I just saw an ad for Piedmont bank in the latest copy of Our State Magazine and in the advertisement the question was asked "remember when banking was personal?" I didn't read the ad for I'm sure that Piedmont Bank wanted to convince me that I would enjoy some personal attention if I banked with them. I use a bank to cash a check once a month. Other than that I can do all my banking on line so I really don't need the personal touch. Besides the banks are staffed with young female tellers and if a older man like myself tries to talk to one they are left with the fear the teller will jump up screaming rape or something. Personal and friendly they aren't. It's a major accomplishment to get a smile or a friendly word. I'd rather stare at my computer screen than deal with people who act afraid to speak to a customer. EEEW!
I remember going to banks when all the tellers were men in dark suits and ties hiding in cages with bars between the customer and them. They weren't chatty people either but at least they knew your name. By the time I got old enough to bank for myself the bars and cages and male tellers were all gone but computers had not yet arrived on the scene. Those were the good ole days of personal banking. Clerks sat in the bank and made hand entries of every transaction. No, I never actually met one of those people but they knew me. They knew what time and what day I made my deposits and how I spent my money. if something was out of the ordinary they knew my habits well enough to determine if the matter was legitimate or if special attention was needed.
My payday was on Tuesday and I made it to the bank ever Tuesday at 3 pm to deposit my check. Several times in the course of banking with Huntsville bank I either goofed up or found myself hedging a little and getting caught. sometimes I wrote checks for a dollar or two more than I had in my account. Once it was an accounting error and once I took a chance the check wouldn't get to the bank until Wednesday but it was presented on Tuesday morning. I was never charged a fee. The bank always honored the check because they knew my deposit would be there at three o'clock on Tuesday afternoon and they also knew that over drafting my account was not my usual practice.
The third time I did this I had forgotten to enter a transaction for a few dollars and I had over drafted my account by something like 46 cents. The bank bounced the check and I had to pay a $5.00 fee to the bank and had to face the embarrassment of picking up a bad check and paying a bounced check fee as well. I asked my bank why they didn't honor the check and it was explained to me they had borrowed us of the big banks computer. The computer only knew numbers. It didn't know people. That was the day personal banking died. Brag all you want in ads but unless the bank can really know people by their banking habits it ain't personal.
Once I applied for a car loan and I was turned down because I had no credit history. it's true I had never borrowed money before. I had just been discharged from the military and was trying to get myself established. I rented an apartment, paid cash for new furniture, and found a job. All I needed now was a car. When the loan officer was explaining to me why he couldn't do business with me the bank President walked by. He glanced at me and smiled "Aren't you so and so's son?" I answered yes. "Give this young man anything he wants" the banker instructed. I know his family so there is no risk to the bank.
Bankers can't do that anymore.
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