KirstenL4W

Yesterday I went to open a new checking account. I already have one, but I wanted to have an account at the bank that Mister has his accounts at so it makes things a little easier. Now that my name change is complete and I have the ID to show it, I was ready to go to the bank.

We went to the branch closest to our house and waited a bit. The waiting didn’t bother us so much, because that’s what usually happens when you go to the bank. When it was our turn, we sat down and I told the customer service guy what I wanted. He asked me for my ID, which is standard procedure, and then asked me for further proof of ID because, as he put it, my driver’s license was too new. (In Nevada they put the issue date on your ID, and mine was issued about 3 weeks before.) I told him that I didn’t have anything else with me because the website didn’t indicate that I’d need anything beyond that. He told me he could not open my account without further ID, and I told him that I didn’t need to open an account with his bank.

Mister asked if I wanted to try the other branch, close to the old apartment, and I said sure, I think we have time before they close. We went in and waited, then when it was our turn asked if we had time to open a checking account. It was 6 minutes before closing, so we would have understood if we got turned away at that point. But the customer service lady was happy to help us. We opened my account, and I wasn’t even a new customer since Mister added me to one of his checking accounts a couple months before that. She changed my name on that account, opened my new checking account, and even ordered Mister a new debit card on a different rewards program, all very happily. When we were done, about 20 minutes past closing, we apologized for keeping her there so late and she said it was nothing, she was happy to help us. That’s what we call customer service.

Here’s what I know about retail banking from the friends and relatives who have worked in banking: they have quotas. It’s a sales job - they need to open so many accounts every month. Think about it - how many times have you gone in to make a deposit or withdrawal and had the teller ask you if you wanted to put the money in a CD or open a different kind of account? That’s the sales part of it coming out. So we were very perplexed, and a bit upset, that we would be turned away by this guy for an ID that hasn’t aged enough. I don’t get it - my ID is considered by the state to be valid the second they hand it to me, but 3 weeks later it’s not valid enough as determined by some dude at the bank. I don’t get it - can someone please explain this to me?

Last night I went on the bank’s website to put in a comment, and this morning I had an email saying that they had passed my comment on to management for further review. Looks like the banking dude didn’t have the last word on this one!

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