i'm protected

Image by Daniel Y. Go via Flickr

i have had the same bank for 30 years. it's a good bank, or was, until it started merging, time and time again. after a couple of minor mishaps, i decided it was probably time to move on to one of the "fancy" national banks. you know, no bells and whistles, just banking...you hold my money that i earn and then i spend it. no big deal.

i got this account and sat down with a rep at said bank and when asked the question if i wanted checks, i answered no. first off, i was still leaving my other account open for some time. Secondly, if i were going to get checks, i was not going to get their generic "you bank here" checks. i was going to get ones that made a statement about life. you know the kind. i had a conversation with the rep about this and why i was declining checks.

i happened to wonder why i had not received my debit card after two weeks, and looked online at my account. i noticed, oddly enough, that $25.00 was deducted from my account, so i looked into it further, called the bank, and found that it was because someone had ordered me checks. aren't THEY sweet? i called, told of the mistake and also about the blatant security breach that was done by ordering checks with my money without my permission. i was "given" the checks...they refunded my money and that was that.

yesterday, i got a notice in my email stating that there was a security breach in my account. HALLELUIAH! they caught it, finally, a bank that's looking out for the little people. as i'm gleefully, clicking away to new links, i get to the official email from the bank that there has been a security breach AND they have taken appropriate steps and put a hold on my entire account. "WOW", i think, "they listen AND are taking 'appropriate steps'!" how lucky can one girl get, i wonder?

then, i start reading. my account is on hold for an undetermined amount of time, due to a suspicious DEPOSIT. WHAT? i call them...thinking something MUST be wrong. how can me depositing my pay check into MY bank account be suspicious? i mean, i know i'm not full of money, but surely even poverty line folk deposit checks?

i was then told that until it was established that i was a valid (not a criminal with demonic lasers coming out of my eyes and fangs that show only at night)customer, they would put holds on my deposits. that the only way that i could "get out of" these holds is for me to go inside the branch, each time i was depositing, and talk nicely (beg and plead) with a teller to see if they would please grant me mercy and PUT MONEY INTO THEIR BANK.

that's all i have to say about it