Personal Finance

Horrible Service & Policy Washington Mutual Bank I had an online CD with Washington Mutual Bank that matured, and I called t...

Bank Of America & Major League Baseball Offer Credit Card Bank of America Address: 101 South Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC 28255 Details: The new Bank of A...

Address:
401 East Kilbourn Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53202

Number of Branches:
56

Details:
Associated Banc-Corp is a diversified multibank holding company with $11.3 billion in total assets. Headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Associated has more than 200 banking locations across Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota.

It is time for a change. I have had enough of Associated Bank and after nearly 40 years of being a customer, I am beginning to pull my accounts and move them to different local banks or on-line banks. Why? If banking is getting impersonal, I might of well get an on-line account with an Internet bank for a better return. I will list the reasons, both pros and cons, on Associated Bank and the reasons for my switch.

* Locations: Associated Bank has over 300 locations in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. I originally was a teen-ager saver with our local savings and loan, then one-merger Waukesha Savings & Loan to another First Savings, to another Associated Bank. I think I might have missed one or two mergers. While it used to be important to be accessible to your customers, I believe Associated has made a commitment to steer customers to their 800 number and on-loin services. In fact, I get better customer satisfaction with the 800 rep than I do the Branch Manager.

* Locations and personal bankers: They are over-worked and have too many duties. I have waited for hours for “my” personal banker as they were closing a mortgage, redoing 401k roll-overs, opening new accounts. My branch is very busy and it seems there is only one personal branch manager. The branch has a few empty offices and truthfully, the manager is not all that up to date. I asked for a medallion signature to change an account and she was not familiar with it. As a bank manager, she has the authority to certify it and that involved another trip, with a wait.

* Services offered are many and typical. They have trust service, business banking, leasing, international banking, they are a full service, international bank. However, the basics services, CD’s, savings account, checking accounts, Health Savings Accounts, fall flat. I am getting “fee’d” to death and this is the major reason I am changing. Here are the products I have and the plusses and minuses:

-CD’s Rates are below average, you need high deposits to get any kind of rate. When you get the CD due statement, the rate of return is not even listed.

-Add to CD’s for the boys in place of a savings account. We use that for the longer term, non-educational savings. The add to feature is nice, the rate of return is acceptable but they are “grandfathering” this product out of the market. If I close it, I lose it!

-Checking account, so many options, limited returns unless you have $100k in the bank.On-line balancing and checking is good, up to date, debit card is “free”, ATM at Associated Bank ATM’s are free. That used to be a big deal but now, other banks are subsidizing your use of ATM cards and reimbursing you the fees charged. We have dipped below the minimum on a rare occasion, and regardless, got “dinged” for a service fee. We called the 800 number and got it reversed. The money market fee right now is at .4% under $10k, and gradually increases until 2.5% at a quarter of a million.

-Savings accounts are all CD’s or money markets. The days of a passbook are gone at Associated. We used a passbook for various savings items, it started when I quit smoking and I put the coin saved in it. When we got $2500, we moved it to a higher paying CD. I had $2799 and moved 2500 to a CD, leaving a balance of $299. It seems the minimum for a passbook was $300 and I was dinged $5 a month below the limit. I called, got the $5 reversed and next month, ding, the same thing. I closed the account and went with a local independent bank which still makes a big deal about a passbook savings account.

-Health Savings Account, With a change in jobs, I needed to open a HSA and went to my local Associated Bank Branch, waited and hour, came back another day. I had some questions, never got a response from my “personal” in person banker. It was never explained to me that there was a $3 per month charge for this .4% interest bearing HSA and to close it, a fee of $20! is charged. “I forgot to tell you.” is not an acceptable answer when I asked why I have been charged this, when I have auto deposit into it, and it will get over $1000 in a couple of months.

-Tying accounts together, bundling, maximizing your deposit means nothing at Associated. You have XXX in savings, XXX in CDs, XXX in a Money Market, XXX in checking, XXX in other things, cannot be bundled. So you get dinged for all of that, $5 fee here, $3 fee here, no real interest income. I have found a local bank which kicks butt on service and bundles accounts for best value for the customer, not the greatest return to stockholders.

-On-line banking is easy to use, and perfect with Quicken, daily updates if needed. They have a very easy to use, very documented on-line banking service. This is, for now, free. On-line transfers are free, some in person or phone you get dinged on, up to $10 per time. With the number of paper checks not being used, I am still surprised at the fee charges.

-5,000 associates are employed by Associated, most, I am sure are minimum wage folks, learning the business. I get tired asking questions, especially the answers from 18 year olds named Tina. Yield on stock is outstanding, $1.28 per share for a yield of 6.64% as of 6/30/08. Like most financial stocks, the price is at an all time low of $19 or so. It has over $22 billion in assets. Associated actually earned 37c per share in the second quarter which is an accomplishment for the shareholders. In the perspective, “Core fee based revenue up 12% over first quarter.” I am sure this is on my account alone. This was “led predominantly by increased service charges on deposit accounts.” No sh sherlock. Mortgage income was down $5 million so I guess you have to make it up somewhere, by dinging your best customers.

-Tools and personnel, Associated is stressing on-line tools,on-line banking, conversing via e-mail. “Technology enhances the service provided by Associated Bank.” Yes, I deal with a smaller branch, but I still expect value and service and I believe Associated Bank is failing in both.

I’m "FEE’D" up Compass Bank Alabama Address: 15 South 20Th Street, Birmingham, AL 35233 Number of Branches: 299 ...

Worst customer service I have ever experienced CheckFree My bank uses Check Free for their on line bill pay. I have experienced issu...

Big on credit cards, not on banking Capital One Capital One banking is another move toward the robotic, impersonal banking ...

Sun Trust Bank Pleased So Far SunTrust Bank Address: 303 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta, GA 30308 Details: Through the power of ...

Sun Trust Bank Pleased So Far SunTrust Bank Address: 303 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta, GA 30308 Details: Through the power of ...

Are you with Wachovia? Wachovia Address: 100 North Main Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27101 Details: Online Banking...

visa buxx customer service (us bank issued) VisaBuxx (Bank of America)

Orchard Bank: Has Costs to it but Good for People with Sub Par Credit Orchard Bank Credit Card