My credit union is back in MN. I left my account there when we moved for simplicity. Changing all that is a royal pain. My social security goes in, my bills come out, I almost never have to write a check any more, and when I get one to deposit, my credit union has a "sister" credit union now about 4 miles past my pharmacy and there is some familiar shopping along the way.
So we've been getting warnings for a few months now that my long time credit union would be merging with another in MN and... things would change. I say warning because change is never simple, and some things will be better at the end, one hopes, and others not so much, most likely. We got actual snail mail notices of how, for each of us, certain procedures and regulations would be changing. Both sets of customers are win-some, lose-some. Life goes on. Banking goes on.
I've been with "my" old credit union since the mid 80s. It was offered to those of us who worked either as independent contractors or employees, and I grabbed the chance to have that kind of stability and reduced bank fees. They really were much better than any bank I had the displeasure of doing business with, and there were times things were set up so I had to do business with other banks. When I moved to AZ I needed some kind of services, and got an account at a then-sister institution. They had lots more fees, so that didn't last long.
I had Steve and his bank do certain transactions for me, and put lots of things in the mail back to MN. My credit union cut off their ties to the one down here, and after a couple years, allied with a different one, which has been a pleasure to use. Or at least until they closed on Saturdays. I just had to learn to plan better, no biggie. But Steve's national chain bank didn't like me. It was mutual. They tried to get me to join. No deal. I liked my credit union, and their bank was growing something of a bad reputation.They wouldn't let me endorse a check to Steve written on their bank so he could deposit it in his account. Then they insisted I could cash checks written to me from their bank - since that's also the bank the club used to pay me for sales - but not without two forms of ID. OK, I have all kinds of ID. I'm just not giving you my credit card. I have photo ID to drive, a voter ID card, a concealed carry permit, a bunch of membership ID cards. I refused to let them have access to my credit card info. It was their own bank check after all. What did they do with customers who came in to cash their checks who didn't happen to have any credit cards? Weren't their own checks any good?
Over the months this battle went on, I occasionally took my check and spent it in the club's supply room. The club knew it was fine. I didn't bother with the battle and mostly sent those checks north. But occcasionally I armed myself for battle and went back. What second form of ID did they need that wasn't a credit card? After all this bank was having major, even newsworthy, problems with people accessing accounts who weren't supposed to, including their own employees. One teller walked away from her station, consulted with a boss, and came back with the need for a second ID card to have an expiration date. OK, here's my AARP card. It expires in a year and three months.
They still wouldn't cash the check.
When I became club president, I was also the second (emergency) signer on club checks, in case of our treasurer being unable for some reason to sign them. I also sign checks from the club to her. This meant I went with her into the bank, sat down and filled out forms putting me into their system. Guess what form of ID they still didn't get? They had to take me as a signer anyway. I asked would they let me now come in and cash a check from their bank from an account which I was a registered signer on?
They hemmed and hawed and "well, maybe..." a few times, but I never got a definite answer. It's been two years and I've never set foot back in that bank. By then my MN credit union joined in a relationship with a different credit union in this area and they are always happy to see me, helpful as they can be, and aside from my driver's license never need ID, just take in any checks I may have and send them on up north or dish out cash if requested. We laugh about the ones for $1.10 from my pharmacy from an overcharge somebody discovered, but never questions would they take it.
Since I'm no longer president of the club, I have no special status at that bank, and can't be bothered to test my privileges. I have no need.
Something else happened on the 1st. As should be expected, there are glitches in the merger. I went to check my balance this afternoon before paying a bill online. I couldn't log in. I double checked my info - name and password - and it still was wrong. Not wanting to risk getting blackballed on my third "strike", I opted for "forgot my password", though knowing full well it had been perfect both times. This time it didn't recognize me at all. I'm not even me.
OK then, I made a phone call. I've done a lot of bank business via phone over the years. As expected I got put on hold. Yep, busy, probably with more glitches like mine. 17 minutes and 23 seconds later I got disconnected. Did I get frustrated? Actually, no. I figured the staff was having the week from hell right now. I didn't really need to pay that bill till a couple weeks out, and by then my SS will be there, my balance should be high, and a whole lot of people's problems should be fixed. I do have a check to be deposited in a couple days or so at the sister credit union, and checked last month that my 9 digit institution number and my account number should remain identical, despite getting a new name for the merged credit unions. So I won't worry till that becomes a problem. THEN they'll hear from me! Meanwhile I might check in after a few days to see how hard it is to log in, and maybe even sit on hold again for a while. If I don't need to add to the staff's problems, I won't. They've been great for decades.
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