Boy my bank thinks I am an idiot. They sent out a letter saying they are improving my account. It mainly proving their bottom line as they are going from no fee to $12 per month. I switching over to the local CU which I meet the requirements and have online banking. I don't need payroll management.
That like when they wanted $10 per check to block an allotment of 200 new checks that got lost in the mail. My solution was to just to close the personal account. Saved myself $2000.
At least I got a month to get things switched over.
If you have a 7 figure back account, you get a personal account manager , a dongle for computer banking and continual updates on how to make more money from your money
If you have a 6 figure balance then you get ignored.
If you have less than that you get done over
The bank that tried to charge me $ 20 a month because I was not doing any transactions got a transaction
I close the account that my mother set up for me when I was born .
Then Dunn & Bradstreet got my business confused with another one of a similar name that was turning over $ 11,000,000 /pa and the bank sent a financial advisor to my home 3 times they offered to restore the old account and repay the fees if I put my business account into their bank
I told them to take a hike
Switched to a credit union & will never go back to a bank again.
In fact I have changed this account 4 times as when credit unions get big , they decide to become fully fledged banks to "provide the customers with a wider range of improved services "
which is bank speak for doing you over with hidden fees and paying the directors massive bonuses which a credit union can not do in OZ
#3
StarTech
I would use my current CU but it is a little hard to take in my deposites since they are about 500 miles away and I definitely don't the US mail system when moving my money around. I still use them for credit card services as the local bank doesn't even offer credit cards just unsafe debit cards.
#4
Hammermechanicman
I have a commercial checking account that is connected to a business credit card. They charge me $5 a month service fee. Everything else is free. I run everything for the business through them. I try to buy everything for the business with the credit card. I deposit checks with my phone and get cash back for using the credit card. Of course every month i get mail offering me up to $100,000 credit to expand my business. No thanks.
#5
StarTech
My last bank refuse to loan the money to buy my current home but two months after I had brought it they sent out a letter saying they could lower my monthly mortgage payments. So I went in but they couldn't do negative payments. I had went ahead and paid cash for my home. Saved tons of interest payments. Oh it hurt to do it as I was cash strap for a while but I have been putting what would have been payments to bank for interest away.
It funny the loan officer said they didn't know I had $75K in cash and if they would had gladly loaned me the money.
Don't do phone banking at all
US banks might know about proper security but Australian banks definatly do not
I ride with a techie from a major bank & he only ever does over the counter transactions.
So it is cash or cheques for my customers .
I do allow the commercial one to make direct deposits but not regular ones and definately not casual customers .
I pay by cheque as well
So the cheque book IS my ledger
Tomorow is bank day so off to my credit union then around to the branches to pay my suppliers by depositing a cheque ( which they will not take directly ) into their accounts.
Takes a few minutes to do but only done once a month
For on line purchases I use PayPal so no fees to me.
My bank says they pay interest on my checking account but give me what they call monthly interest then charge a monthly for that amount shees what a scam.
#8
Hammermechanicman
I make all online purchases i can with paypal using my commercial credit card. I haven't written a check on my commercial checking account in years. When you hand somebody a check they have your bank routing and account number. All someone needs to take money from your account. I do everything electronic or with credit card. Only time i go to the bank is to deposit cash. A third party payment service like paypal or zelle is more secure than any paper payment. Older folks pay in check or cash. The under 30 folks usually want to use a cash app sonce i don't take credit cards.
Using a CU I pay no fees and get CC/Debit card privileges. Free ATM everywhere. I have two different checking and a savings with them. I have the debit tied to a smaller checking for security purposed and primarily use PayPal for most of my purchases. But money left in banks and CUs is depreciating at that 9+% inflation rate. I’m looking into Govt I-bonds and may transfer my excess cash there.
Using a CU I pay no fees and get CC/Debit card privileges. Free ATM everywhere. I have two different checking and a savings with them. I have the debit tied to a smaller checking for security purposed and primarily use PayPal for most of my purchases. But money left in banks and CUs is depreciating at that 9+% inflation rate. I’m looking into Govt I-bonds and may transfer my excess cash there.
You might think I am crazy but I haven't had an ATM or debit card since 2006. Most purchases are cash or CC. I simply don't want a debit card as I have already had my CC stolen 4 times since I got it.
And I lived with a $1000 credit limit on CC until last year when I had it bumped to $2000. But purchases are falling off with CC due to vendors charging a surcharge for it use. I can put to better use the $50+ that would cost to use the CC now.
