if you’re in the mood for a whinge about banks, read this. if you’re not, close ur browser now. 
i’ve just got back from 50 minutes at westpac, my bank here. i know all banks are crap (except commerce. commerce w their lollys & chain machine ROCKS). i’m on a student account in which i dont pay a monthly fee or any transaction fees at all.
i needed to show them my new student card b/c just recently i had been charged the $5 monthly fee & a 75c transaction fee. i’ve tried twice before to go in there but it was always too long of a wait. today i figured i’d just do it.
15 min waiting to see someone. in the other 35 min…
- the bank rep told me there was no such thing as a student account anymore. so i have to open a new account. of course they can’t just carry all the information over from the old account. I don’t have my social security equiv number memorized nor in my wallet so i have to go back to give them that later. great.
- the new account has things like unlimited transactions & no monthly fee like i had w my student account but it also has interest earning! oh la la. 4% interest. thanks but i already get 5.25 with my ING account. of course it’s very confusing the way this new account is set up…. under 1 account number i have 2 accounts. (oh, and this is the way i thought it was but after she explained it again, i have no clue). to get this 4%, i have to put money in the account & then not touch it for a month. if i make 1 withdrawl, even if it’s for 1c, i don’t get interest that month. yeah, sounds great!!
- telling the bank rep, how i shouldn’t have been charged the 5.75 in service fees. this happened once before & a different branch of the bank just reversed the fee for me. it happens b/c there’s a time gap btwn the date my account ‘expires’ and the date i show them my new student card.
the rep sez a couple times how she doesn’t think she can give me that money back. um, yeah. right. finally she sez she can give the $5 service fee but not the 75c transaction fees (which we had to spend 5 min on finding out what they were). um, no. i think i can use the 75c a lot more than westpac can. finally she sez she can refund that too.
ok. all set. off i go.
and when i got home, i had mail. i have a check for $6 that i’ll have to go & deposit in person. argh….