Wells Fargo Sux

They have one job as far as I am concerned: turn my paycheck into cash. However, despite that it is a company check drawn on a corporate account, they insist on calling a company officer before cashing, something my company has told them not to do because it inconveniences everybody. This is part of the bank's ongoing anti-fraud stuff wherein they do their level best to not honor any of their agreements. It's not bad enough that they charge $5 for the privilege of getting my money, they also now take an hour to cash a check. When I informed them this was basically 'normal bank bullshit', we agreed I need not darken their door because the 'will not service me', which was odd, because as far as I could tell, they had not serviced me until my boss called and read them the riot act, reminding them that it was a corporate account with a large balance that could be moved elsewhere.

I hate banks in general. They get a significant amount of income from fees these days, hence a fee for every little thing. The rest of their income comes from making sure they never have to give out cash. Chase has reduced the amount you can take out of an ATM, for instance. I have a prepaid debit card now. Not only can I take out as much as I like when I like, although ATMs are limited to a generous $500, I pay no fees above the fee for having the card and loading the card, which are both cheaper than my Wells Fargo bank account had been, but my card works everywhere with no fraud restrictions. I cannot count the times Wells Fargo shut off my card for some fraud suspect or another, such as trying to buy fuel out of state...

Feh. If banking regulation means anything, which it doesn't, banks ought to be required to pay the full amount, in cash, on any presented check drawn on their bank. Instead, they increasingly demand that you have an account for everything, which kind of defeats the purpose of having an account, because if I cannot write a check that is immediately cashable for an amount in my account, then why have an account? Why not simply carry the cash? Morons.

But to me, it is interesting that the 'mighty' Wells Fargo is #2 in the subprime lending market and is now getting awfully tight with the cash...