Why I Fired My Bank

photo: bradipo

When you’re living and working in several different parts of the world, you really need a bank that can keep up with you.

I use three banks right now. None of them are perfect, but only one messed up so badly that I fired them.

These are the banks I use:

BBVA Compass Bank, located in parts of the USA. I opened an account with them when I was living in Colorado. They were usually very helpful if I went into the physical branch and talked to someone face-to-face.
Navy Federal Credit Union, also in the USA. I’ve been a member for years. You need to have been in the Navy or have a family member in the Navy (my dad, in my case). I’ve never been inside a physical location.
National Australia Bank, located all over Australia. Rinch and I opened a joint account together in early 2010. It was really easy – you don’t need to be a citizen or even a permanent resident! The 6% interest rate on a savings account is the best I’ve found anywhere in the world.

I’d been fairly satisfied with all three of my banks….until I wanted to transfer some money from the USA to Australia.

I’d already done this once, transferring money from NFCU to NAB. And I’d also transferred money between NFCU and BBVA (they’re both US banks so that’s easy). But I was curious to do an international transfer from BBVA to NAB to see if it cost less or was easier than doing it from NFCU.

So I sat down and shot off an email to BBVA.

I’m currently in Australia and Id like to transfer some money from my BBVA checking account to my local account here with National Australia Bank. Is wire transfer the only way to do this and if so how can I initiate a wire transfer? What is the fee? Is it possible to set up a recurring international transfer so I don’t have to go through the same process over and over again?

As you can imagine the time difference makes it difficult to speak to someone by telephone so I’d be grateful if you can answer my questions as thoroughly as possible. I appreciate your help!

A full 6 days later, BBVA responded:

Thank you for your inquiry. The most common option is to do a wire transfer. There is a fee for this service that varies according to your home state. The second option would be to have a check sent from your account via your Online Bill Pay. We would send a check to the other institution just as we would to any other payee on your Online Bill Pay. If you would like more information on either option, please specify in a response to this message.

We appreciate your business. Thank you for choosing BBVA Compass. Have a nice day!

Since BBVA hadn’t actually provided the relevant info, I responded:

Thanks for your response. I still need to know:

- What is the fee for a wire transfer? My home branch is in Colorado.
- How do I initiate the wire transfer most conveniently? Please keep in mind I am located in Australia so it’s not possible for me to come into a branch and it’s extremely inconvenient to make a telephone call.
- Is it possible to set up a recurring wire transfer, say on a monthly basis?
- You mentioned an electronic check as the other option. Is there a fee for sending an electronic check to my bank in Australia, if so how much, and how can I initiate the check? How long will it take?

Please be thorough in your response–the more info you can give me, the better.

In response, BBVA sent me this email:

Thank you for your inquiry. The most common option is to do a wire transfer. There is a fee for this service that varies according to your home state. The second option would be to have a check sent from your account via your Online Bill Pay. We would send a check to the other institution just as we would to any other payee on your Online Bill Pay. If you would like more information on either option, please specify in a response to this message.

We appreciate your business. Thank you for choosing BBVA Compass. Have a nice day!

Notice anything? It’s word-for-word identical to their first response! While these emails are going back and forth, by the way, my money is sitting in BBVA’s crappy checking account doing nothing, when it could be earning 6% in Australia. Feeling frustrated and ignored, I replied with the following:

On 6/2 I sent an email asking some specific questions. You responded with a form email that did not answer my questions, yet encouraged me to email back for more information. I did so. On 6/8 you responded with the EXACT SAME FORM MESSAGE. My questions still have not been answered, and I am frustrated by the utter lack of customer support for overseas customers.

Please read my messages thoroughly and respond in detail so that I can move forward.

This time, BBVA’s response was bizarre.

Thank you for your recent inquiry about your transfer. As you requested, your online transfer for ($enter dollar amount) was completed on (date). When you use Online Banking to transfer funds to another Compass account – unless you schedule it for a future date, we will process your request immediately, if we receive your request on a business day prior to 8:00pm CST.

A transfer request received after 8:00pm CST or on weekends or holidays will be processed the evening of the next business day.

We appreciate your business. Thank you for choosing BBVA Compass. Have a nice day!

Huh? This canned response, completely irrelevant to my issue, makes me wonder if they are using an automated responder. If that’s the case, surely it’s a bit misleading to encourage customers to respond by email if they need further information. A “please call if this does not answer your question” would have been annoying, but at least I wouldn’t have wasted so much of my time.

At this point I gave up. I transferred the money to NFCU and then initiated an international transfer to NAB through electronic fax. NFCU handled the request immediately, charged $25 for the transaction, and the money was sitting in my Australian account earning interest within 48 hours.

Needless to say, BBVA will not be getting any more business from me. I’ll be closing my account as soon as I tie up some loose ends. Not only was the level of service offensively bad, but they fail to list the office hours on their website or even say where the call center is physically located, so it’s impossible to know when you’ll be able to call and reach someone.

Learn From My Mistake and Avoid International Banking Hassles

In retrospect, before leaving the country I should have gone into my BBVA branch, sat down with the manager, explained my needs, and gotten his or her direct email and telephone number. It’s not really the employees’ fault when the online banking system is badly run, and if I could have circumvented it completely I imagine my questions would have been answered promptly.

I’m still curious about how much BBVA charges to do a wire transfer, but I guess I’ll never know now. Even if it’s less than NFCU’s $25, it’s not worth my time to find out.

It would be ideal to have a completely online bank, but I just haven’t gotten around to choosing one. None of the ones I’ve looked at have nearly as good an interest rate as NAB in Australia, so I wouldn’t be keeping much money in there anyway. I think I’ll stick with the status quo for now and re-evaluate my banking needs in a few months.

Working nomads may still be a relatively small proportion of the population, but if banks made even the tiniest effort to cater to our needs, I’m sure regular customers would appreciate the added conveniences too.

What do you think?

Why I Fired My Bank

Learn From My Mistake and Avoid International Banking Hassles

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