I’ve been writing this blurb for about a month now, well finally after being a loyal customer for 17 years, I am officially done with my personal banking at TD Bank.  I must admit, it’s bittersweet, well mostly just bitter. Ever since the changeover to from Commerce Bank to TD Bank, things went downhill, and fast.  Don’t get me wrong, I was looking forward to the merger. I was hoping TD’s investment arm would be a great fit for Commerce’s banking division. Sadly, I was mistaken.. In every sense of the word, they failed.  They were once “America’s Most Convenient Bank”, now they are deplorable.  Sure someone answers the phone and directs your call, but then you sit on hold for 20 minutes to get a person. That does not count as good customer service, or speedy call response times.  You used to be able to reach someone in under 5 minutes, and generally had your issues resolved in a similarly small amount of time. Now you get bounced around for the simplest of issues.Â
 I’ve just recently switched over to a Credit Union, I’m quite happy. My main income is directly deposited into my account, any checks for reimbursements or whatever get put right into an ATM machine. They are almost always there the next day. For someone like me who is feeling the travel itch, that is a good thing. Who knows where I’ll be when I need to put some $$ into a machine. As far as I am concerned, never need to walk into a bank, or sit in a line at a bank again.  At this point, there was just no reason to sit at TD and get dinged for fees whenever they made a change or pulled something out of their asses.  Credit Union’s almost always seem to have better rates on CD’s, Savings/Checking/Money Market Accounts. Not to mention the amount you can save on auto loans and home loans.
 I wonder what the point of conventional banks are at this point. I make my deposits at ATM’s, many times getting a photo reciept of the checks right then and there (if desired), view my accounts online, then import the info with buxfer.com, done and done. While I am very happy at my credit union, I’m also considering opening up an Ally account to see how they are. Their rates look very attractive and may fit my needs well. I’ll keep you posted.