[FRIAM] [off topic] Bank of america problems

[Barry MacKichan]

One more bank story. About 35 years ago, 1987 I think, we were owed 
$40,000 by a German company that had developed a keyboard with 
programmable LCD symbols in the keys. We had a word processor for 
mathematics which allowed the user to design new characters. We handled 
the display and printing of the symbols, but we couldn’t change the 
keyboard symbols, so this company seemed like a good fit. Normally we 
required all our overseas distributors to pay us with a remote deposit 
to our account, but this company sent us checks.

I took them to Citizens Bank in Las Cruces, and weeks later, they still 
hadn’t cleared. In the meantime, IBM announced their new PS/2, Which 
in retrospect was a non-event, but the German company’s investors 
panicked, and they went into bankruptcy.

We were left holding an empty bag.

—Barry

On 10 Jan 2023, at 15:34, glen wrote:

> I can't answer directly. But I can tell a story. A non-profit I'm 
> involved with tried and failed to open a bank account at BofA. The 
> bureaucratic rigmarole they put us through was intense. 2 of us 
> officers had something like 10 different conversations with 2 
> bureaucrats at 2 of their locations. And their defense boiled down to 
> a combination of "The Government" and "to protect our customers", 
> including tangents about the Patriot Act and all sorts of nonsense. We 
> finally went down the (metaphorical) street to US Bank and opened the 
> account lickety split with no hassle at all.
>
> What can you do about it? Maybe ditch BofA for a better organization. 
> I'd recommend a (local) credit union. But a bank that gives a shit 
> about local businesses (e.g. US Bank) would be a good alternative. If 
> you need the ease of international banking, then maybe you're out of 
> luck. But Trump had good success with Deutsche Bank. They seem to play 
> fast and loose. >8^D
>
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