I love my small bank

[SoCalDem]

I just got a phone call from a very nice lady who called to ask me if I had used my debit card to buy something at 02buynet.com for merchandise in the UK.. Apparently someone online has gotten my debit card info & tried to use it for $366.00 worth of telecom merchandise.

My bank refused to pay the charge until they contacted me, so the evil plan was foiled. I am so thankful that this small bank takes the trouble to protect me:)

The lady said that her department scours four different reports daily, that track unusual transactions. She said that mine was one of 35 just today from that outfit.

Got a new debit card coming, and I called Discover (the only other card I ever use) and they're sending me a new one as well, even though nothing "odd" showed up there.

and since our account was targeted, the bank is going to check on it regularly.

whew!

[truedelphi]

1. What a great story.

It may interest you to know that new regulations in effect require all banks (even small ones) to pay for their FDIC insurance in advance. And although this expense doesn't affect the Big Players (After all, they have double dipped for so much of the Fed Reserve loans and Giveaways, what would bother them?,) the requirement seriously impedes the smaller players.

So the small banks have to pay these fees upfront, which impairs their ability to have Capital to Lend Out.

So then they cannot keep customers. And then they fold.

And then the Bigger bank that buys them has access to the pre-paid FDIC insurance - credited now to them.

[revolution breeze]

2. We use a small credit union.

Hubby opened an account there during boot camp as it was right out the gates of the base. Twenty seven years later and the account is still there, through he has not lived in California since the early 90s. When we visited san Diego in 2003, we stopped to make a withdrawal and the teller said "Oh, I know you, you mail your paycheck from Washington every other week." Two years later, they refused to allow charges from Bahrain until they had cleared they were actually made by hubby. He was flying home and went from Bahrain to the Netherlands then on to New York and finally Seattle.

[bigwillq]

3. I only use a regional bank

Thanks for sharing your story. :)

[eridani]

4. I got a KitchenAid on sale at Fred Meyers. Since my bill was much higher than usual

--at Freddies, my credit union called to check to see if the transaction was OK. Bless them.