Switched My Wachovia Express Checking Account to No Fee

About a year ago I published a post detailing a service fee my Wachovia charged me because I had too many teller transactions in a month. My Express Checking Account allows me 2 teller assisted transactions per month and any additional transactions are charged $2 per occurance (plus the previous 2 that were free were also charged).

A couple commentors mentioned that they were able to change their accounts to a account state that had less fees so I finally got around to asking a customer service rep yesterday while I was in a Wachovia branch.

It took about 30 seconds to explain that I had this Express Checking account that charged teller transaction fees and had read online that I might be able to get it changed to a Free Checking account. The rep was very nice and said sure we can do that. A flash of my checkbook for the account number and my picture ID was all he needed. About 20 seconds later is was all set - no account number change, just a setting switch in their computer system.

Its a pity I didn't do this a year ago.

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Comments (8)


Picture ID for a checking account? Hello Big Brother.

Being in NC and as an employee of an eligible company, why don't you use Coastal Federal Credit Union? Their loan products are fantastic - they offer a "Prime MINUS 1" HELOC - and they give 5%APR on checking accounts. The switch from Wachovia to Coastal was a no-brainer for my wife and I.

Funny you should mention Coastal - I opened an account their last month and am currently thinking of making that account our primary joint checking account. I am still using my Wachovia account because EVERYTHING is linked to it. Once I get settled in more and get my wife on the Coastal account I suspect we will make a long/slow transition.

@ 2million - I'm glad you made the switch. I work for a credit union and it's pretty sad to hear there are still people paying to see tellers. I get paid to handle people's transactions. Without the people, I'm out of a job so I say, the more the merrier. It's never made sense to me that banks actually charge their customers to come in. How are they supposed to get business that way?

And, just to play the devil's advocate here for the benefit of Thomas, yes we're going to check your picture ID before we make changes on any account, unless we personally know you. This baffles me that people don't get why we do that. It's to help prevent fraud on your account. If we arbitrarily handed out money from the account to someone that wasn't you and we didn't ask for ID, you'd be upset. So, can you explain why someone at your bank who doesn't know you and asks for ID before making changes bothers you? I'm curious.

I can't believe someone as cost conscious as you would pay for a checking account anywhere.

Keep on keepin on, bro.

2million,

I also have a free checking account with Wachovia. You might want to check that you always need to keep a certain amount on your account otherwise they might charge you a fee.

Keep on posting,
Michael.

The only downside is the single location here in Charlotte, but we use direct-deposit exclusively and have made it a habit to get cashback on purchases while visiting only no-fee ATMs. I do make a special trip once-a-month to deposit the rent check from our investment property, but it isn't a hassle since the branch is 5 miles from our home and a sister-credit-union is in the building adjacent from my work (which accepts Coastal deposits).
In all, we couldn't be more pleased..

Michael - According to Wachovia's web site free checking means free including no minimum, but it wouldn't suprise me if your right.

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A personal finance weblog of my journey to reach my goal of $2 million + the value of my primary residence.
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