Goodbye, old bank

January 5, 2010 at 7:48 pm (It happened in the H.V.)
Tags:

For a long time, I’ve been thinking about switching banks.  I’ve had my money in an international bank for almost a decade, when I first started working in New York City.  I chose a place that was around the corner from the bookstore where I worked.  My choice was also based on the fact that they had lots of ATM’s, and I hate the idea of paying fees.  It came in handy to have a bank with locations in Australia, England, and Amsterdam, I went to all those places and took cash out with ease.

But then a thing happened.  The economy went to shit.  And my super international bank, that saved me who knows how many tens of dollars in fees over the years got a bailout.  And they started charging me little fees here and there, like when in desperate circumstances I had to get cash from an alien ATM.  And even though they have a handful of branches here in the Hudson Valley and a catchy marketing plan touting how well they know the locals, they’re not really local.  The same goes for the banks that are holding my two credit cards.

So today, after a year of knowing it was time for a change, I finally got up and opened an account with a local bank.  They’re so local, they even have “Hudson Valley” in their name.  And they’re not a bank.  They’re a credit union.  They donate money locally, and many of their employees are loyal donors and volunteers for the very non-profit where I work.  In fact, my new bank is Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union.  And it helping inspire me to take this step was the Move Your Money campaign on the Huffington Post.  I usually don’t like being told to do like that, but I was thinking about it anyway.

I haven’t opened a new checking account since the ‘aughts, and it took no time at all.  I showed my license, made up a PIN, gave ‘em a fiver for the new account, and walked out with five starter checks and a new debit card.  (Although just today I learned some interesting stuff about how those really work.)  Cliff Notes version: Visa always wins.  The next step is to go in there with my credit card statements and move those balances over to an institution that won’t raise my rate to 28% because I paid the bill late one day late.  (On five separate occasions.  Despite my best efforts to alert myself…)

The only drawback I see is that I’ll have to think ahead if I want cash without an ATM fee if I happen to be somewhere other than the Hudson Valley.  So I have to plan ahead.  I think I can handle it.

If you need inspiration, check out this clever mash-up of “It’s A Wonderful Life” and a buy local movement.  And then go find your local bank!

7 Comments

Guarding the nation

September 16, 2009 at 10:58 am (It happened in the H.V.)

This morning between the Chamber of Commerce breakfast and the Chamber of Commerce job fair, I went for a walk in downtown Poughkeepsie. Even though the mean streets of Po-town can be a bit scary at times with its diceyness, there are some real charming places to be explored in broad daylight. One spot in particular that intrigues me is the National Guard recruiting station on the corner of Market & Church. When I have time someday, I’d love to learn the history of it, because it’s a huge armed fortress. Here’s a cell phone picture:

0916090949

And here’s a close-up of the front door:

0916090947

If you can’t make out the sign on that front door, here’s my attempt at a close-up:

0916090948

I regret that the photo is not more clear, but in big letters, it states “ALARM SYSTEM.” In smaller letters, it goes on to tell you that the door is alarmed so don’t even try to break in.  The bulletproof door to the brick and stone fortress with barred windows is equiped with an alarm system.  That’s awesome to know, because the first line of defense for any fort has always been a 24-hour call center.  It’s good to know that if we ever get into a war on our home turf, the enemy won’t be able to penetrate our ability to recruit new members of the national guard, becuase they will be stymied by the obnoxious wails of security sirens.

6 Comments

Po-town

September 1, 2009 at 6:14 am (It happened in the H.V.)

A few weeks back, I spoke to one of my old contacts from the bookselling world.  He asked me, “do you still like living in the Hudson Valley?”

I told him, “You know what?  I love living in the Hudson Valley!”

Then he said, “And how is that job going?”

I told him, “You know what? I love living in the Hudson Valley!”

And it’s true.  I’ve lived, which for this purpose we will define as “stayed for seven weeks or more” in suburban New Jersey, Maine, Virginia, Colorado, London, and now Poughkeepsie.  In my mind, I’ve lived in California, but none of those places fit so well as here.  And why is that?  Well, let’s get a bullet point out:

  • I just got my lease renewal form.  My rent is going up exactly $0.  For those of you who love math, that is a 0% increase.  For those of you who love English, that is a ZERO PERCENT increase!  I didn’t even negotiate, it just came in the mail that way.  Anyone who has lived NYC and experienced the standard “as much as we can leagally charge you” yearly increase will know how shocking that is.
  • Dutchess County, like Putnam, Westchester, and New York Counties to its south is a superior county, which is why it costs a toll to come to this side of the river, and none to leave it.
  • We don’t have wildfires.
  • We don’t have hurricanes.
  • We don’t have the Taliban.
  • Our top-level county managers make $50,000-$152,000 a year and have a full benefit package.  For life.
  • Ulster county managers make seriously less, and get fewer benefits.
  • Sure it rained a lot this summer, but was 3/10ths of an inch less than 1975, the record-holding rain year.
  • (the preceding six items were generated while I was listening to the morning news update on the radio.)
  • Speaking of, we have WDST, which has opened my eyes to some great music.

That’s all I can think of in my alloted blogging time.  But there’s so much more I could say.  I love living here so much, I’m going to see about running for a county management seat because I’m that dedicated to public service.  And cushy benefits packages.

11 Comments

« Older entries