A Week's Worth of Bank Suckitude

[Ghel]

These all happened last week, with the last one spilling over to this morning. Why is it that my sucky customers seem to lay low for a while, then come in all at once?

Credit Denial
What is it with the people who've wanted to open checking accounts this week? The five of them together couldn't get enough credit to go out for burgers. Every one of these people knew they had bad credit, but only admitted it before we pulled their credit. Why not save us all some time and tell us that you have bad credit before we pull it? Then you can walk out with some dignity intact, and we can avoid some paperwork.

Customer 1 had no credit file (but, then, she just turned 18).
Customer 2 (C1's husband) had collections for child support and spousal maintenance from a previous relationship.
Customer 3 had a collection for an unpaid phone bill which she claimed wasn't hers, but she hadn't filed a dispute with the credit bureau.
Customer 4 (C3's son) had no credit file despite being 25.
Customer 5 had 7 different collections from different companies, most for bounced checks.

None of them had a credit score over 600.

Burn, Baby, Burn
You pay your mortgage on time. In fact, you're a month ahead. So why is this the second time in less than a year that I've had to call you to remind you to pay your homeowners' insurance? Your comments when I called suggested you had deliberately waited until the last day to make your payment, only you thought you still had 5 days left. Sorry, your insurance expires today. You say you can't pay it today because you ran out of checks. (Ever heard of a money order?) Tough cookies. You'll be getting a nasty letter from the bank anyway. Luckily for you, you still won't have any negative repercussions as long as you bring us proof of insurance within 45 days.

Vehicle Loan CF
Players in this scene:
B: borrower
BS: borrower's son
S: seller
SB: seller's brother

BS come in for an application. Calls to see if his dad qualifies. I still haven't talked to B. S brings title to vehicle. Title is in SB's name. There's a lien on the title. S says loan is in SB's name. He doesn't have info for bank and suggests I call dealer. Dealer gives me phone number - for dealers only. Call back dealer, gives me a different number. It's busy.

I call the next day. It's all automated. I can't get anywhere without a loan number or the borrower's SSN. I call S and explain he needs to have SB get me a payoff. Which he does (the smoothest part of this transaction). SB needs to sign a form so lien release can be sent to us. S is stuck at work. BS can't make it in. Still haven't heard from B. Call B's cell phone. No answer. Generic VM. Leave VM. No response.

By now, I have the loan documents done, assuming the application was legit. I know B is an over-the-road truck driver, and not home very often, so I'm trying to work with him. He finally shows up unannounced. I have the loan docs done, so I have him sign, but I can't issue checks until I have the signed title and form for the lien release. B takes the form to S and comes back within an hour. Really fast, considering everything else has taken all week. But I've finally got everything I need, so I was able to fund the loan.

If I were S, I would be pissed at SB for selling me a motorcycle and not paying off the loan against it. This is a 9-year-old bike. The loan should have been paid off by now.

What Do You Expect Me to Do?
Friday, one of our elderly customers comes in saying his statement doesn't balance. He claims it balanced last month.

Me: How far is it off?
SC: I'm not sure. I keep getting a different amount each time.
Me: *Warning!* Ok. Let's take a look.

I total it up and it's about $370 off. After going through it a couple times, I see that of 3 items that are the same dollar amount, only 2 have cleared. Now he's exactly $40 off.

So I take a copy of his check register and say I'll balance it when I have time. I go back 2 months, and it's a good thing I did. One of his checks from his previous statement isn't written in his ledger. So he WAS $40 off last month.

I call him and tell him to write the $40 check in his ledger and it will balance. I also let him know that we would have to charge him $50/hour for balancing his checkbook going forward, but that I had waived the fee because this was the first time.

Done? I thought so. But today he walks up to my desk.

SC: You know, I've never been off before.
Me: Your account is balanced now, so going forward, it should be ok.
SC: It's $50 an hour to get the account balanced.
Me: I didn't charge you this time.
SC: But you will.
Me: If you need it balanced again, but it doesn't look like you will.
SC: What if I die? My wife's never done this before.
Me: *Why don't you help her learn?* Well, the first time, we won't charge her, but if she needs help on an ongoing basis, we'll have to charge her.
SC: With all these changes, I might have to move my account.
Me: *But your account is in balance, it wasn't even that far off, and I didn't even charge you for doing it.* I have no control over the fee structure.
SC: And I don't like these electronic checks. I can't find them on my statement.
Me: *They're right there on your statement! You had them all checked off!* We have no choice in that. We receive the checks however they're processed.

He hangs around my desk for the next several minutes, repeating the same things. Finally, I tell him, "Have a nice day!" He gets the hint and wanders off.

Seriously, what did he expect me to do? I can't change the fee. I can't force banks to process paper checks. I won't agree to waive the fee for balancing his account indefinitely. Maybe he just wanted to complain.

[Moogles]

I admit, I'm 27 and apparently have no credit file. Even though the phone bills, rent, car insurance and CAR LOAN are all in my name.

