Comments on: Stay With M&T Bank or Change to Wells Fargo Bank ?? Input & Opinions Please!!? http://www.mobilemerchantaccount.net/stay-with-mt-bank-or-change-to-wells-fargo-bank-input-opinions-please The Best In Telephone Credit Card Processing Sun, 20 May 2012 23:00:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 By: Dave W http://www.mobilemerchantaccount.net/stay-with-mt-bank-or-change-to-wells-fargo-bank-input-opinions-please/comment-page-1#comment-1508 Dave W Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:55:40 +0000 http://www.mobilemerchantaccount.net/stay-with-mt-bank-or-change-to-wells-fargo-bank-input-opinions-please#comment-1508 I can answer some of what you asked, but probably not your main question. Yes, Wells Fargo acquired Wachovia during the financial crisis a few years ago when (I think) Wachovia was on the verge of failing. They have been gradually converting Wachovia branches to the Wells Fargo name. I think they are pretty far along with that and from what I've heard are getting close to converting the last area - Wachovia's old home base in the Carolinas. Once that's complete, probably wachovia.com will redirect to wellsfargo.com for a few years (for people that have wachovia.com bookmarked), then perhaps go away. As for your other questions, my personal opinion is that it's going to be hard to find a large nationwide bank that will give you good service and not have a boatload of fees. I have not had good experiences with any of the major banks. I think your best bet for good customer service is a small local bank or credit union, but as you said those are not going to have branches nationwide. My theory is that their customer service is better because they are locally owned and operated and the managers care about the local community, not run by some megabank based in a place like New York City whose primary (only?) interest is profits and whose top managers might not have ever even heard of your town. Also, you might want to check into some credit unions before ruling them out. Many have cooperation agreements with other credit unions around the country that allow you to access your money (without a fee) from a large number of ATMs and even allow you to access your account via a teller in a branch of another credit union that they have an agreement with. I'm also not sure that your credit rating would affect your ability to open a credit union account. Many credit unions do limit their membership based on certain criteria (e.g. you have to live in a certain area or perhaps work for or be related to someone that works for a particular company or government). You might want to call a few local credit unions to find out whether you are eligible to join and what kind of nationwide access to your account they offer. I can answer some of what you asked, but probably not your main question.

Yes, Wells Fargo acquired Wachovia during the financial crisis a few years ago when (I think) Wachovia was on the verge of failing. They have been gradually converting Wachovia branches to the Wells Fargo name. I think they are pretty far along with that and from what I’ve heard are getting close to converting the last area - Wachovia’s old home base in the Carolinas. Once that’s complete, probably wachovia.com will redirect to wellsfargo.com for a few years (for people that have wachovia.com bookmarked), then perhaps go away.

As for your other questions, my personal opinion is that it’s going to be hard to find a large nationwide bank that will give you good service and not have a boatload of fees. I have not had good experiences with any of the major banks.

I think your best bet for good customer service is a small local bank or credit union, but as you said those are not going to have branches nationwide. My theory is that their customer service is better because they are locally owned and operated and the managers care about the local community, not run by some megabank based in a place like New York City whose primary (only?) interest is profits and whose top managers might not have ever even heard of your town.

Also, you might want to check into some credit unions before ruling them out. Many have cooperation agreements with other credit unions around the country that allow you to access your money (without a fee) from a large number of ATMs and even allow you to access your account via a teller in a branch of another credit union that they have an agreement with. I’m also not sure that your credit rating would affect your ability to open a credit union account. Many credit unions do limit their membership based on certain criteria (e.g. you have to live in a certain area or perhaps work for or be related to someone that works for a particular company or government). You might want to call a few local credit unions to find out whether you are eligible to join and what kind of nationwide access to your account they offer.

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