My husband and I have done our banking at a local credit union for probably 15 years and love it. Recently we started bringing in rental income and the only drawback of our CU became a much bigger deal: the nearest branch is a half-hour drive through downtown Seattle.

There’s a BofA branch a block from our house. Last month when our city was shut down due to snow, I walked over there and opened an account. I figured that we could walk our rent payments over there and electronically transfer the money to our credit union accounts, where the mortgage on our rental house is automatically deducted. What a sensible idea, right?

Well, have my eyes been opened. Charging for checking accounts? Crappy mortgage and certificate rates? Five whole days for your electronic payment to appear at the payee??(Oddly enough, when I use my debit card at the Safeway, the money is deducted from my account that same day!) This is the standard at banks these days?? My credit union is looking better and better all the time!

I know they need to pay for all those branches, but…dang. With that five day delay in transfering money, the juice is barely worth the squeeze, as far as our main reason for opening an account there. We’re going to give it a few more months, but I’m getting more disgusted with BofA at every turn.

Like: My in-laws surprised my husband and me with a check at Christmastime. It was a cashier’s check. I walked it over to the BofA to deposit it on 12/21. They said they needed to make sure the check was legit and the money wouldn’t be released until 12/29. Eight days!! I am 100% sure this wouldn’t have been an issue at my credit union–or at least the money would have been made available to us as soon as the check was found to be valid.

I once attempted to explain to a bank clerk how free checking only for direct-deposit customers discriminated against freelancers and she had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. She quite seriously didn’t get why I couldn’t somehow set up direct deposit with the twenty or so individuals and small theater companies I worked for on an irregular basis.

It’s a slimey business practice to lure people in with one offer, and then to alter the terms. I believe that banks do this because they know that most people won’t bother to switch. Switching can be a bother. At least your cable company is up-front about this: “we’ll give you a smokin’ deal for three months, but then you get the standard rate”. BofA wasn’t forthcoming. They let people sign up for what they believed was free checking.