#11
Hammermechanicman
You are far safer using a credit card vs a debit card. Pay the balance off every month so no interest charges. A comprimized debit card/bank account is a B word to fix. A compromized credit card is fixed with a phone call. Setup CC charges to alert to your phone and you can instantly know about fradulent charges.
When tell my customers I do not do electronic banking they look at me like I have 2 heads
I ride with some IT guys, one works for a big bank
He does not do any electric banking other than taking cash from a teller machine if a branch is closed.
One of his favourite saying is " 2 types of people who phone bank, those who have been defrauded and those who will be defrauded "
The other techies work for different businesses but again neither of them do any e-banking or use credit / debit cards for anything other than getting cash from a branch or machine .
I lost my carry bag back when I was on crutches for a year
In that time some one got hold of my wallet & over a week removed every cent I had .
It took 15 years to get my money back from the bank and had I not been a graduate of UNSW so got their Law school to take up my case I would never have gotten my money back .
So lessons learned
several bank accounts with different institutions
Only ever do face to face transactions
Keep every receipt & statement .
The prime factor in my victory was walking into the court room with 2 trolley loads of archive boxes to be added into evidence .
These had every credit card receipt & statement back to 1964 in them ( or so we told the judge )
He adjourned the case , took the boxes into his chambers, called both attorneys in with him at the end of the session for "deliberations in chambers "
A week latter I got the money back
Down side was I had a house deposit in the bank before and by the time the case was resolved it was less than 1/2 as house prices had gone up that much .
#13
StarTech
Yelp I am one those deadbeat credit card holders. Just 2000 to 4000 in payments per month. Kinda of a hassle to have a 2K limit but it keeps me paying to keep it up to date.
Now I do operate my business by doing electronic transfers. Pay all my bills via the online banking. As for many vendors I just pay them thru the Paypal account which is link to my CC. The problem with banking has been with my CC being hacked. I usually catch it about as quick as the bank as I do daily purchase and do keep a close eye on the CC account for fraudulent charges.
Whenever it happens it shut down my business for about a week. So I got keep track of things so I can shut down the account and get new card issued. As for the regular business checking account I only keep enough in it to pay about weeks worth of bills.
#14
Hammermechanicman
Not sure about OZ but here paying with a paper check or with a debit card gives someone your bank routing number and your account number. All they need to take all your money. Using a third party processor like the evil PayPal hides your banking info is the safest tranaction. Costs a little but worth it. The laws governing credit cards here make the consumer not responsible for fraudulent transactions. It is not a courtesy but law. Most banking apps allow for all transactions to send texts to a phone so any fraudulent charges can be flagged immediately and a credit card can be replaced on 3 days. Electronic banking is more secure than paper if you work it right. Of course cash still works too. For now.
System is a bi different here.
Knowing the account name , account number & BSB ( routing number ) is no good if the account has no third party authorization ( ie electronic banking ) on it
And never using any card or electronic banking . other than an ATM machine put the onus on the bank to notify me if any unusual activity happens with the account ( I have that in writing from the court case ruling )
When the bank starts to hand out security dongles I would consider banking off the computer but phone banking is a no no if you do not have a lot of money you do not need .
I see all sorts of stuff like authority numbers that are generated by the bank, sent to you as a SMS then you need to type that in.
SO once you loose your phone down here it can take months to get the account happening again.
I have loaned a couple of people living money for a few weeks because they lost their phones & used a bank with no local branches so had to go interstate to re-establish their identity
I know of 2 criminal gangs who got caught with a card reader for all of those Pay wave type systems in brief cases .
Souped up to work from over a meter away then stood in lifts or walked through trains pulling sums from $ 4.99 to $ 200 out of every card they passed .
The $ 4.99 man had been doing it for years and had stolen hundred of millions & only got caught because he passed out on a train & the police looked in hid brief case too establish his identity ( got this story from a friend who is a rail security officer ) and another friend who does building security told me about the $ 200 debits when they detained some one who was lurking around the foyer ( lobby to some ) of a high security building because they thought he was trying to gain access to restricted floors .
Much like computer security the day after a bank rolls out a new unbeatable security update, the criminals have broken it.
With a cheque the money is my money till the warrant of commitment has been processed and this can only happen when the right piece of paper has passed through the right machine .
And while a crook may have had the stolen money credited to his account , if the paper does not follow up it gets reversed and the money comes back to me.
If the crook has cashed out then the bank foots the refund
THis is one of the reasons why down here the banks are doing their best to get people off cheques & into automatic banking of some sort.
