The Bank that Couldn’t Shoot Straight
So okay, maybe it’s because the candles on my birthday cake are creating disturbing separation from my physiological number but these days, I’d much rather write “warm fuzzies” style than complain about stuff like old Uncle Louie over Thanksgiving dinner.
C’mon, I have a sign hanging on my reception wall that says we’re committed to “…making dentistry fun” for cryin’ out loud. And even other super-educated DDS-types refer to me as “Smilin’ Jack.”
But today I can honestly say I’d rather have a colonoscopy on my B-day with sketchy anesthetic (dentistry is waaay more fun) than deal with Wells Fargo Bank’s Practice Solutions. And if you could see my face, I’m NOT smilin’.
Back in The day, Wells Fargo was kind of a warm, cuddly ole sheepdog of a service-oriented, community-minded financial institution. When my aunt set up some trust accounts down the street, the locals were downright friendly.
Wells later bought out my business line of credit from Matsco and I established personal and business credit card accounts, along with a small personal line of credit. Back then, before 2008, you could probably deal with a loan exec, his second-in-command, and the inevitable underwriter and the threesome wouldn’t necessarily make the Stooges look like astronauts. But things change.
Just after the banking industry’s greed and cynicism almost caused the U.S. to go el Busto, I noted some Wells Fargo attitude adjustments…improvements…you would think. But Wells knocked my credit limit down to just below the balances of a business credit card and the personal line of credit. A credit rehab source later identified the borderline scam practice as “chasing the limit.”
Our business of 38-years actually grew some 15% during 2008-2012. I can remember the 4th Quarter of 2008 clearly…because while my team and I were celebrating a successful year with a week in Hawaii, banks and investment firms were shutting down on a daily basis. I wondered if the banking industry would gain a measure of humility…if the country survived a potential Great Depression, Part Deux.
In 2011, through an amazing and loyal broker, our practice managed a great SBA loan through U.S. Bank. We continue to receive great day-to-day business service from Bank of the West. But we’ve still retained the Wells’ accounts.
At the end of last year, we were looking for $50,000 worth of financing for training. It’s my contention the best investment we make is in our business and specifically, in training co-workers. And we have the best H/R advisor in the history of labor; he suggested a Wells Fargo contact who had shared the bank was “throwing money at health care providers.” A little later, I read an LA Times’ article revealing Wells Fargo customer abuse practices aligned with competitive employee incentives (http://articles.latimes.com/2013/dec/28/business/la-fi-mo-wells-fargo-sales-pressure-20131228).
But after some 6-months or so and two attempts to obtain financing for training amounting to one-sixth the total of my SBA loan while having good credit, financial security, and SIX Wells Fargo accounts including one checking account worth twice the amount of the requested loan, my application was declined because an underwriter spotted several payments that had been made a few days past the grace period more than a year ago in an account he really never identified.
So after six months of unreturned calls and emails and qualifications asked for and met, the whole deal didn’t go through based on vague information that was readily available in the first place…I guess.
One day, the underwriter might string together some sentences that actually resemble something learned in high school English. And one day my contact, Michael, might learn something about under-promising and over-delivering; today, he has the flip-side of that concept nailed. When I listed my litany of Wells Fargo inconsistencies and dubious service, Mike asked me stop with the insults. If only they were insults…
Today, I withdrew 100-Gs from Wells Fargo and started a new account with our buddies across the street, the Bank of the West. Let the party begin!
