Years ago I was upset with a bank for a similar reason. They charged me $2 if I called to check my balance.
I pulled everything out, except for $3.00. Just enough that they would have to generate a statement each month.
I left it that way for several years.

hum, interesting

we have a free checking account with them because we
have direct deposit, if we stop that, i wonder if the
fees would start to pile up and we'd wind up oweing
them a ton of money and they'd ruin our credit over it

but none the less, i'd love to screw with them like
that

acutally, we've had several "run ins" with them over
crap like that, and it was just the last straw, we've
banked with them for 12 years, only three times in 12 years
have we bounced checks, and once, was not our fault, it
was theirs, and i have the letter to prove it, and they
wouldn't give us a lousy 10K loan to buy property

its just been alot of stuff

like, when we moved, we changed our address with them,
and there again, i have an e-mail with proof that they
changed it, but all of a sudden, we started having stuff
get kicked back and the merchants would say "your billing
address doesn't match" and when we called the bank they
said "we don't know what happened" even when i send them
a copy of the e-mail confirming our change of address
they had no explination at all, just an "oh well, we're
sorry"

and over the years, we've ran into lots of folks that have
either been with them and left, or heard bad things about
them and choose not to bank with them

i just kept tellin daniel, "we've been with them for along
time, we've got a whole box of checks, all our bills are
online payments, lets just ride it out"

but after this, even i was willing to close the account

tesa

I have all of my savings in credit unions, where saving is their main business. The savings fund the loans, so they are nice to savers.

I only do checking and credit card, with the bank. Even then, I have to maintain a hefty balance to avoid fees. (They also have the worst interest rates on savings.)

That's what I do. Our credit union is pretty good! Free checking and we can check our accounts by phone or online any time we want, no charge. There are charges for certain things, but I consider it a bargain. DH has direct deposit set up for his account. Now, with the economy so bad, I think the banks are trying to nickel-and-dime (okay, it's really dollars nowadays) their customers even more in order to try to stay profitable and make up for their really bad loans and such.

Oh, and I checked to be sure. I have no limit on withdrawals from savings with my "senior" account!

i spent the day talking to local banks, and asking
them about their various "perks"

i like the idea of using a savings and loan, maby
i'll check those out too

i'd really like to find a smalltown local bank,
not one of the "big boys"

thanks for the imput

tesa

I, too, bank with credit unions.--Three different ones. I really can't say enough good things about credit unions.

Credit union, here too.