Banking Update; History Lesson

I'm delighted to report today that we are officially free of Bank of America!  We walked down this afternoon and closed all of our accounts.  We've completely moved everything over to Jeanne d'Arc Credit Union.  Hooray.

Our brief (well, too long) visit to the local branch only served to confirm our belief that we were doing the right thing.  Don't get me wrong, the tellers and everyone who work at that branch are lovely folks, and we like them.  They have always tried to help us, even going against BofA's asinine rules and requirements and fees. But the branch is seriously under-served.  There is ALWAYS a line, and there is not physically enough room for the number of customers they regularly have.  The facility is small, cramped, overheated, and smelly.  I feel bad for the folks who work there.

We're also very fed up with the way BofA treats long-time customers, particularly those with smaller accounts.  We overheard an older couple who were demanding to know (in heavily accented English) why they were being charged $6 a month for their checking after all these years of it being free.  As is typical, the folks who can least afford extra fees are the only ones who have to pay them.  The bank employee explained that they had previously used direct deposit, but now that they didn't, there were fees.  The fact that in this economic climate, tons of people are losing their jobs, and thus don't even have a paycheck to direct deposit seemed not to factor into the regulations.  The bank employee could only offer that if they switched to online banking from their home computer, their fees would be less.  This clearly wasn't an option for this couple.

So we're delighted to be free of that mess.  Triumph!

In other news, Lucy came home this afternoon and asked to watch a movie -- one of the Peanuts specials we have.  We recently acquired the whole DVD box set of Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas specials.  Lucy specifically requested one of the lesser-known specials: The Mayflower Voyagers.  I asked why she liked this one.  Her response: "People die in this one."

I'll let you pause to pick up your jaw (at least I had to).

Wow.  I'm not sure if I'm more taken aback by the fact that a Peanuts special features death, or that it's Lucy's favorite one because of that fact.  She's our little Sarah Vowell, I suppose.

I have yet to watch the episode, although I clearly need to do so immediately.