Sounds like you had an unstable relationship with them.

I don't know what and unstable relationship is but, they Wells Fargo Bank NA and related companies in their family kept changing terms and conditions on the many products I had with them (used many of their products). I even had a nice investment portfolio with them "relationship" banking?! Also, they did eight hard credit bureau inquiries. Had I known that every time I obtained a product they pulled from the credit bureaus I would NOT have ever used them. They pulled two hard inquiries when I purchased two CD's pulled credit checks when I redeemed the CDs pulled a Chex System Check when I reordered checks and placed the reordered checks numbers on the Chex System. They pulled a Choice System credit check for my auto and homeowners policies. Then they closed their consumer insurance offices in Minnesota and consolidated them to downtown Minneapolis lapsed my insurance coverages with the company they placed me with and pulled another credit check and rewrote my business with a different insurance company. After all this in two years I couldn't take it any more and moved all my business out. I bought the relationship banking concept hook line and sinker. Wells Fargo Bank NA and Wells Fargo Financial Bank do business different than I have ever done it and it didn't work for me. I am used to consist products, people and processes. I never had all these credit checks since 1973 (ridiculous). The three CB's rapped me for too many inquiries. That is how I found out about all this nonsense. Back to the local regional banks and I am happy again. However, for my nationwide business I did go to the USAA Federal Savings Bank for military people and love them.

Its not so much the Plus and minus, its the ever expanding customer base, how to keep it , expand it, and diversify it. Also, Joeyman, no pun intended, but if you just won the lottery and your take after taxes was $50 million, wouldn't you do some type of research about investing before cashing that ticket ? Lot of smart, level headed, even keeled people here, including you who can give you great advice !

I guess what I am trying to relay is if we were Goliath, we would question every in house account no matter how affluent, middle class, or poor their financial portfolio is and make decisions that would probably benefit our bottom line for in the end we have to answer to our shareholders !

Each institution(banks and credit unions)each have their plus and minuses which is why I do business with both.

If I had millions I would probably spread it out across several banks and investments. Really, if I had millions I woulnd't be reading here, pfft, I would hire someone to do this buisness! Hahahahah.



I like everyones style here, especially the "Young man..."

Young Man, I hear ya ! I was upset to when it happened to me and I had credit balances at the time on all my cards, including BOA. For all of us who are trying to make ends meet, its a "stab in the back".

Obviously the BOA's of this world are more sensitive to taking a gamble on anyone below a certain financial limit, but again, they, just like the credit unions and the smaller "Mom and Pops" banks, survive and prosper by increasing their customer base

As you have stated, and I agree, Credit Unions are more receptive and willing to work with the consumer but since the Affluent and Filthy Rich make up such a small part of our society, the BOA's of this world will have no other choice but to compete and offer more than the others to increase their customer base

Oh and by the way, no disrespect taken Young Man, always like reading your posts, You always have my respect on any matter that you contribute to here at FG !

Smcc, with all due respect, I know what BoA/FIA Card Services is capable of. Here's why.

It was about a year ago that BoA/FIA closed both of my credit card accounts. One of them was my second oldest credit card and the other had been open for about two months. I called them to allocate my limits for a balance transfer and I got transferred to a credit analyst. The analyst looked at my report and saw that I was carrying balances on some of my cards and told me that he had to closed my Visa account which was my second oldest credit card due to a high DTI ratio and the AMEX would remain untouched. Mind you, both of these accounts did NOT have any late payments, were heavily used for daily purchases, and had a $0 balance. I asked the analyst to leave the Visa account open with a $500 credit limit since it was my oldest credit card and he was fine with that. An hour later, I called customer service to check the available credit and found out that both cards had been closed. I was furious and eventually mailed a letter to the CEO but did not hear back from them.

This post was not aimed for consumers with large balances in their checking/savings account. This is for the majority of us who live paycheck by paycheck and struggle to earn a living.

Ok Young Man, no one can see your point any better than I can seeing BOA reduce my credit limit by $20K.

Credit Unions, small banks, and The BOA's of this world still have the same objective, to increase their customer base.

Following your lead, who now do the BOA's of this world cater to ? Could it be that the size of your portfolio is the deciding factor as to how they (The Big Banks) treat you in this current financial market ? For example, if you have $30K in Checking/Savings/Investments and you decide to take your portfolio to a Credit Union, you feel that the Big Banks don't care, but what if your portfolio was $300k ?

Maybe the BOA's of this world are catering more to their more affluent customers and giving less attention to "Joe Ordinary" ? Would you want a Credit Union to manage a portfolio with a financial value in the millions or would you stay at BOA and let Merrill Lynch do it ? Just asking, not trying to make waves...........................

Joeyman, I have not worked with either financial institution but I have heard good things about both of them.

Community bank or credit union?????


I say credit union because they're not-for-profit. Both community banks and credit unions probably invest about same in the local economy/community.


What's your take?

Your article is dead on, I can't tell you how many people I have heard complaining about their credit limits being decreased. And yes no matter what people say small banks and credit unions are the way to go

You're doing the right thing.

Your article is dead on, I can't tell you how many people I have heard complaining about their credit limits being decreased. And yes no matter what people say small banks and credit unions are the way to go

Credit Union

Amend Brother...! I switched out of Wells Fargo Bank NA and went back to a local bank that took care of me and doesn't change the terms and conditions of the relationship every few weeks. I totally agree!

Sounds like you had an unstable relationship with them.

Credit Union

Let's set the record straight here. Relationships with the big banks does NOT exist anymore. Whether you have multiple banking accounts (checking/savings) with one or more of the big banks (Chase, BoA, Citi, or Wells Fargo) does NOT matter and it will not stop them reducing your credit card limit, decline you for a new auto loan or mortgage. I can't tell you how many people I've seen fall for that trick. Employees are trained to introduce the "building a relationship" concept during a transaction or Point-Of-Sale (POS). They use that trick to open up new accounts and profit from them.

The way these big banks work is they've grown big by merging with others. Even though all these big banks offer credit cards, auto loans, mortgages, consolidation loans, etc., they're all divided into divisions and these division are operated individually and independently. Therefore, their decisions derive from what's in the best interest for their division, NOT for the company.

In addition, they do not care about their customers because for every customer they lose, they probably gain about 5 new ones everyday (if not more).

If you're looking to build a relationship with your creditor, go to a local bank or credit union where they offer their own credit cards and other loan products. They need as many customers/members they can get and that's why they will do anything to keep your business.

Amend Brother...! I switched out of Wells Fargo Bank NA and went back to a local bank that took care of me and doesn't change the terms and conditions of the relationship every few weeks. I totally agree!