Bank Merger--Should I Stock up On Headache Medicine?

[Exile]

I just learned that my bank, PFF Bank & Trust, where I have my checking account is being taken over by another institution Cal National, and of course the message to us account holders about the merger is that we will hardly notice the transition (of course).

I would like to hear from other forum members about their experiences when their banks were bought out.

[maat55]

Strangely, I have longterm accounts with two different banks and neither have been bought.

[deadgoon]

It really just depends on the bank doing the buying and how they handle it. I got an account at First Union which got bought by Firstar which got bought by US Bank all within a year or two. I never had any problems with the transistions and everything went smoothly.

However, I also had an account with Union Planters (now Regions), and they totally screwed everything up. I got the account at a UP in Memphis and everything was fine until I moved to a new city. The UP there had been a small local bank which was bought by UP. It turns out that when UP bought small banks, thy didn't change account numbers and someone at the new bank had my exact same account number. When I deposited my first check in the new city, it went into that other person's account. It took a week to straighten it out. The second check also went into that person's account and I discovered it was because I was using the in house deposit slips (I was out of my own.) It took a week to straighten it out.

When I went to deposit the third check in the new city, I marked out the routing numbers on the deposit slip and wrote MEMPHIS ACCOUNT on it as well. When I got to the teller I made sure to point out before I handed her anything that this was a Memphis account. The money was deposited into the wrong account again. The next day I went and spoke with the bank manager and told her that my money was not in my account and they said they'd have to research it. I told her that no research was necessary and that the money was in another account with my same account number. She said they'd still have to research it and they'd call me in a week. A week later I came back to get my money and the bank manager was quite proud of herself because she had found the money in an account with the same account number. I told her that I wanted to withdraw all my money and close the account. She was shocked, but eventually gave me my money but couldn't close the account... because it was a Memphis account. I took my money and went home to call the bank in Memphis. They wouldn't close the account over the phone but told me it would close automatically after 6 months. The next time I was in Memphis I went by the bank just to make sure it got closed.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Interesting that my experience has such common points with that of deadgoon: 1) I had an account in a bank that was bought first by FirstStar, and then by USBank. Those were indeed smooth, unnoticeable transitions. 2) The only time I have had banking troubles was with an account at Union Planters (now Regions) and it was a matter of them not having the technical ability to straighten out their own error in directing the landing spot of a deposit! I had to close the account and immediately open a new one of the exact same type.

Gosh, I nearly forgot that my present bank was fairly recently bought! There was no name change and no change whatsoever that affected me, so it is very easy to have forgotten that they were bought. It is more traumatic if the grocery store changes the label on a can of peaches and throws off my ability to find the correct can on the shelf.

[cooliemae]

My local bank (Timberwood Bank) was bought out by another local bank (Laona State Bank) last year. Yes these are very local banks. We didn't have any problems. The new bank company kept all of the old banks account and routing info and are slowly phasing out the old routing number in favor of their own. The new bank is even paying for the new checks.

Just to let you know how local a bank we have, my account number is only 7 digits long (as opposed to the regular 8), so when I went to order my new checks, the CSR at Deluxe didn't believe me when I was reading her my info. She kept insisting that there were more numbers and that I wasn't reading the check correctly. After convincing her that I knew what I was talking about and faxing her a copy of the check, she didn't know how to proceed and had to turn the order over to the "special order" dept.

[gamecock43]

My Wachovia visa credit card was bought by Bank of America. Its been almost 2 yrs and I still pay my balance at Wachovia! The wachovia website still has my account info. The 1-800 number on the card now goes to bank of america. The only hassle was that i had to look at a new website online to see transaction details of the switched out card. The old website just posts the balance only. No sweat for me.

[marvholly]

I have been through multiple bank buy outs. You WILL need headache medicine.

In the beginning (1-2 years) everything will remain the same. Then the rules & perks start to change. The new company will go with whatever is LEAST costly to them in locations served, free/rebated charges, number of employees per location/call center, ..............

I was with a bank that had REAL good CD rates. Were bought out. Took 18 months but the rates dropped MORE then the changes in the fed & other banks here did. Guess they lost a BUNCH of business because just now 55 more weeks later their rates are now at the top again.

[disneysteve]

I opened my account with Trevose Federal. That was bought by First Union, which then became UJB, which later became Summit and most recently got taken over by Bank of America.

The only difference I ever noticed with each successive takeover was that the name on the sign changed and each time the name changed, the number of ATMs I had access to grew. So it has always been to my benefit to have a bigger bank take over.

[Exile]

I started this thread because like maat55 I have been doing business with my bank for a long time, many years in fact. So I'm accustomed to their policies and procedures. But when the change of ownership was announced, the warning bells sounded and I felt it was critical to know what to expect and to be braced for a possible train wreck such as that described by deadgoon and cooliemae.

I thank everyone for his/her contribution to this topic.