The fight with the banks

Three are my monthly expenses that have increased since the beginning of the year, as you know, and I had no choice but to try to reduce them given my current financial situation. And I almost succeeded, at least for two of them for sure. The outcome of the third is not yet clear. But this happened after already 4 months of effort, time, work and nerves, and more additional expenses, of course.
All the paperwork is still lying on my desk, even of the two completed assignments, because I still can't seem to believe that this is over, that it was settled, like I said, after so much arguing, including the help of a lawyer.

But let's start with the first task - changing the bank where I have an account because of the high monthly fees, transfer fees, withdrawal fees, etc. I already wrote about how difficult it was to first find a replacement bank, because I decided to turn to Bard AI for advice. Big mistake.
I've shared my opinion on AI before as well, but it just so happens that I find myself in discussions about it a lot lately, and I even heard some commentary on the radio today as we drove to the next town. Not very optimistic. Frankly, I hope I'm not alive when AI completely takes over the world, as it seems from today's perspective that things will happen.
But... You know I'm a pretty big pessimist in general about people, their reasoning ability, etc., but I'm kind of an optimist in this regard. Because I really don't believe that people in general can be so stupid as to let AI take over the world, take their jobs and replace their brains. Because from my experiences with this thing - asking questions to or trying to communicate with the customer service of companies and institutions that use it, it does not work for 5 cents, as they say in my country.

So, it took me a while to find a replacement bank, just because of my mistake, but then the search turned out to be quite lengthy anyway, along with quite a few limitations, such as the limited number of banks in the neighboring town, and I ended up having to make an informed choice between only 6 banks. Anyway, after that difficult part came the rest - opening an account with the chosen bank - only through an application, but getting the debit card again turned out to be a problem. The first card just didn't arrive. When I contacted the local office two weeks later, the staff simply canceled the request and told me to make a new one. And just when I ordered a new card, I immediately received the first one, already canceled...

Because of this I had to go to the neighboring town again and again.
I imagine if I had decided to open an account in a bank that does not have an office in this city - how many times it would have been necessary to go to a city where there is an office, because of all sorts of problems and misunderstandings, how much gasoline would have been burned moreover, how much time would be lost?
What if I was at work? Well, of course I'd rather not be unemployed. But right then, from February until the end of April, while the whole saga of switching banks was going on, I wondered what would have happened if I had been at work - how many times would I have had to leave work to deal with bank misunderstandings?

Then there were the attempts to make a money transfer to a certain platform, because in Bulgaria the understandings and permissions about where a person invests his money are quite distorted and flawed. Because many banks do not allow making transfers to investment platforms - of course, they are their direct competitors, but at the same time they do not cause a problem when a person makes transfers to online casinos or online sports betting sites, of which there are so many in Bulgaria and are advertised constantly, on television and in all media, advertised by well-known and very famous persons.
So, there is a problem of making transfers to investment platforms where one invests one's money, with the explanations that these are risky platforms. But there is no problem doing this to betting sites, where the chances of losing money are between 98 and 99%. Do you see the logic? Well, this is a rather long and different topic.

So, after another period of attempts at money transfers and further clarifications, the moment comes to close my account at the other bank. Well, transferring the money between the two banks is also a problem, by the way. You know there are no free moves. At least as far as a Bulgarian bank is concerned. Withdrawing money from an ATM is not free either, withdrawing money over the counter is even more expensive, depositing money is also paid.
But well, I get to the point where I have about 10 euros in my account and I go to close it. Do you think I will be served adequately and competently? In recent months I have started to bring my partner with me as I try to deal with different institutions. Well, he was a calm man. Until then, lol 😂

I didn't believe a word the bank teller told me. I was even ready to argue with him and fight, because as many times as I have been served by him, he has never done any work. On the contrary, I had to dig through the bank's website in front of him to show him the information I found about their services that he was not aware of. He was never aware or had a clear opinion on any question I asked.
But that day everything went amazingly smoothly, he even behaved helpfully and kindly. I signed some document and left, extremely amazed... until the next time I had to visit the bank again. And then again and again... Encountering a different employee, with different incompetence, telling different things about closing my account, rude as usual and as befits an incompetent bank employee in Bulgaria.

When one month was up, I went to the bank for confirmation. You know, everything always needs to be confirmed. Every dead thing. There are many cases of unclosed accounts, for one reason or another, loans taken out in the name of an unsuspecting person, various things bought, etc. So I had to make sure that this body is really dead, that it wouldn't revive in two days or two months and start charging high fees again and keep a negative balance that would have to be reset to zero again sooner or later.

I asked the bank clerk several times if everything was over. "This account is not in use." That's what he wrote in the reason for closing. I was just about to say that this was a lie. That I need this account, but it is impossible to use it because of the high fees. Then I stopped myself, what does the incompetent employee who works day for day in this bank on a low salary care?
Soon after, I saw an ad for an intern in that same office and that same city. Guess if I would work there given the seen conditions, atmosphere and nature of work.
But whatever. It's over now. After three whole months.

Thank you for your time! Copyright:	@soulsdetour
	Soul's Detour is a project started by me years ago when I had a blog about historical and not so popular tourist destinations in Eastern Belgium, West Germany and Luxembourg. Nowadays, this blog no longer exists, but I'm still here - passionate about architecture, art and mysteries and eager to share my discoveries and point of view with you.

Personally, I am a sensitive soul with a strong sense of justice.
Traveling and photography are my greatest passions.
Sounds trivial to you?
No, it's not trivial. Because I still love to travel to not so famous destinations.🗺️
Of course, the current situation does not allow me to do this, but I still find a way to satisfy my hunger for knowledge, new places, beauty and art.
Sometimes you can find the most amazing things even in the backyard of your house.😊🧐🧭|