Are banks like girlfriends?

I will argue against your parallel.

Relationships with a girlfriend/boyfriend should not be transactional. When one considers a relationship transactional, it won’t last liong at all. Ideally, relationships are there to support you emotionally through rough patches, and for one to support the other when they are having a rough time.

And if both are having a rough time, mutual support gets both through it.

I don“t see a bank helping me through a rough patch unless they can jack up the interest rate on what I owe them. And I sure as hell am not going to deposit a little extra when they make poor decisions.

I don’t do business with banks that only want relationships!!! When I’m looking for a specific service, I do my research beginning with friends & keep going until I find the bank that caters to MY needs!!! Especially with banks, I find it better to stay away from the larger more national bank, opting to deal with a local smaller bank. My interest rates may not be as high as with the larger banks; however, the “services’ are better & the fees are usually LOWER!!!

Just as I have the option to determine with whom I have a personal relationship, I have that same option when it comes to a business relationship. Court me or get on down the road!!!

I wouldn’t have opened an account with the bank you mentioned opting to go down the street to their competitor just around the corner who believes in “customer service”!!!

Conditions, conditions! I can totally see your POV.

I’ve given this same answer, recently, in a thread on another question: I can do six free deposits per year, after that I need to pay.

No.
But boyfriends are like Mafia drug dealers.
At first, they are all friendly and seductive.
But later, if you do not play ball, they become violent and abusive.

@LadyMarissa – I did exactly that – I told the woman “I don’t want a relationship – I want an account” – and walked out.

I’m earning $62.00 a month on a checking account because of my relationship with this bank. The tellers and I chat when I come in: they fill out my withdrawal slips for me. I have different banks for other reasons, but I do like my boyfriend bank the best.

Surely there might be some women that act like that. After all, there are still many materialistic and smart women in the world. There’s a reasoning for everything.

There’s a gag there somewhere involving deposits & sperm banks, but hey…this ain’t the place.

I wouldn’t want a relationship with a woman who treated me like they were a bank and I were their customer.

Banks have tended to seem to me to be deeply invested in assuming a very unbalanced relationship of superior authority towards their customers. They also want to charge you 10–30% interest and various service fees, and would like to pay you more like 0.01% to 2% interest, and almost never just give you money for anything.

My credit union has been more like a friend with benefits. :)

Essentially you’re exchanging the liquidity of your money for a better rate. That I don’t have a problem with (though there are plenty of other concerns I have with modern banking). The girlfriend analogy feels forced and doesn’t really bring any new insight into the issue.

You mean like is there a penalty for early withdrawal?

@rojo – always a penalty for that….

Our relationship is more like lovers.

I put it in.I take some out. I put more in. I take some out.

We experience the usual paroxysms of ecstasy each time but somehow the love is deeper than just a casual encounter between friends.

My bank is more like a crazy ex-girlfriend.