Saturday, January 22, 2011

Rite-Aid Reminders, Bonehead Bank & Thanks!




Saturday is the last day to watch your January Rite-Aid AdPerk/Value Videos or Video Values or Whatever they are called.
The new February Videos go up on Sunday and the new Single Check Rebate Period begins Jan. 26th.
NOTE***There are no items that qualify for SCRs from January 23rd-25th.  Rite-Aid is changing the SCR period to run from Wednesdays to Thursdays instead of Sundays to Saturdays.***
So hold off buying items for Single Check Rebates until Wednesday, ok?

In other Rite-Aid news Saturday is the last day to also qualifying for the $20 Resolution Reward!  Make sure if you are close to the $100 purchase requirement that you get there by Saturday night.

A new Winter Resolution Reward is on deck starting Jan. 23rd.  It will run the same as the last one....purchase $100 or more in qualifying items marked with a "Buy & Save" logo between January 23rd and February 26th and you will receive a $20 +Up Reward.
I sure hope this one runs more smoothly than the last one....

Sometimes I doubt my own standing in the Frugal Club!
First let me say that Hubs and I have had the same bank for about 24 years now.  The bank has changed names more times than I can count on my fingers since we signed up as their customers but we've had the same accounts for 24 years.
Imagine my surprise when a few months ago I started seeing a service fee on my checking account.  It wasn't much so I didn't even call them to complain.  Yah, I am lazy that way sometimes.lol

Then last month when we had to reorder checks I found a $40 check charge on the statement.
Let me say that I've NEVER had to pay for checks at this bank no matter what incarnation/name it had at the time I ordered checks.
This was the last straw!

So we went into the bank this morning handed the gal the statement with balances and told her to close the accounts and give us our money thankyouverymuch!
The manager took one look at the balances and her eyes got wide and after a couple of sputters she said, "Oh No!  You shouldn't be paying any fees with the amounts in those accounts!  There must be a mistake.  Please, let me fix this for you."

Since we had been with this bank, which from here on out will be referred to as the Bonehead Bank, there have been many, many takeovers/mergers with other banks.  I have lost track of how many bank names we've had to memorize over the years.

  Not the current Bonehead Bank or the many incarnations before it have ever gone back and looked at the accounts they had carried forward to the current incarnation.  If they had, they would have seen all the accounts they had customers in that were no longer even offered, some being obsolete up to 3 mergers ago! 
If the Bonehead Bank had made a point of going through it's account records they would have seen and hopefully contacted customers sitting in these obsolete products and offered to move them into current savings vehicles.
You would think.....

No, this Bonehead Bank just let things go and instead of letting customers know BEFORE they were charged fees, waited until the customer noticed and complained.

Things are smoothed over here.....I got my fees returned, updated the savings product, got a better interest rate AND a free deposit box to boot.
I heart free.....

With the federal regulations recently limiting what/how much banks can charge in credit card fees and the debit overdrafts, keep an eye on the bank where you have a checking and/or savings account!  In order to increase revenues, banks are now upping their fees on other services to your non-credit card accounts to make up for their losses.  Look for anything from your FREE CHECKING ending, to check fees, imaging fees, maintenance fees as well as the terms changing on your credit cards.
It will all sneak past you if you don't seek out the information, because you can bet, My Bonehead Bank is NOT the only Bonehead-esque Bank.  One day you may open your statement or go to read it online and find a nasty fee or two you didn't know was coming!

And lastly, thanks to everyone who sent me birthday greetings the last day or so.  It was so appreciated and truly made me feel loved....or at least liked. ;-)
I am so bad myself about remembering friends and family members birthdays.....it's true!, go ask them!  I should try harder, I know.

And don't forget to enter my Birthday Giveaway!!  Click on the link on the top of the right sidebar. 8-))

Sluggy



5 comments:

  1. So far so good with our bank. We've only been with them about 3 years, but everything is on the up and up. They are a small bank with branches only within our county. Still, I'll keep an eye for unannounced fees; they won't get by me...I check our statement online several times a week.

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  2. I try not to write checks to avoid the occasion when they start charging me. Instead, I drive up to the window,give them my driver's license and ask to make a withdrawal. That way, groceries, gas, and all the places I go into get cash. That saves me several dozen checks each month. This box of checks should last me for years. As a matter of fact, I may just order another free box to prepare for the day they will start charging for checks, and I am forced to buy to play.

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  3. We have banked with the same bank for years, too, and I watch everything like a hawk. LOL! I don't even wait for the statements. I check out accounts on-line at least once a week. We have 3 accounts and a credit card with them. Recently, we got a letter about new fees on checking account without minimum balances. One of our accounts usually has a small balance as it is Hubby's ebay/fun money. I immediately called the bank and they confirmed the new fee until they looked at our accounts. Then is was, "No ma'am. There will be no fee." Sometimes you just have to be sure they look. I sure do.

    Good for you for not just ignoring those "little" fees.

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  4. I am glad you handled this the way you did and that the bank was cooperative. They are trying to sneak lots of things in now. Even my credit union is doing the same. You have to watch those littel disclosure statements they send out with bills either in the mail or electronically. The one that ticked me off was I had to pay a $1.00 teller fee because I did 3 transactions.

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  5. My bank wanted a dormant fee on my money market savings account because we didn't use if for a year... forget that we have lots of accounts at this bank, business and personal which change monthly (ie are used)... AND they rebated the amount, but said they can't change it from charging me. How annoying.

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