[delinka]

About two years ago, my credit union started taking lessons from national banks. Charged late fees on a two loan accounts that had never been late (auto-drafted payments from a direct deposit destination); charged me for a replacement debit card when I reported one stolen; can't figure out that "wiring money" is actually free and points me at a third-party service they've hired for transferring money between banks - there's a fee for that; converted my free checking account into a fee checking account without notice.

In all these cases, I could not get the fees reversed on the phone, but had to visit a branch in person, where the branch manager was indignant that I had the gall to rob the financial institution of their fees. I did get the fees refunded. And two weeks ago, I closed all my accounts with them.

I am fortunate to have a community bank that acts the way my credit union once did. The only quibble I've ever had with them is with the staff not knowing the rules on overdraft fees.

[hidenotslide]

I think outgoing wires are almost never free, maybe you are thinking of ACH transfers? The rest of the things sound unfortunate though, and potentially illegal in the case of converting to a fee account without notice.

Customer friendliness can vary a lot even within a bank/credit union depending on the customer and personal banker, since a lot of fee waivers are discretionary. E.g. if a banker has a fee waiver limit per month then they can help you at the start but not later in the month.

Part of the issue is that since rates have been so low, the traditional net interest margin of banks has been squeezed so they turn to fees to compensate.

[delinka]

The issue was indeed with ACH. My apologies.