Oh my god... I went into a bank today for the first time in years to cash a check.... no wonder they are dying..
I can't believe how crappy banks have become.. I spent 30 minutes in Wells Fargo today to cash a simple check...
I don't usually like to deal with banks for starters but today I went to meet a client for a payment and he ended up having to give me a check, which should have been fine right? Nope. Biggest hassle of my life. I have never had such a hard time cashing a check let alone getting paid. Details below for those interested.
Remember the days when you could just sign over a check to someone you know and they deposit it into their bank account? And that was that?
We'll it seems that in the 21st century checks do not work like this, instead a check is more like a piece of paper with no security and no value and you have to go through the following hassle in order to cash a simple check, and yes it was properly filled out, Well's Fargo just doesn't trust anyone.
Anyways my first simple check cashing experience in years went as follows:
First off, I went with my friend to Bank Of America and was hoping to simply have my friend cash a check for me so I grabbed my ID, picked him up and we wen't a few blocks up to BoA. Waited in line for a good 10 minutes and then finally wen't up to the counter, presented my check, ID and his ID and debit card and requested they cash my check; the teller looked over her shoulder as if I was about to rip her off at her manager, then basically told me they couldn't help me if I didn't also have a BoA account, then told us we could try the Wells Fargo down the street since it was a wells fargo check.... I made some snide remark about this being completely pointless and banks being useless and immediately left to try the Wells Fargo hoping to get this dealt with and out of my hair.
Now to Wells Fargo.... it gets better don't worry. Not.
I pull up to this branch expecting to just park, walk in, cash the check and be on my way... sounds simple enough right? Well for starters I pulled into to a completely full parking lot and my adventure began, i did a few looks in the lot before just leaving my car on and parked in the handicap spot expecting to run in and out real quick. Oh boy was I mistaken..
The line had roughly 10 or so people in it when I arrived, along with one lady holding everything up with her attitude at the main teller, so I was in for a long wait it seemed, standing around for 15 minutes or so while the line piled up some more, my eyes glazed over and I started getting bored.
After what had seemed like an eternity, I was finally next up and I even got the manager! Almost home free! NOT. I asked her if I could cash this check, and explained that bank of america had told me since I didn't have an account I needed to take the check to the bank that issues it to cash it, and she said alright lets get this cashed for you. First she needed 2 separate forms of ID, which I luckily had on me, my first was my ID but my second just so happened to my Shift Payments Debit Card thats hooked up to my Coinbase account, she suggested it was a prepaid debit card and didn't count, and I had to show her it has my name and is a real debit card, she shrugged it off and accepted it. After making a few cheap shots at my "cheap" debit card and suggesting I sign up for Wells Fargo I simply had to tell her I preferred being unbanked and not ripped off and she stopped bothering me about it...
At this point I thought it was all over with and I had finally finished this SIMPLE CHECK CASHING PROCEDURE, but yet again, a hold up. She now said give me a moment while I verify this check with the account holder..... yes she needed to verify a $200.00 check, by calling the guy who had just written it for me 2 hours prior...
I laughed it off at this point, but it just kept getting worse. After verifying with my client that he had written me a check for $200, and verifying my identity with him, she then requested me to add my name, phone number, address & THUMB PRINT onto the check... I was astounded, I've never had so many steps or time taken while trying to cash a check, I felt like I was either a criminal or a goddamn millionaire by the end of this 30-40 minute fiasco.
Never going into a bank again. So glad I've been unbanked for 2 years, and I'm never looking back. The experience is flat out horrible.
Morale of the story: Cryptocurrency is the future. Banks are already falling apart and today proved it. I have never had such a horrendous experience with such a simple process as cashing a TINY check of $200....
edit:
We should tag issues and experiences like this with something like #JustFiatThings and start a campaign!
That sounds like my last Wells Fargo experience too. The problem was those 2 banks, they are both awful. I stopped funding them after they treated me like that, and started nickel and diming me with fees.
I have had much better experiences at local credit unions. A local credit union is not out for profit at all costs like those banks, so they don't charge fee's for every little thing and they actually still pay interest. They also give you free ATM access and will even refund the access fees from competitors sometimes. Also, the money they do make stays in your local community instead of going to Goldman Sachs or USBank too.
If you have a local one, I highly recommend trying to get an account.
https://co-opcreditunions.org/locator/?loctype=AS
Yea I would have preferred to use https://www.becu.org/ but I had my account closed a while back for some mishandling of my money for a few months, have yet to sign back up.
I recently opened a company account and deposited a check. It took almost two weeks to clear.
The reality of our banks today is that branch managers call each other on the phone to verify deposits. After using cryptocurrency, it's hard to imagine going to a bank.
I hear what you say @thedashguy I process all the foreign payments for our family import business, and to gather all of the paperwork required, book the rate and instruct the bank to make payment via their cumbersome online system, takes about 30 mins per transaction, and 3 days to reflect in the supplier's account, bitcoin is less than 2 mins to make a payment and usually not more than an hour to reflect.
Regards,
Ricardo Goncalves (BNC Steemit Community Manager)
It's craziness I tell you!
Thanks for posting this. It's a good reminder of some of the many reasons why we need to move on from banks!
Exactly why I thought it would be good to write about my experience :] I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I could write a whole book on why they had you going through that whole procedure to cash a simple check.
First, check fraud has a nice tune of a few Billion Dollars.(http://www.relyco.com/blog/laser-check-printing/check-fraud-statistics-techniques-know/)
Second, the thumb print is so that if you did cash a check that was fraudulent, and then were caught later for something else, they could tack that on to the charges(less liability for the bank too).
Third and last, all that banks deal with is risk. Which means that the more risk put on them, the more they make it difficult to do for the general public(and less risk is put on the banks).
Oh of course of course. The system is far to gone to make it easy, I understand that. But the experience really reminded me why we need something new, something better, than these old school technologies and companies.
Wells Fargo is the worst to deal with. I work at a car dealership and they always hassle our customers they usually won't even let you use a debit card for over $500 dollars even if you have the money in the bank they set there limit on there cards at $500 bucks unless you request it higher. In Utah Credit Unions are the best to work with a lot easier no limits on credit cards if you have the money in your account they will let you take it out no questions.
Disgusting. I have been in your shoes brother. I am proud to say I have been bank free for about 1 year now.
I haven't had a bank account for years, last one I had was BECU which was a credit union roughly 2-3 years ago.. haven't been happier.
Had to venture out tonight and use an ATM for the first time in a while, the cash actually nearly made me dry reach..so done with banks and anything to do with them..hoping to be totally rid very soon.
That's just downright ridiculous. They'll fall if they keep it up.