Do not bank with NetBank

I had recently posted that I had paid off my Vehicross. One of my houses sold in Reseda, California and I deposited a large check with NetBank.

This is a response I made to NetBank after they put the proceeds on hold for seven days and would not budge when I asked them to either release some of the funds early or hold the checks I had made out. This is after four very nice messages asking them for help in some manner. So last night, one of the checks went through and they bounced it and charged me $25. The time for white gloves is over - we will be removing our money from this institution as soon as possible and going elsewhere...

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Do not try to tell me that I do not know the processes of banks. I used to bank with one bank where I would regularily deposit checks ranging from $12,000 up to $60,000. These funds were never put on hold.

You guys are worse than the Dricorian Lizard People on Drakonias V!

In a couple of weeks, I will be getting $**** (Censored for amount) and I was thinking about opening a business account with you. But not anymore.

Smooth move, people. Besides, this secure mail approach is slower than butterflies stuck in honey! I want someone that will stick by me and I will do likewise.

Besides that, I have a large family and I work at Intel - so guess what? I am going to tell them what a heartless bunch of spineless, robotic, syncopatic, dull, small-brained by-the-book bunch of drones you are.

You have lost my respect, sir.

Brent

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Originally posted by tiggergreen
You guys are worse than the Dricorian Lizard People on Drakonias V!

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I cannot believe you actually sent this statement to them... I lol, but then I thought about it. You, my friend, are a nerd... but I respect that!

Yes, but I make good money being a nerd...

To tell you the truth, that one line is my favorite part of my reply...

Besides, our vehicles almost look like they were imported from some alien planet...

Brent

Being that you are a nerd, make good money, and work for Intel very close to myself... might you help a fellow computer nerd break into Intel employment? I'm a systems admin for ChevronTexaco, and very possibly won't have a job by the end of the year.

Sorry, off the original topic, but you caught my attnention when you said Intel and good money!

I don't think the lizard thing will help them to take you very seriously.

But, in case you don't know, banking laws in this country are VERY anti-customer. It is like we gave up anything resembling rights in order to get that FDIC insurance. Because when it comes down to it, a bank can hold your funds for as long as they want for whatever reason they feel like and you have just about zero recourse beyond ass-kissing.

I am 100% serious here, as a self-employed consultant I've heard horror stories from others in the biz about banks thoroughly screwing over the little guy. One guy I knew had a long-term relationship with his bank, had a couple of accounts with them, including a business account. As a contractor doing fixed-bid work, his income tended to come in spurts with the largest chunks coming at project completetion and sign-off. So, one day he gets a check, drawn on another local bank, for around $25K - a figure on the high-side of his normal range. He deposits it in his business account, like usual. But this time his bank won't release the funds to him because they need to "investigate" it. This goes on and for over a month. He consults a couple of different lawyers, ALL of them told him that he had no choice but to suck it up, kiss ass up and down the bank's management chain, and pray that the bank would release the funds to him. It took somewhere around 2 months for that to happen, after which he promptly withdrew all the money from all his accounts and left that bank in the dust.

But the moral of the story is that he was completely powerless in the face of federal banking laws and even though he had a long-term relationship with his bank, was in good standing with them and not doing anything out of the ordinary from his established history, somebody at the bank got a bug up their ass and decided to bend him over and make him cry uncle just because they could with impunity.

My personal choice is to use credit unions because at the very least they are suppossed to have accountability to their customers because technically the customers are the owners. But I've seen CUs start to think they are banks (CEFCU, the Caterpillar CU in Illinois one of the 10 largest CUs in the country went down that path in the mid 90s, charging BS fees to their smaller, less "profitable" customers in order to chase them off, don't know what happened because I closed my accounts there out of disgust even though I wasn't the target of their new fee structure, TexIns, the Texas Instruments CU also started to get a little too big for their britches in the late 90s, but I am currently with BECU the Boeing CU and they have so far stayed pretty close to their roots).

