Almost 20 years ago, I opened a bank account with Security Pacific right before I started college. Security Pacific merged with (the now) Bank of America while I was still in college, so I became a Bank of America customer. I continuously had an account with Bank of America since then, but last year I moved all of my accounts as my free account was going away (it was tied to my mortgage that I moved). I hung onto a free account to keep the ability to have a safe deposit box there.
The other day I received a letter from Bank of America saying that my free account would cost $12 per month unless I kept a minimum balance of $1500, something that I have no interest in doing as I already moved my funds somewhere else. My choices of finding a bank with a free account in order to have a safe deposit box are pretty limited, unfortunately. My current bank doesn’t offer safe deposit boxes (in fact only has 1 financial center in the county, but will be adding another that will just be a financial center). I’ve heard ads for San Diego County Credit Union on the radio all the time, so I decided to take a look. All they require is a $50 opening balance for a savings account with no monthly fee. In addition, the safe deposit box prices are lower than Bank of America. The only downside to this switch is the location isn’t as convenient as the Bank of America down the street (it now will take me about 10 minutes to drive to my box).
Next week I’ll be closing out my Bank of America account and ending almost 20 years dealing with them. Of course, no one cares about it, but it seems to me that companies would make some effort to keep customers instead of driving them away with fee after fee after fee. Our tax dollars helped bail out banks and they repay us customers by charging us more. While I’m just starting with a safe deposit box at the credit union, who knows what the future may bring. Their auto loan rates are pretty good and I’d consider a mortgage with them if the rates are good.