And of course there is less processing costs with auto banking plus no requirement to keep the original pieces of paper .
If you are swindled via an automatic transaction then YOU have to proove that you had not made the transaction and how do you prove you did not spend $4.99 on a coffee at 8:12 am on your way to work ? Where as I can prove that cheque 1234567 was never written as I have it in my cheque book .
#16
StarTech
It is to note too that thieves can scan the newer credit cards even when they are in your wallet. That why I have mine in a RFID blocking wallet. Even we take all precautions things can go wrong. A couple years ago I had $1500 remove from my bank account because of a damage MICR number on a check. The scanner read one number as an one when it was supposedly a nine. The person had folded the check and rubbed part of the MICR off. It actually was to be drawn on another business in my area within 15 miles of me. I had gotten an alert that I was overdrawn so I was on the phone with the bank when I got an incoming call alert. It was the bank calling me.
But no matter what we do there is always some crook trying the figure a way to get our money. Some just unwilling to make an honest living.
#17
Hammermechanicman
You had to mention MICR. I used to aervice MICR check printers. Thanks for bringing back sooooo many bad memories.
#18
StarTech
Burroughs call them encoders and yes I spent 8 yrs repairing them for Standard Register. The Burroughs ones were fairly good machines it was the later ones with Standard Register branding that were a pain to repair with those darn stepper motors and feed rollers. Kroger about drove me nuts trying to use them.
Most of the banks and other than the older Burroughs encoders.
As with all things they weren't the only thing I repaired at SRC. When I first started with SRC I walked right into a nightmare of a merger. For the first two years I had more windshield time than actual repair time putting out fires. By the time the eighth year rolled by I had my territory under control and actual had PMs under control so the actually new work was less as PM took care of a lot of the problems before they got reported.
What was a pain was having to go training and certification classes after I do been repairing the equipment for two year plus. I usually knew than the class teachers as I had hands on experience.Basically those classes were a big waste of my time especially when the tech that suppose to fill in just put things off until I got back. I finally got him back one year. Boy was he mad.
#19
7394
I still prefer burying my pennies out back in mason jars..
Pennies don't last like they once did...So those store better be darn sealed to where no moisture ever gets to them. I find them half eaten away by corrosion.
Besides dimes are the way to go as they are smaller and take less space.
Not sure about OZ but here paying with a paper check or with a debit card gives someone your bank routing number and your account number. All they need to take all your money. Using a third party processor like the evil PayPal hides your banking info is the safest tranaction. Costs a little but worth it. The laws governing credit cards here make the consumer not responsible for fraudulent transactions. It is not a courtesy but law. Most banking apps allow for all transactions to send texts to a phone so any fraudulent charges can be flagged immediately and a credit card can be replaced on 3 days. Electronic banking is more secure than paper if you work it right. Of course cash still works too. For now.
I wish it was only 3 days here it takes up to two weeks to get a replacement card. I been through it 3X now since 2014. I got to where I use Paypal as a go between even with eBay purchases. Amazon is the only one with my card number on file now.
And using bill pay from my bank takes up to two weeks to get Gardner paid. That was putting a heck damper on part purchases but I finally got them to increase my credit limit somewhat hopefully I won't be bumping into that limit as I pay as I receive orders.
It even takes up to two week to get my CC paid monthly and that is being a pain to deal with too.
I wish it was only 3 days here it takes up to two weeks to get a replacement card. I been through it 3X now since 2014. I got to where I use Paypal as a go between even with eBay purchases. Amazon is the only one with my card number on file now.
And using bill pay from my bank takes up to two weeks to get Gardner paid. That was putting a heck damper on part purchases but I finally got them to increase my credit limit somewhat hopefully I won't be bumping into that limit as I pay as I receive orders.
It even takes up to two week to get my CC paid monthly and that is being a pain to deal with too.
I bank with US bank and pretty much all of my transactions process in one day. I have 2 different business credit cards and business checking accounts and a personal credit card and checking and everthing processes in one day including checks i deposit by phone. I don't need to worry about credit limits on the cards. I have deposited checks via my phone on the weekend and had them accepted and funds available the same weekend.
#23
StarTech
I just wish every bank had the same rules but they don't apparently. When I started with Redstone they were holding my deposits for two weeks. A real pain during the busy season at the time. I had to take out a loan to pass the hurtle.
At one time when the Dayton CU was SRCFU they allowed external accounts linking. After about two years the new owners are saying it will be available once again in April when a software upgrade is done then I get funds move between the two CU with a couple days.