I've never had a credit card, and have been trying for 3 years to get one. But since my education was paid upfront each semester (ie no loans/student aid) and I never got a card while in school, I don't qualify. Nice to know that making sure I have money instead of going into huge amounts of debts screws me like that :S

[Ghel]

Weird that you don't have a credit file with a loan in your name.

No credit is better than bad credit, and we probably would have opened the account for the first couple if the husband's credit wasn't so horrible. I can just see all the levies coming through and draining the account each time to pay his back child support. That's something we don't want to have to deal with.

[Elspeth]

At 35 my Hubby had no credit score. He had paid off his car about 5 or more years ago and doesn't have credit cards. Found this out when we went to buy his truck. That threw the dealership for a loop.

Would you like my stick to deal with the Stupid?

[xaenon]

I admit, I'm 27 and apparently have no credit file. Even though the phone bills, rent, car insurance and CAR LOAN are all in my name.

I've never had a credit card, and have been trying for 3 years to get one. But since my education was paid upfront each semester (ie no loans/student aid) and I never got a card while in school, I don't qualify. Nice to know that making sure I have money instead of going into huge amounts of debts screws me like that :S

Someone once tried to explain it to me - and if I understood the explanation correctly, it goes something like this:

Credit companies don't WANT a 'good risk' first-time credit customer. They'd rather have a riskier low-score customer, because there's far more potential for late fees, higher interest rates, and so forth. In short, there's more to gain from a high-risk customer than a new customer with a good credit score, because the 'low risk' customer won't bring in as much money.

Now, I've no idea how true that is, or even that I understood it correctly, but if it IS true, it explains much.

In 1997, I applied for a home loan on a small house and property that was appraised at like $84K. The property was in decent condition but out in the middle of the sticks. My credit score at the time was pretty darned good and I had a steady, well-paying job - yet, the loan was denied.

Five years later, my cousin applied for a loan on a $190K property and was approved almost instantly - despite having two vehicles repo'd, felony convictions for theft and narcotics possession, and not having held down a single job for more than about four weeks in like fifteen years.

He made the down payment and moved in - and never once made another payment. Not on the house, not on his car, not on the utilities. And it took the banks slightly more than two years go throw him out of the house - which, of course, he left in ruins.

And people wonder why the economy did the big gurgle.

[Moogles]

Weird thing is, my husband has debt. A credit card (which we just paid off), a line of credit and a student loan.

I may have to get added onto his credit card or something

[bhskittykatt]

Someone once tried to explain it to me - and if I understood the explanation correctly, it goes something like this:

Credit companies don't WANT a 'good risk' first-time credit customer. They'd rather have a riskier low-score customer, because there's far more potential for late fees, higher interest rates, and so forth. In short, there's more to gain from a high-risk customer than a new customer with a good credit score, because the 'low risk' customer won't bring in as much money.

True that. I always pay my CC off on time, and only seldom carry a balance. Hub's credit SUCKS. He had collections breathing down his neck when he moved up here, and had trouble opening a bank account. He regularly carries a balance on his CC.

Hub's limit on his CC is $300, which he had to request special, because he knows how bad he is with money and doesn't trust himself with more than that. Imagine his surprise when one day, after logging on to see how much credit he had left, he had over $1500 available!

It took some convincing to the CSR over the phone that yes, he wanted to lower his credit limit.

My CC limit is $500. I'm okay with that, but I've had my CC longer than Hubs, through the same company, and they've NEVER given me an increase.

[taxguykarl]

Customer 1 had no credit file (but, then, she just turned 18).
Customer 2 (C1's husband) had collections for child support and spousal maintenance from a previous relationship.
Customer 3 had a collection for an unpaid phone bill which she claimed wasn't hers, but she hadn't filed a dispute with the credit bureau.
Customer 4 (C3's son) had no credit file despite being 25.
Customer 5 had 7 different collections from different companies, most for bounced checks.

Play this video for them. It sounds like they need it.

I can just see all the levies coming through and draining the account each time to pay his back child support. That's something we don't want to have to deal with.

You don't know the half of it. I get one or two customers every season whose tax refund was intercepted to pay some back child support. All but one physical threat I received was due to this nonsense--like it's my fault he can't keep it in his pants.

They'd rather have a riskier low-score customer, because there's far more potential for late fees, higher interest rates, and so forth. In short, there's more to gain from a high-risk customer than a new customer with a good credit score, because the 'low risk' customer won't bring in as much money.

Now, I've no idea how true that is, or even that I understood it correctly, but if it IS true, it explains much.

Counter-intuitive but very much the case. (Warning this video is about an hour and a half long).

[Bardmaiden]

34 never had a credit card, loan or morgage. Bought a lappy on credit once and paid it off early.

Yup you guessed it I can't get a credit card. (Not that I want one anyway.)

My sister managed to get one but only by the bank going to the credit card people, yes she really can have one she has the money.

My b/f can walk into his bank and walk out with a loan in 15 minutes....

