Baa Baa Knit Stitch

(with apologies once again to my friend Jackie, who is a very nice person who works for them)

I have a friend for whom I do some business work who has a business account at BOA.  Opened it thirty six years ago in 1980.  She runs an organized business and is very low maintenance, banking-wise.

This past week she had need to open a second business account to do some online transactions.  I figured she’d go, open the account, transfer some money from her primary account, and be done with it.  Easy peasy.

Obviously I forgot who we were dealing with.  The manager at the branch informed my friend that a) there was no way they could open this account without the *original* paperwork she presented thirty six years ago and b) she’d have to keep an astronomical minimum balance in it.

Now, I understand that the business environment has changed in 36 years, but I have small businesses opening accounts all the time without such demands for documentation.  How many people do you know who can lay their hands on paperwork that old?  Anyone? Bueller??   I could have understood the demands if it were a new business coming in – but it was an existing account holder trying to open an additional account.

All of this to me was code for “We don’t want your business anymore.” I advised her that it was time to change banks to someone more business friendly – which is exactly what’s going to happen this coming week.

I still find it amazing that banks can treat people like this and stay in business… but then, based on my personal experience with BOA, I shouldn’t be surprised by anything.