
This all seemed like the cost of doing business.
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My free checking account suddenly became loaded with fees, when calling for help I had to wait on hold for longer and longer, and employees seemed more interested in opening a line of credit for me than solving my problems. My dad reported that the last time he'd met with Barbara she seemed unhappy, and sure enough she left the bank shortly thereafter.

You can probably begin to imagine where this story is headed: by 2011, all Wachovia branches had been closed or converted. Wells Fargo also had a reputation for its sales culture, with its CEO encouraging employees to open as many accounts as possible for each customer because " eight rhymes with great." Wachovia had been acquired by less-than-savoury FirstUnion in 2001 who made some very poor choices leading up the the financial crisis, but I banked there because I felt valued as a customer, not because it was necessarily the easiest or cheapest.īy the end of the financial crisis, Wachovia had been acquired by Wells Fargo, a historically west coast bank interested in expanding nationwide. When visiting Raleigh I'd swing by the bank to deposit a check or discuss perhaps buying a home of my own, and Barbara would be there to talk about my goals and financial future. Two years later Wachovia expanded into the city. With a quick call to customer service, the bank offered to cover my monthly ATM fees. When I moved to New York after college, the nearest Wachovia ATM was several hundred miles away.

As my siblings and I grew up and moved away, Wachovia grew with us, and when they couldn't, made us feel valued as customers. It was a family joke to pronounce the Charlotte-based regional bank's name, "wa-chov-ia." Barbara*, the employee who opened my account that day also helped my parents with their mortgage and later my siblings open their first accounts.Īt the time a regional bank, our Wachovia branch felt more like a local bank invested in the local community. In 1989 at the age of seven, my father and I opened my first bank account at a Wachovia branch in Raleigh, North Carolina.
