The Bank of Visceral Logic
on May5 2008I’ve been banking with US Bank since the early ’90’s. I’ve always had a great banking relationship with them and have found them to be a pleasant and easy bank to deal with. That is until I moved to Heber City, Utah. On any given day, I can walk into the US Bank branch located in Smith’s grocery store and be totally blown away by their employees’ logic — or lack thereof.
Before you go getting all huffy on me I want to make it clear that they are some of the nicest people in town but some of their banking practices could drive a sane person batty.
One of my biggest complaints is the fact that their bank tellers are only allowed to deposit or withdraw up to $1000 without getting a manager’s approval. This would be fine if there was a manager there at all times, but it’s usually not the case. Being that I have three companies, it is rare that I make a deposit or withdrawal that’s less than $1000. When a manager is not present, they have to fax all the checks + the deposit slip to a manager in another bank, wait 10 to 15 minutes until they get a fax back OK-ing the deposit. Even though they all know me, they know that it will be approved, and they know that I have excellent credit with them. I once had to wait 25 minutes to deposit $1100. This doesn’t happen in any other branch that I visit. Drives me nuts!
On another visit, the manager (she was a temp filling in for the regular manager) refused to deposit a check that was written to both my husband and myself. I informed her that I was just making a deposit and not asking for any cash back. She insisted that I needed my husband’s signature even to make a deposit. I didn’t even sign the check myself and the account is in my name. I usually stamp the checks with a For_Deposit_Only stamp but hand wrote it on this day. She told me had I stamped it and not wrote on it, it would’ve been OK. Where’s the logic in that? It was only after arguing with her for ten minutes and then threatening to close all my accounts, did she make the deposit.
Today’s visit takes the cake. I’m still mystified by their insane logic. I went in to cash my tax return. The teller behind the counter (who knows me very well) apologized and said that she was unable to cash the check because it was written to both my husband and myself. She was only able to deposit the check. I explained to her that we both signed the back of the check but she said that he needed to be present in order for her to cash it.
I was a bit confused but said it was fine. I filled out a withdrawal slip in addition to the deposit slip so I could get the money back that way. She gave me a puzzled look and said that I couldn’t do that.
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because that would be the same as just cashing the check for you.”
“But I’m not cashing the check. I’m depositing the check and withdrawing money that I have in the account already.” I was getting rather impatient.
Again, she stated that this was impossible because it was like I was cheating the system. Ha! Cheating the system by withdrawing my own money? Baffling! I asked her if I didn’t have the deposit would it be possible for me to walk up and just withdraw the money. She said yes. I asked for my check back and told her that I just wanted to make the withdrawal then. She handed me the money. Then, I handed her the check and said, “I’d like to make a deposit now.” She was clearly not happy with me as she made my deposit.
The guy behind me in line began to chuckle. He high-fived me on the way out! Ya gotta love it!
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