[Rescue3]

OldChina: You use terms that suggest you are a banking insider - or at least very knowledgeable about the industry. So with that said, here are some thoughts:

A local bank in, say, Buffalo will give you friendly, local service. The staff will remember you and treat you well. However, deposit interest rates will be as much as 75 basis points below the nationals while loan rates will be more than a few BPs above the nationals.

Pros: The local business people will often agree to a deal that the local bank is financing much more readily than they will to one that is financed by a national or an international.

Cons: As Sunsprit pointed out (above),often local politics, likes/dislikes and personalities figure much more prominently in what the local bank will or won't do for you.

Of course, our local banks can't do SWIFT or CHIPS without using a correspondent. (Heck, Fedwire requires a correspondent activity for some.) Read: higher fees, as well as second hand rate reporting and financial product availability. I would respectfully suggest not using a local, small town Wyoming bank for international work.

Here was the solution my family settled upon: We use a local Wyoming bank for day to day local financial dealings. We have accounts with a large national for our national and occasional international dealings.

Good luck...

[WyoNewk]

It seems there are few truly "local" banks left these days. Gillette only has one that I know of, First National Bank. Stockmens Bank was local and became the largest state bank in Wyoming and second largest bank. When I moved to Gillette in 1971, those were the only two banks in town. Both were good and seemed to care about their customers. Stockmens probably too much so.

About 30 years ago I needed a letter giving me a line of credit for a business I was considering. I called Stockmens president/CEO about it and he said, "sure, how much do you want?" I think I said I needed $400K. By the time I could get downtown, maybe 10 minutes, I had the letter giving me a $500K line of credit with a note praising me and stating if I needed more credit it was available. No charge. That's the kind of bank you like dealing with -- willing to work with it's customers. But they went out on a few too many limbs for shaky clients and were closed down by the FDIC. (It was taken over by First Interstate, a long-time bank headquartered in Sheridan with several other banks across the state and in Billings, as I recall -- including one in Buffalo, btw.)

If the "someone of average means" doesn't plan to own a business, I think most banks will be about the same. If business funds will be needed, that's when you really need to shop around and find out what they can offer you. Sometimes it's nice to have that big, national bank behind you. We now bank at Bank of the West. When I was on the Oregon coast last summer I needed some extra spending money. I walked into a Bank of the West and had the cash in 5 minutes -- no charge. Maybe that's possible these days with any debit card from any bank. I don't know.

[OldChina]

The user-friendliness or function of US local banks interests me because there are none to speak of in the U K. Although they used to be prevalent till about the onset of WW1, those that didn't go out of business were taken over. And now we have a handful of national banks, most of which have an international presence too. And despite the criticisms they come in for, on the whole they do a good job. Yet we have no local banks to compare or compete with them. But what I do know is that a bank doesn't have to be particularly large to work well

[OldChina]

I've come across a couple of websites about banks and their branches, one of which, US Bank Locations , even reviews them. But most accounts are disparaging: and perhaps that's to be expected, for it would attract more customers with unfavourable than good experiences, wouldn't it? And here is the other one – Banks around the World, which is more technical and transnational

[sunsprit]

I can only tell you of my experience with the local branch of U S Bank ...

they seemed more focused upon their needs than mine as a customer.

I left them very quickly, as soon as a 6 month C D matured. They could have had all my business, but didn't give me any reason to do so. All of the products and services they offered me were standard off the street products at top market costs at lowest market returns.