Saturday, March 31

My War on Wachovia

How do we confront the supra-human corporations, the faceless principalities and powers that wage war on us while claiming no "personal" responsibility because they are, in fact, not persons but transpersonal? How to engage an entity that is nowhere and everywhere?

As I continue to draw inspiration from Scripture and the theology of Walter Wink, I will put into practice the idea of "exposing" and "unmasking" the Powers with the purpose of reorienting them to their true calling--to be servants of humanity and not our overlords. My unmasking today will involve Wachovia, "my" bank.

I have had similar difficulties as I'm about to describe and have seriously considered switching banks recently, but by the same token, I don't want to "duck and run." And really, will other banks be any different? (Please let me know of any in the Triangle NC area, if you have absolutely stellar banking experience in the area I'm about to describe) It seems that they're all based on usury and subterfuge, maximizing profits for themselves without conscience.

Anyway, you might be getting bored. Perhaps I will begin with something I placed on Wachovia's Wikipedia entry--we'll see how long the Powers allow this to remain up on the People's Encyclopedia (if anyone else resonates with this description of Wachovia, I'd encourage you to keep re-posting it if you notice it edited out):

Customer Service Difficulties

"Though frequently touted as being "#1 in customer service" according to the University of Michigan Business School's American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), Wachovia has in recent times been alleged to practice dishonest and incomprehensible banking policies. Though enticing students and lower-income customers to open accounts with Wachovia through pledges of "free checking," reported difficulties abound. Obliquely-worded contracts obscure how overdraft fees function in actual practice, detractors assert. The difficulties center in untimely delays between real-time banking transactions and the accuracy of customer-accessed internet interfaces, leading to computation errors adding up in the bank chain's favor. Complaints are being filed with the Better Business Bureau."

And a complaint I filed indeed! I'll spare you the minutiae of our personal finance life, but suffice to say, as a freelance editor, sometimes times get tight. And when times get tight (and when you have a child on the way, etc...), you like your income posted in your bank's system with a high degree of correlation to reality. When they instead lead through a labyrinth of shadows and doublespeak, "timing" your transactions in a way (on their private interface, different from what you, the customer, have access to) that they incur fees rather than simply being available for your use...well, then, that is frustrating.

Where is consumer justice? Perhaps we--those who proclaim that Christ is Lord over empire at least--need to re-evaluate our banking practices and explore a return to the communal financial practices that made the church in the 2nd century the largest and most significant "underground" financial reservoir, a "mobile bank" that efficiently and wisely handled money across the Roman empire.

Thoughts?

posted by Mike Morrell | 11:47 AM | |