Here's that paragraph again, with their responses in parentheses:

Then, I periodically check with competitors, most recently with WAMU, where I said, hey, you guys want my business, right? (Yes) I've been with BofA for years, and they will cash a $10,000 check anytime for me–if I 'come over' to you, I want the same thing. (Nope, no can do.) I'll show you my brokerage accounts, my credit limits, lots more than I'm going to keep here, everything/open kimono… (Nope, sorry, we need to have a track record with you over time.) I say, "Well, you're not going to get the kinds of customers you want then. You're just going to get free-loaders who want a free checking account, rather than folks with $$$ to move around." (Me thinks they're crazy, I'm exactly the kind of customer they want, no? If any banking execs read this and have a response, I'd be interested in what you have to say! Back to the personal banker idea you say, I suppose!)

I've used it twice I think. Literally I say, here's my check, they say, here's your cash sir. I've done this with just a thousand dollars in the account (or even just a few dollars once I think). In any case, much less dollars in the account than I'm cashing the check for. These are checks I write, 3rd party checks, etc.

Once, back in the early 90s, shortly after setting up the account (maybe a year or two after), I deposited a down payment I had for a house I was buying… it sat in the account for maybe for a week or two. $40,000 or so. But other than that I haven't used the BofA account for very much over the years.

Anyway, BofA requires I keep $1,000 in that account to avoid fees (with low interest rates these days, that's cheap!), so I do.

Then, I periodically check with competitors, most recently with WAMU, where I said, hey, you guys want my business, right? I've been with BofA for years, and they will cash a $10,000 check anytime for me–if I 'come over' to you, I want the same thing. I'll show you my brokerage accounts, my credit limits, lots more than I'm going to keep here, everything/open kimono… I say, "Well, you're not going to get the kinds of customers you want then. You're just going to get free-loaders who want a free checking account, rather than folks with $$$ to move around."

Anyway, I went ahead and opened a free checking account at WAMU (now Chase) and have made some deposits etc. hoping to build that rep up again with another bank, but I haven't made much progress and it's been 3 yrs since I opened that one.

So I treasure my BofA account!

Thanks for the post.

Cheers,
Brad

The interest is Prime + 0.75. I have a linked money market where I can pay it immediately. If I pay within a few days the Bank has always written off all the interest. So I never pay any fees or interest whenever this happens.

PS – How do you explain calculating an APR for a fee?. Those are two different animals.

Plus, quite honestly, in my depressed town, having 'that much' money in my local bank garners me VIP treatment.

http://www.highyieldcheckingdeals.com/2007/12/introduction-high-yield-checking-deals.html

@TFB: thanks for the post. I am in the process of moving my checking and savings accounts to an online-only bank (Schwab), and after reading this I realized that I need to plan for a cash emergency, so will probably keep a small account at a large bank with many branches.

But in general, I think the loan officer should have made it clear you needed a certified check beforehand.