Banking laws are one of those things in this country, like the patriot act and the amazing levels of corruption and complete lack of accountability behind electronic voting systems, that if you really start to dig into will turn you into what others consider a raving, paranoid conspiracy freak because, well, either conspiracy or just complete ineptitude are the only explanations for just how amazingly bad things really are.

As the banks get bigger and bigger, this situation is going to get worse. The people you talk to at your local branch really have no power - if it ain't in the rulebook, they can't do it. The best thing you can do is move your accounts to a TRULY local owned bank, where you can develop a relationship with the people who can help you. They are not as convenient (fewer branches, etc.), but what you give up in convenience will more than be made up for in customer service and flexibility.

Wow - some very informative replies. This makes me wonder - is there anyone here with the know how to set up a Vehicross Credit Union?

Dallas,

I work at Intel as a contractor and my contract is up in December. I work for Kelly Technical who provides most of the contractor positions here at Intel. If you are interested, shoot me an e-mail of your resume and I'll be sure to pass it on to the Kelly representative here at Intel. I can also talk to my Intel Boss and see if he can tell me where to submit your resume.

I'll be more than happy to do whatever it takes to help you advance your career.

After December, I plan on working full time for my movie studio, Xander Studios and may have a need for someone with your talents to manage our global networking/rendering nodes...

Brent

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After December, I plan on working full time for my movie studio, Xander Studios and may have a need for someone with your talents to manage our global networking/rendering nodes...
Brent [/B]

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Sorry to butt-in, but I found this last paragraph interesting.

What projects do you plan to do -- so I can keep my eyes out for 'em.

I do a little computer animation on-the-side, but not near PRO -- and I'm always happy to hear of new endeavors like this to give the established studios a run for their money.

Good luck!

JAG!

Credit Unions are the way to go...

I used to deal only with banks...then finally made the smart move over to the local credit union. Much better percentage rates across the board than the local banks. The local bank in my town was paying .49% interest on my savings...the credit union pays 1.40%. I financed my VX through them too. Here is a link to their website for anyone curious about credit unions in general:

http://www.egefcu.org/faqs.htm

http://www.egefcu.org/aboutus.htm

Isn't it wonderful how the banking industry shows it's appreciation to the taxpayers and customers who bailed them out of their collapse a few years back. Lots of conservative interests there.:p

My first project, "The Wizards of Vitucia" will hopefully hit theatres next November... I will definitely keep everyone posted on the highs and lows. You can check out concept pictures (very primitive compared to what will be in the movie) at my website www.xanderstudios.com ...

The story is one that I wrote starting in 1986 in Hanau, Germany. I was in the army driving the Battallion Commander to various functions. I took a notepad and wrote in it while waiting for him.

I polished it up after moving to Oregon three years ago. I just finished the rough draft of the screenplay using Movie Magic 2000.

The picture I am attaching is of a Lifodian - this will be close to what he will look like in the movie.

By the way, I never like to be taken too seriously - life is too short :p ...

Brent

Hmm, interesting..

Thanks for the head's up and the 411. I'll be visiting the site.

Good luck!
JAG!

I have been with the Hughes Credit Union for over 25 years. They became Kinecta Credit Union. As of Nov.1, the will be charging $9.00 per mo. for checking unless you carry a $1500 min. in the checking account. Other funds do not count. Now, if you have some nice loans with them, they will make it free. The manager says this is to bind people to the CU, since funds are too easy to move around.
The Rockwell CU, now called Partners Financial CU, gives free checking and deposit box with a 10k saving balance. Rockwell changed from a federal CU to a state CU so they could be more riskey with your money.
The mattress starts loking pretty good.
Roy

I too had a very bad experience with Netbank. They held funds on a company check to me for 7 days without letting me know (this was a payroll check). After all fees for bounced checks were paid, it ended up costing me $80. When I called to close my account, they were pretty nice about it and sent me a check for the $80, however I still closed the account.

Joined the Lockheed Federal Credit Union and am very happy there. They require a $5 minimum balance in savings with no fees. What they lack in physical locations, they make up for in service and online account and billing accessability. Credit Unions are the way to go!

-- John