September 2018 by Taren M.
U.S. Bank Why do you hate poor people? A little backstory for y'all. My husband and I are in the process of purchasing our first home. This should be super exciting, right? Yeah, except US Bank is trying to do everything they can to make that not happen. You see I have had a bank account with US Bank for the past 10 years since I worked at their call center in Idaho. Now one of the weird quirks about this job was that they would only pay you to a US Bank account. And so I opened my account with them and have just kept banking there forever because I don't care where I bank and since I do everything online it never really mattered. Fast forward to February when we moved to NC. I kept my US Bank account because, again, I do everything online and it didn't really matter that the closest branch is in Kentucky more than 6 hours away. This is 2018 after all, there are many banks that are 100% online and US Bank touts all of its great online abilities. I even called US Bank in February to make sure it wouldn't be a problem and I was told that there really isn't a reason I would need to go into a branch and I should keep banking with them. I have a great history with them, right? So here we are having been approved for our loan and needing to wire transfer $500 for our earnest money to the title company. And that is where the issue arises. I go online and cannot find where to submit a wire transfer request. Okay, not a big deal. I have a phone. I can call, but now when I call I spend 5 hours on the phone with 9 different people to be told that the ONLY way I can get a wire transfer is by going into a bank branch. I try to explain that this is not possible. I offer all sorts of alternatives, but no. My account is too small for an exception to be made. So that leads me to a section of this post I will title, "Things I have been told or called by people at your bank in the last 24 hours while trying to get you to wire funds for the purchase of my first home." 1. Yes, let me get you to the wire room. - The first telephone banker I talked to. 2. Yes, let me get you to the data entry department - The representative at the wire customer service dept. 3. No, we only do small business wires by phone. - The wire room data entry tech. 4. An exception should be able to be made by the branch manager where you opened your account. - Sherri Mccraken (St. Louis Wire Manager) 5. Let me call them and I'll get right back to you. - Sherri Mccraken (St. Louis Wire Manager) 6. Silence because she never called me back. - Sherri Mccraken (St. Louis Wire Manager) 7. Our branch manager can make exceptions, but he's on a leave of absence. - RJ (Banker at Gonzaga Office of US Bank in Spokane, WA) 8. They're only going to make an exception for big customers. You don't have enough money with us for them to care. - RJ (Banker at Gonzaga Office of US Bank in Spokane, WA) 9. If you had $20,000 or more in the bank we could do a phone transfer, but your not a good customer like that. - RJ (Banker at Gonzaga Office of US Bank in Spokane, WA) 10. If you want your money you'll have to drive to the bank branch. (348 miles away). - RJ (Banker at Gonzaga Office of US Bank in Spokane, WA) 11. Yeah it's a stupid policy, but no one cares about a shitty customer like you. - RJ (Banker at Gonzaga Office of US Bank in Spokane, WA) 12. I'm going to see if I can find another branch manager who will do this wire. I'll call you back in 20 minutes - Alicia Bella (Operations Specialist for US Bank in Portland, OR) 13. Silence because she never called me back. - Alicia Bella (Operations Specialist for US Bank in Portland, OR) 14. If you had a personal banker you'd be able to do it, but you don't have that kind of money. - A researcher who refused to give his name. So, in the end, I still don't know how to get my money out of this stupid bank. Any ideas? Please share if you aren't wealthy enough to get help at this bank. Trust me, being told you can't have money yo
