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PERSONAL FINANCE
Legionnaires' disease

Advice IQ: Is it time to dump your bank?

Phillip Shrotman
Advice IQ
ATM fees are one reason consumers consider switching banks.

Need a reason to change from your large bank? How about last summer's mega-breach of JP Morgan, which compromised information on millions of households using Chase Bank? Automatic teller and overdraft fees higher than ever? Oh, you who long to flee, the day is almost here.

Three years ago frustrated bank customers – any one of us, at times – designated Nov. 5 as Bank Transfer Day, the one box on the calendar when customers of large banks transfer en masse all accounts to smaller banks or credit unions.

The move started as a social-media groundswell to encourage people like me, who have had it with large banks, to make their voices and money heard. The movement's Facebook page already boasts more than 54,000 likes – and some critics. The action reminds both supporters and detractors of the Occupy Wall Street protests of some three years ago that occurred in most metropolitan areas of the country.

Motivating complaints range from overcharging of fees and penalties to unjustified and sudden freezing of accounts. One customer, for example, claimed that after receiving her bank's new fee information, she called the branch manager for details. The manager denied sending her the letter, and she then sought answers up the chain of bank management.

She never found those answers. She did find a credit union that offered better service and had a reputation for lending to individuals and small businesses. She thought this was a better fit for her and her money.

I also recently had an unpleasant time with the bank that inherited my home mortgage. (Not to name the bank, but think of the 1939 John Wayne western Stagecoach.)

This bank's mortgage-selling arm works full throttle. Six years ago in my area of the country, a real estate mortgage was harder to get than a Fabergé egg and almost as expensive. Now, bank hawkers won't leave me alone.

Calls come as early as 8 a.m. and as late as 9:30 at night, from dozens of callers who can't pronounce my name or who just remain silent after I pick up the phone. The bank's pitch: Because my mortgage is near completion, why don't I refinance and use – read "spend" – the proceeds to take a cruise or build a home addition?

Are you kidding? My home is already too large and I can do without Legionnaires' disease, seasickness, cramped quarters and other amenities of contemporary cruise ships. Besides, my wife saw The Poseidon Adventure.

Then, during this past summer, we somehow became 30 days delinquent in our regular monthly mortgage payment. Maybe because of a vacation, grandchildren or life itself. The bank claims reps attempted to call us several times about the oversight.

Because we already received many calls each day to urge us to refinance, we just ignored all calls from the bank. Thank God for caller ID to display an incoming number: When we explained the mistake to a bank representative, she didn't know that the mortgage department also made additional annoying calls to us. She was, in effect, competing with her own bank for our attention.

When we assured her that we'd rectify the deficit the following day at our local branch, she gave us the oddest instruction: Do not make our payment at the local branch but at a nearby Western Union office. Last time I was in a Western Union office, I believe that company still delivered the mail.

Big banks need to move with the times and also realize that customers may soon look back to smaller institutions for service on more days than one.

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Phillip Q. Shrotman is founder and president of Principal Planning Service in Long Beach, Calif. and a member of the AdviceIQ Financial Advisors Network, which is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.

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