Have you ever deposited money into your account through the ATM? Your bank will typically allow you to use up to $100 of the deposit amount instantly. That way, the bank can later on verify that you actually did deposit the amount you specified and are not trying to “take advantage” of the whole process, or else sue you and everything you stand for.

Now, have you ever deposited money at your local branch in person? Depending on where you bank, any cash you deposit usually takes at least 2 business days to be available. The staff there will tell you different stories of when your money would be available to you. When I deposit cash at one of my bank accounts, at Union Bank of California, the bank tellers always tell me conflicting dates as to when my own funds will be available.

“Two business days“, says one teller. I usually ask the teller why it takes that long. “That’s because the funds will be collected from this branch and taken to the main branch by tomorrow morning, and then they will be added to your account tomorrow night, enabling you to use it the day after that.” That leads me to ask them as to whether it’s better for me to use them ATM for deposits. The answer is always a “No, since it’s on the same schedule” to which I reply that the ATM funds are always available on the 2nd business day, within 30 hours, while any deposit through the bank tellers themselves, in person, take at least 48 hours. To this revelation, the bank tellers always have different theories and answers, which tells me that they have no clue what’s going on.

Here’s a partial list of the different improvements and their related annoyances I think banks should focus on. Banks usually don’t want to address these issues since that will only increase customer satisfaction, which at the moment is not a big money maker. The main focus these days is to have the customer sign up happily for a new account; after that, everyone is treated like another transaction. Take Bank of America for example; it started promoting its online banking and checking account as being free after competition was proving to be a threat in some markets, and even those products aren’t completely free in reality. The banks are evolving, but that evolution is happening in order to make more profits for the company, instead of giving back to the customer. Evolution should happen in the favor of the banks and the customers together. If the company is the only side that benefits, the customer is going to get a mediocre service. A bad service with a big fake smile forced on one’s face as if their life and bank career depended on it is still bad service.

Here you go:

1. Any cash deposits made through the bank should be available instantly.

   If the bank can take out the money from your account instantly for any fees, it should allow you to use your own money, cash, instantly also. A bank teller can run the tender [cash bills] through a machine to see if they’re fake or not [they already do that], and then simply add the funds to the account instantly. Depositing a large amount of cash and then not being able to withdraw or use that amount the same night, is very annoying.

2. All checking accounts should be free, unless they come loaded with features hard to find elsewhere.

   Bank of America boasts a free checking account that requires a minimum deposit and a monthly transfer of funds “into” the account. That’s not free checking; it’s “Higher Standards” for the bank, not the customers.

3. Allow a check to be cashed anywhere without extra steps.

   I’ve mentioned this before; Bank of America will not cash a check over a certain amount [usually over $150] if the branch where the check was issued is different than the one you’re at. That’s one of the most retarded things I’ve ever heard in any business, sorry. The excuse I’m always given is that the branch where the check was issued, “can verify the signature.” Hello??!! We have computers now. Can’t the same signature, that’s available at the local branch, be available in any other branch of the same bank? Are different bank branches competing with each other and not sharing the data now? Whatever the reason may be, it’s a headache. Sometimes I want to know if a check is going to bounce or not the same day I get it, and driving 30 miles to a bank branch to find out takes away the whole idea of being able to use a local branch. What good is having so many branches, as the big banks claim, if you can’t do everything at every branch? Of course, if you want to pay your BOFA bills, you can do it at any branch, regardless of the amount. How convenient is that?

4. Allow online banking to be more flexible and important.

   Sure, we all love online banking. It sometimes saves us a trip or two to the bank, and we can check our account balance in the middle of the night to get a good night’s sleep [or lose it]. However, online banking still needs work. First, many online balances update every 24 hours to include pending transfers and pending additions. This is annoying; what’s the use of online “instant” banking when it’s not instant? Second, online banking keeps asking people to use electronic statements instead of paper statements. Now, this may be to save the bank itself lots of money from printing paper. However, whenever there is a dispute of any sort, such as a stolen card or a chargeback, no organization including the bank itself, accepts the electronic email or the online statement printout as an official statement. What use is an electronic statement then? Third, online banking can withdraw money from other accounts at other banks for free, but will only transfer money to other accounts at other banks for a fee. What the hell is that?

5. You always have to stand in line to make a deposit, or to withdraw money from your account. You never have to stand in line to open a new account. Huh?

   Again, what’s going on? Please respect your current customers also. We stand in line to have some activity performed on our account, not being offered to sit anywhere any time, while we watch new customers sitting on thick leather seats. Last week I was depositing some amount at Washington Mutual and was standing in a line with about 10 people, while only 2 people were helping us. Behind us were about 7 or so tables, all with different people who wanted to open an account and they were all sitting on comfortable chairs and chatting and laughing with the staff who were helping them. The only comfort that came to my mind was when I tried to remember the day I was sitting in that same chair. You will see me pointing this out a lot about businesses; every new customer gets treated nice to get their business. Once the customer has been attained, however, they’re all lined up and treated as transactions. How many husbands/wives/boyfriends/girlfriends have been dumped by you because they acted differently and badly after the first date? Why not ditch the bank too and let them know what’s wrong with the relationship?

6. Bill payment, whether it’s setup online or in person, does not allow you the same sense of comfort and security as paying in person.

   Have you ever used the online bill payment option? Not only do you not know where your check is once it’s mailed, the amount on the check is deducted from your account the instant you set it up, even though the check is sent 2 days later. On top of that you have no clue about a thing until the person who received the check actually cashes it or lets you know that they received it. All this time, you panic while not knowing if the check got lost or not. Calling the customer service to report your mental state of panic results in the calm response “Please wait up to 15 days to see if the check arrives or not, and then go to your local branch to file a claim. We cannot tell you over the phone as to whether the check has been cashed or not, as we don’t have access to that information.” Perfect; my bank doesn’t know where my own money is, money that it itself took care of. Just perfect.

In the end, we should remember one thing; it’s our money, thus bad service shouldn’t be an option. I would love to hear your opinions on any of these points, or about anything that you think can improve banking itself. Thanks for reading.