[EricKei]

In short, there's more to gain from a high-risk customer than a new customer with a good credit score, because the 'low risk' customer won't bring in as much money.

Well, at least according to the old "news hours" like 20/20 or 60 minutes, that used to run articles on this every 5 years or so...Credit card companies, in particular, have a special term that they use to refer to people who never go over their limits, always pay 100% of their bill before the due date, never incur any special fees, etc. ... in other words, the people who don't make them much money at all: "Deadbeats" -- I have heard of quite a few people whose cards were forcibly cancelled for being -- from the CC Companies' point of view -- such horrendously Sucky Customers >_<

It took some convincing to the CSR over the phone that yes, he wanted to lower his credit limit.

I suppose that's a bit uncommon, but certainly not unheard of. Lenders sometimes see people with huge amounts of unused Credit as problematic. I'm not entirely sure why, aside from the potential to use it all and then "disappear".



As for me -- yeah, my credit sucks, even tho all that's on it is school loans; I have had all of three credit cards in the past twenty years, none of which had a limit over 3k, and all of which were 100% paid off AND intentionally cancelled ages ago (the last one was cancelled 5 years ago and paid off 2 years ago). The issue is, the school loans (one Federal, high balance but tiny interest, plus one private-in-collections, 1/4 the balance but 6x the interest rate) always were 90+% of my debt...And I could not afford to make payment *at all* until 6 years after I graduated. Not good >_< Even when I had a job, I couldn't even make the minimum payments that they wanted, and the interest alone is something like $500/mo between them. I have the Federal one on Unemployment Deferment, but the interest still builds. The private one (which I was lead to believe WAS gov't when I got it), not so much. I have discovered that, when I tell them "I have no job, no savings, and Unemployment hasn't kicked in yet", they record that as "Refusal to Pay", and always have...Nice folks, huh? I've even offered to send them proof, and their response is usually to tell me to go pester my relatives for money or to threaten to sue...presumably for the nothing I have. Good luck there. The thing is, I've always been WILLING to pay -- and I tell them this often -- I'm just not ABLE to make payments that even cover interest, nor will I be unless a 50k/year job just falls into my lap. Granted, I've applied for quite a few of those >_> Fun fun. </end rant>

[Mango]

I've never had a credit card, and have been trying for 3 years to get one.

You might want to consider getting a secured credit card. My bank allowed me to put $1000 into a term deposit and gave me a credit card with $1000 limit. I have investments there anyway and they gave me the same interest rate so it didn't make a difference. My banker told me that I should never ever forget to pay the credit card off. So I paid it in full each month. A year later I canceled that card, cashed the term deposit in, and applied for a new credit card. Apparently the secured card was great for building my credit, because they actually offered me a limit more than my entire salary for the previous year.

Like some of the other posters I requested a lower limit.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

bankers are supposed to be stodgy conservatives for a reason. Re: current economic crisis in the U.S. as Exhibit A, B and C2. The 'geniuses' who are playing risk like that are... the inversion of intelligence.
I'm at a credit union. I like it very much. She is very conservative and full of little old people.
I do have credit, much to my joy: I had had my dl stolen at one point, and was concerned, because I couldn't really navigate the crazy that is the credit bureaus.
My credit is between 700-750 (I only have the one student loan, paid-- and not much other resources! and yes I have the exact number...)
I am so going to do research on banks and credit unions it's not going to be funny. I want a nice, conservative, won't-dick-you-over bank-- one that loves their good customers, and realizes that the people with crappy history will never pay them anything-- and if they do, it's pennies on the twenties, which will be a net loss.
.../wishes for such a bank

[Ghel]

The having no credit thing isn't much of a problem when opening a checking account at my bank. The problem with the folks in the OP is that they came in three groups, and at least one person in each group had something bad on their credit reports. They also had low credit scores, but we don't just go by the score - we actually look for why the score is low.

Customer 5 even asked if it was "really necessary" to pull her credit, since she "just" wanted a savings account. (I get so tired of hearing this.) Yes, it is. In this computer age, you can set up automatic payments out of a savings account and quickly overdraw it.

[Gizmo]

I may have to get added onto his credit card or something

In the UK (I say that because I don't know if the US is different being added to someones card as a cardholder means you have no responsibility for the card and still have no credit history. There is no such thing as a "joint" credit card account in the UK.

It took me a while after we got a joint bank account, and then a mortgage (based on his reliability) to get a card. Even then it has a very low limit compared to the limits hubby gets offered.

[Kogarashi]

Apparently I managed to build up my credit a bit during late high school/early college by ordering a fancy chess set from one of those Suchandsuch Mint companies and then making every single payment installment on time, all from a checking account. When I went to switch banks to one that was more local to where my university was (my "starter" bank was a regional one for my home state and I went to university halfway across the country), I was approved for a credit card with a $5k limit.

Hubby's and my current credit card has a lower limit than that, but every now and then the card-issuer nudges the limit up a bit, as if they're trying to encourage us to spend more and thus actually carry a balance. As it stands, we're "deadbeats" and proud of it.