Banking, Part II

After more than several bad experiences and high fees stemming from just about everything at Wells Fargo, I've set out on the search for a customer friendly, socially responsible bank that isn't all about screwing their customers. Easy, you say, especially with the power of Internet search at your fingers.

Ah, ha! Not so fast. Not only is difficult to find any type of bank rating (customer service wise, fees schedules, etc), it's pretty much impossible. Considering myself fairly net savvy, I've spent countless hours over the last week trying to find some objective rating of banks in Minnesota. The sites I came across were of two types:
  1. Corporate sites for the banks themselves such as Wellsfargo.com or Wamu.com
  2. Consumer created sites discussing how awful big banks are and offering horror stories. Check out this list of sites about Wells Fargo or visit Complaints.com.
The only ratings I came across were in a Consumer Reports article (which I paid for because I really want to switch to a good bank). However, I was not impressed. The article has a very general overview of banks (of course Wells Fargo is 3 from the bottom) and all the well-rated banks don't do business in Minnesota.

As far as I can tell, there is no great consumer generated rating system of banks in a particular city, state, or region. So how am I know what I am in for unless I personally try out every bank or collect the information, compile it...oh, who am I kidding? As pissed off as I am, there is no way I'm going through all that work. But it's got me thinking. Maybe there is a need for something like this online, like a digg for banks and their services.

Comments

Unknown said…
Thank you for taking the time to research this. It's more than most people do. http://wells-fargo-vs-adams.blogspot.com/ It is a complaint of mine but it says why to avoid WF.
To my knowledge, what you seek is not out there. I have not found it either. I too have searched.
Perhaps it is and we just haven't found it yet. Banks, WF in particular are not into publishing negative statistics. It would defeat the purpose of attracting investors and new customers. Hence no info.
R Stubbs
Anonymous said…
Have you considered banking at a local credit union?
Unknown said…
I have, but interest rates are generally so much lower and I love online bill pay, banking, etc.

ING's interface is great and easy-to-use, although I recently read a strange thread about their new Electric Orange account that is making me think twice. But so far, we have always received great customer service from them.

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