Anyway the my banking and business operations has changed since the start of Covid-19 which in some ways better and in other more of a pain. Learning how to get around the roadblocks is a challenge that has prove beneficial to my business. I now got one distributor that I can pay electronically but the other still has to paid by check as I refuse to pay 2.5% extra to use my CC. That vendor had to increase my $1000 credit limited to $4000 because I keep hitting the limit while checks were being processed.
Now the CC has a $2K limit that I imposed and I do run up against every month or so while funds are being transferred.
Either way I now got a handle of the process so my customers are no longer having to wait on me to order parts accept where I am trying to meet minimum free levels.
No form or electric banking is safer than cheques & over the counter transactions
And in particular if every withdrawl is a check & check only.
On my business account only cheques can be used to take money out. No electronic funds transfer so no one can make unauthorised transactions and of course when they do there will be 2 cheques with the same number so easy to prove fraud.
I go one step further and issue cheques from the back of the book to the front
If come criminal gets hold on one of my cheques & tries to make a transaction then naturally they will pick a cheque number bigger than the one they got hold of, but that cheque will have already been issued .
IT also makes it difficult for the tax auditors because they are used to seeing cheque numbers getting bigger over time .
And because the bank auto issues new books when it sees a number near the end of the book, you get your new cheque book very early on so never get caught without a cheque.
When we had employees I used a separate cheque book for each one of their wages which made the book keeping esier.
We also has a seperate book for paying tax another for deductable items and another for non deductables
When faced with some one who would not take a cheque then I paid it from my pocket and draw a cheque payable to me but with the vendors invoive number on the stub.
I go riding with 3 people who are involved with cyber security
None of them do electronic banking and that says heaps
Very had to be scammed when all transactions are done with paper.
Right now a club I am in has just had $ 4900 withdrawn from our account illegally
According to the banks records we initated the transfer , they sent the SMA with the authority numbers & we typed them in
However the treasurer did not authorise the transfer & no SMS was ever received
According to the bank records, we changed the linked number , then did the transfer then changed the linked phone number back again to the original one .
The bank stone walled so we made it a police matter and in the meantime have found 5 others who have had the exact same thing happen.
This is obviously some one INSIDE the bank but time will tell
The bank would not tell us the temporary new phone number but the police told us it was from a burn phone in Hong Kong .
If you have millions then the banks down here will issue you with a dongle .
The dongle costs around $ 2 and the softwear costs around 50¢ for every transaction.
That is the only "safe" electronic banking but it is reserved for the rich .
#25
Hammermechanicman
I have my alerts setup so that every credit card transaction and checking accout transactions except check deposits sends a text to my phone. Anything hinkey and i would know in seconds. E banking works for me. Last time i got CC scammed was when the ISP Netzero did it.
The club account requires the treasurer to approve each transaction by responding to an SMS sent by the bank .
As mentioned some one got into the system & changed that alert number did the transaction then changed the number back again.
The currently most successful scam is an alerts that looks like it comes from your bank about a large with drawl .
When you react to it on screen you actually make the withdrawl or give the scammers all of your banking id numbers .
In the latter the scammers use your details to make a stack of on line purchases or banking transactions between 2 am & 4 am when most people are asleep. This has become so prevelant that one bank will not process phone / internet transaction between those hours without a third party authorization
If you are at home or in your office you can jump on the WWW and log into the banks portal directly
But if you out then way too many people open their banking phone app to verify what is happening and by doing that give the scammers their banking details .
Remember what you see on the screen is not necessarily what will happen when you hit touch screen buttons on your phone .
Another bank has changed their apps so they only ever use the phones keypad which is fine unless some one has installed a key tracker on your phone ( or computer for that matter ) , and according to a computer / phone security company about 1/4 of all computers & phones have a key tracker in them that the owner has no idea about .
There is nothing you can do with any app to make it thief proof other than to use an identification dongle and if that dongle encrypts the communication even better, but you won't get that level of security from any bank unless they consider you a valuable customer
I have my alerts setup so that every credit card transaction and checking accout transactions except check deposits sends a text to my phone. Anything hinkey and i would know in seconds. E banking works for me.
Pennies don't last like they once did...So those store better be darn sealed to where no moisture ever gets to them. I find them half eaten away by corrosion.
Besides dimes are the way to go as they are smaller and take less space.
I had went ahead and paid cash for my home. Saved tons of interest payments. Oh it hurt to do it as I was cash strap for a while but I have been putting what would have been payments to bank for interest away.