Goodbye, Big National Bank

My wallet is now one piece of plastic lighter.

Today I closed my Big National Bank account, withdrawing all my money. The teller — who cut up my debit/ATM card — handed me an envelope full of cash and I walked to my locally owned bank and deposited it there. (While filling out the deposit slip, I realized the teller accidentally gave me 30 cents more than he should have. Needless to say, I did not give it back.)

Ending my relationship with Big National Bank was something I thought about doing ever since returning to IC last July. I was not planning to move anytime soon and wanted to do business with a locally owned institution instead of the international finance behemoth that is Big National Bank. Instead of wasting the 40 or so checks I had left, though, I decided to use them all before closing my accounts. However, I was given added incentive last week when Big National Bank announced it would start assessing a monthly fee for checking accounts with a daily balance below $1,500 (which would, I assume, affect the majority of its customers). Also, I read yesterday that the bank will be testing a monthly ATM fee in a number of states; they want to see if people are willing to pay to use their ATM card. Well, that was the last straw. Given the choice of paying fees to keep and access my money at one bank but not at another, I will go with the other bank.

So, goodbye Big National Bank. You have become the victim of a vital tenet of the free market, which, it seems, is still alive and kicking on the level of local banking: competition.

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