I was shopping for a new bank today because my exsting bank is giving me the shaft.

Meant to go in and check out what was available at the M&I branch in Richfield, at 66th & Lyndale.

Big white legal-looking "bans guns" sign in the window of the bank. Drove on past. Looks like Wells-Fargo may get the business, and it's a not insignificant amount of money, either.

Since "money talks" should I write M&I a letter saying "you could have had my $xx,xxx business, but instead you chose to prohibit lawfully firearms carry and I have taken my business elsewhere and also notified my peers that they should not do business with you either."

Thanks for the info...

I'll be shopping for a new bank for my business and M&I *was* on the list. I'll send them the same letter that you're going to send.

Niether US Bank nor Wells Fargo posts. Maybe the big boys of banking know something the tiny banks don't.

When the MN Personal Protection Act first became law, my bank (of seven years) posted. I asked the woman at the counter why they had posted. She said management made the decision to post.

That day I went shopping for a new bank. I found one that not only was not posted, but the manager told me they had no intention of ever posting. I told him that because of their decision not to post, I was going to move all my accounts over to his bank.

It was a pain in the ass, I had two checking accounts, three money market accounts, one savings account, an equity line, two ready reserve accounts and a safety deposit box.

I went back to my original bank and closed everything. The clerk asked why I was closing all my accounts. I told her it was because of that stupid sign (pointing at the posted no gun sign.).

I noticed several weeks later that their no gun sigh was removed.

While US Bank and Wells Fargo are certainly among "the big boys", M & I is no tiny bank. It has assets of 37 Billion. For comparison, TCF is a $12B bank. USB is at $189B, and Wells = $264B.


FYI only.

I remember a few years back some of the big players at M&I were also involved in one of the foundations or churches who brought the original lawsuit against the 2003 law.

I couldn't find it offhand, but I'll keep digging.

TCF gets my business and no posting. I have everything with them.
Mike

They're the ones losing mine. We recently (4 months ago) upgraded our account and now we're finding out we MUST use Visa Check cards as ATM and that they will deactivate our plain ATM cards because they are "incompatible", despite being used for nearly 4 months for a lot of "incompatible" withdrawals.

Love the lack of posting at TCF, but I'm not giving up thousands of dollars for an inflexible bank just because they don't post.

Why is having a Visa Check card costing you thousands of dollars?
Just wondering if this is what you were referring to.
Mike

A lost or stolen Visa check card or (or card number, fraud often doesn't require the physical item) takes money out of YOUR pocket RIGHT NOW which the bank "promises" it will repay "real soon." In the meantime, you're out real money. Which would really suck if you had to make a mortgage/rent payment, eat, or any of those other pesky things that generally don't wait.

A lost or stolen Visa credit card costs the BANK money, which they can then waste their own time and resources tracking down; it doesn't cost much of my time or ANY of my money.

Having recently been the victim of credit card fraud (at least I don't really remember sending two matching black dildos to Chicago, IL), I know it "can" happen to me, even if I never lose the card. And mine was small, $400, and caught within a week of it happening.

But at least it was the *bank's* money, not mine, and I didn't have to ask for *my* money back.

My cc # was used for about $1100 worth of tickets @ ticketmaster in LA as well as a $200 meal and some smaller charges. Did not cost me a cent. Visa covered it, in fact they are the ones that spotted it. Security called one day and asked if I had lost my card and/or was I in CA recently. Two "no' answers and the account was closed immediately...new card/acct # within days.....no cost no hassle. Check card would have been major hassle. No check cards or ATM transactions for me.

.02

I don't have a problem with ATM transactions -- I think it's a harder system to exploit, but the notion that you can make anonymous Visa transactions against your checking account ought to be frightening.

I had a similar "warning" experience as you, except it was a legitimate transaction. I bought a digital camera in California while traveling and my wife got a phone call within minutes saying they needed to talk to me about my account.

Unfortunately I think the entire Visa system is too reactive, lacks adequate security, and can too easily pass the costs onto merchants and consumers thus killing the motivation to improve the system.

I'd like to see "disposable" single-use credit card numbers, a challenge-response system which could be engaged for purchases of a specific criteria (out of state, out of country, over a dollar amount, at specific retailers), as well as automatic limit/denials for purchases matching similar criteria.

It would also help if any card use required a PIN number (as opposed to the laughable "security code" printed on the back of the card...)

But I'll use a Visa as long as its somebody else's money on the line..