Bigger: not always better – 307

I know I was supposed to start another round of self-discovery, but we have had an adventure I want to vent about.

I guess Harrises don’t like to mess with the status quo. Change can be irritating, and we’re certainly not fickle. So, before I was even five my father started a prime share account for each of us kids with Oregon Telco Credit Union. They have changed their name to Unitus Community Credit Union, but they are the same, and I still bank with them. When I took Personal Finance in high school I did briefly start a checking account with First Interstate, but I closed it after not very long, and added checking to my account at the credit union.

Not all of that was habit. I like the principles of a credit union more than regular banking. At times it was inconvenient, because they only had the one location for year, but the amount of things you could do by phone and ATM, and then on-line kept expanding, and now they have a Tanasbourne and a Beaverton location, so it has just gotten better.

On a related note, my mother started with First Interstate years ago, and stayed with them. They became Wells Fargo, and she stayed with them. At times I would be appalled, most recently at the $10 monthly service charge, but she didn’t want to go through the hassle of changing, and that is something I understand. That has changed.

Mom does not know how to use a computer. I have tried teaching her a few times, but she is not that motivated, and it is easy enough to check things for her. I check her online bank statements pretty regularly, and Julie checks her e-mail. Last Friday, Julie forwarded me an e-mail notification of an overdraft transfer, saying, “I assume you did this?” I didn’t.

So, I started checking the individual checks, and found six that didn’t fit. They had all hit within two days and wiped out her checking account, and the e-mail notification was because the bank had automatically taken most of her savings to cover the shortfall.

Obviously this was disturbing, but there were a few things that were comforting. One was that the information on the checks had nothing to do with Mom. The names were different, the address was in a different state, and the logo did not even say “Wells Fargo”; it said “Bank of America”. Establishing that she did not write these checks was going to be pretty easy, and also it looked like it was not a case of identity theft. Instead, someone had probably randomly generated account numbers, and happened to hit on hers. When I worked in e-tail we saw it happen a lot with credit cards, and I have read “Catch Me If You Can”, so I could wrap my mind around that pretty easily.

I wasn’t particularly disturbed that the bank had not caught the different information, because that takes a human eye, and a lot of things are automated, but it did bother me that five of the six checks had check numbers that had already cleared as legitimate checks that Mom wrote. That seems like something that software should automatically detect and have someone look at.

Anyway, at this point, we did not hate the bank yet. I looked on-line and found a contact number, and tried to report it. I was not allowed to because my name was on the account. Mom was right there, she could authorize them to talk to me, and I was not requesting information on the account, I was trying to give them information, but that didn’t matter. They were unhelpful, and honestly a little rude.

Okay, we could accept that we were outside of their procedures, so we went to the nearest branch office. The banker, Lilly, was really good and helpful. She started the claim for us, and told us to call this number in two days to see about getting provisional credit. Also, we would be receiving an affidavit we would need to sign and bring in, and, obviously, the account would need to be closed. (For one thing, there were numbers missing in the check sequence for the counterfeit checks, so I was pretty sure there were more coming.)

We felt somewhat better after this, but it didn’t last. First of all, the number for the claim was just as bad. They act like you are the one who has done something wrong, and that particular agent said that the provisional credit takes 30 days to get. Well, the claim can take up to 30 days to resolve, so that seemed pretty pointless, but I didn’t believe her.

We knew we would need to go back in, but we kept waiting for the affidavit. Thursday Mom got a call that it was being sent, and it arrived Friday, so the mailing time was fast, but it seemed like it could have been sent out faster.

We filled it out, went back in, and found Lilly again, and again she was very helpful. She made multiple calls to find out what the deal was on the provisional credit, and did eventually work it out. Still, several problems became apparent.

First of all, it occurred to me that the larger a bank is, the greater the number of accounts related to its routing number, therefore, the greater the likelihood of someone being able to randomly hit a real account. As Mom and I were discussing this, we started debating about how big Wells Fargo actually is, so we asked there if they were nationwide. Well, they weren’t, but they are merging with Wachovia now. That will not help.

Also, size is an issue with the poor customer support. I realize that we were outside of the norm, but there was still a problem on the other end of the phone, which was that the agents have no ability to do anything, or investment in what happens. When I call Unitus, I get a banker, at the branch, and my hold time isn’t any longer than it was for Wells Fargo.

Sadly, they seem to be moving more in this direction. As Lilly was trying to help us she had to talk to her manager, and it became clear that she had overstepped, and should not have started the claim for us but that those should always be done by phone or it doesn’t work right. Lovely.
One other thing that had bothered me was that we were told that they were unlikely to file anything with the police. I realize they people who did this would probably be hard to track down, but you should at least put the information out there, in case they get caught on something else, or in case they are doing it to multiple business, so it can be tracked, or just so you are not sending a message that counterfeiting is okay and you can get away with it. Again, I think they just write off the losses, and they can, because they are big.

The manager did try to turn their size into a good thing. So, our claim was granted pretty easily, and the original ten-dollar overdraft fee was returned, but there was another thirty-five dollar fee that has not been yet, and this is why. The $10 could be covered by savings, and was triggered by one of the bad checks. Mom had one debit card purchase she had made the previous week, but it had not billed yet because the package had not shipped. When it came through, there was not enough in checking or savings. What the manager told my mother was that since she knew it was coming, she should have arranged to have some funds put in to cover it. And I am thinking, funds from where? Both accounts had been emptied, she doesn’t keep huge wads of cash around, is she supposed to try and borrow it from her unemployed and underemployed kids? She never even comes close to floating checks. We were hoping we could get the provisional credit in there before it hit, but you know how that worked out.

So, I was irritated, and pointed out those things along with some of my concerns about the lacking security, and while she admitted that they needed to do a better job now that fraud was happening more, she said that they will return the amount on the bad checks without a problem, which a smaller bank or credit union wouldn’t do. Bull. Okay, granted, for reasons already listed it is less likely to happen at a smaller bank, but still. Bull.

I’m not saying that the bank is the only one at fault, because we have some very dishonest people out there. Lilly had said with the hard economic times, people are desperate, but I’m sorry, a $2500 shopping spree at places like TJ Maxx, Bed Bath & Beyond, American Eagle Outfitters, and Victoria’s Secret? That’s not desperation; that’s just fun. However, the bank was charging my mother $120 a year just so she could run her checks through them, so I expect more.

I did also have some feeling of unfairness about the issue of them not talking to me because I am not on the account, because is it really fair that she has to put my name on things just because she isn’t tech-savvy? And if you take away the branch option, and send her to the phones, with their menus and unhelpful people, I mean, there are a lot of people in her age group who would have a hard time navigating that mess alone, and they deserve better. However, I had to give that one up. I am on her new account.

Yes, Monday we went over to First Tech and signed her up. We thought about Unitus, but First Tech is more convenient with their locations for her, and Julie and Tripp have both said they are great, so I’m sure it will be fine. There are still a few hassles left in getting this mess cleaned up, but I believe this will turn out to be a good change. I’m still going to try and get that $35 back.