Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Why I Broke Up With My Bank

As you may know, in addition to working full-time, I am also an entrepreneur, getting a company off the ground with 3 other women. Recently, we decided to add all owners to our bank account (previously, for convenience, only 2 were on it). As I am the CEO and primary on the account, this seemingly simple task fell to me.

Our bank is a national bank, chosen for its many locations and frankly, because one of its main headquarters is 2 blocks from my work. I don’t want to name names, so let’s call the bank, ummm, how about Fiscal Company of the United States? Mind you, this bank sends me multiple marketing campaigns, urging me to get a corporate credit card, then get THIS one, and THAT one, and lines of credit, and everything else they have in the interest of getting more business from me, making me feel important.

I digress….

I carved out time one day and walked over to the bank and sat down with a banker to discuss. All I want to know is how to add the other owners of the business to the bank account as authorized signers. (And just so you know, I’ve done this for other companies with other banks, with nary a hitch.) The banker explains to me that all signers on the account will need to be present at the same time to sign a new signature card. I explain to her how logistically, this won’t happen (we are very spread out, and we all have other full-time obligations), I ask for alternative solutions – such as I add their names, they can each go to a local branch with ID and get added, I can get a company resolution authorizing this, and more.

This woman gets on the phone to I don’t even know who, and continues to tell me the only way to do it is everyone together at the same time. No exceptions whatsoever. No – I can’t even “start” a new card, and then have everyone come in when they have time and sign the same card, in the presence of the same banker – we must all 4 appear at the exact same time. (I did not get clarification if we must also use the same pen, but I am assuming this must also be a requirement.)
Really, I don’t think she understands the problem, and at one point tells me if I’m starting a business, then it should be important enough to get together to do this. Obviously, she has never started a business, and there's no way she has kids. But never mind. I continue to explain the situation, and offer up solutions, such as I personally will meet up with everyone and go into a branch, or I will get notarized signatures from everyone – anything at all as a workaround to all 4 of us appearing during banking hours at one location.

Truth is, we could conceivably figure something out where all of us can be together, but now, I’m just flabbergasted by the bank’s attitude.

Surely this is not how every single big company does this with Bank of Ame…I mean Fiscal Company of the United States? Surely, when Microsoft (pretending they bank here) adds another signer to the account, they don’t fly in every single signer and show up en masse to the bank to sign the new signature card altogether? (“Uh….Bill? Gonna need you to clear your schedule for Tuesday at 10:00 – gotta sign a new card again.”) Surely, there is another solution here, right?

And so I say this same sentiment to her – I use Microsoft as the analogy, as up to this point, I still don’t think she understands the big picture and I think this might help her see it in a different light, and I end with, “So, there must be something else you do for big companies, right?”

And she says, “Yes, but you’re not a big company.”


And that is how Fiscal Company of the United States became our ex-bank. Our new bank? Opened online with faxed signatures.

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