Received a Letter From a Bank

debodun

debodun

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Location
way upstate in New York, USA
Recently, I closed one of my bank accounts to transfer it to another bank that was closer to my house and offering a slightly higher interest rate. The other day I received a questionnaire letter from the former bank asking the reason I had closed my account and what I had done with it. I thought this a little invasive. Is this a common bank practice? I feel like replying "Nunya bizness", but that was not one of the choices on the questionnaire.
 

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Actually I always hoped a bank I was with cared enough to see why I left ... I never could understand why they wouldn’t want to know why a customer left..

we pulled money out years ago from fidelity to buy a house .within one day they called to make sure we were satisfied with them .
Not one bank I ever dealt with cared enough to do that
 

debodun said:
Recently, I closed one of my bank accounts to transfer it to another bank that was closer to my house and offering a slightly higher interest rate. The other day I received a questionnaire letter from the former bank asking the reason I had closed my account and what I had done with it. I thought this a little invasive. Is this a common bank practice? I feel like replying "Nunya bizness", but that was not one of the choices on the questionnaire.
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I think that would be SOP as they like all business should understand why a customer left them. It could point out what they have done wrong .. if anything.
 
If I were a bank, I would WANT to know why a customer is closing an account. Did we fail the customer in some way, can we improve our service, can we offer better terms etc.? But, I would want to know that before we close the account, while the customer is there in person or on the phone. I asked a bank to close my account in person and the the rep didn't ask a single question, acted like I was doing them a favor for leaving. I'll never use THEM again.
 
What does it cost you to give that bank your reason of why you changed? You probably won't use that bank again but since they asked it shows they cared enough to ask you. How many businesses take the time to care?
 
I moved an IRA out of a bank I've been with for 40+ years. In all that time they never offered any ways for me to make better interest on it. After moving it, I got a phone call from the manager asking if I was unhappy with the service they offered and was there anything they could do to improve? I also got a letter from the bank asking if there was a way to better satisfy customer needs. I answered the questions that I wanted to and left the rest blank. This is standard practice for some banks.

If you don't want to answer your former bank, throw the letter away. You don't owe them anything. What you did with your money isn't any of their business.
 
I never had a bank ask me why I moved my accounts somewhere else but a few years ago, I withdrew some money to buy a piano & the bank started charging me a fee. I didn't notice it for a couple of months due to the tiny print, then I noticed a $208.00 shortage on my balance. When I went to the bank to ask about it, they explained that the withdrawal made my balance below the minimum for free checking. I didn't think that was fair, so I said I was closing all my accounts. The teller said, "Just a minute," & she went to speak to the bank manager.

She agreed with me, but the bank manager wouldn't replace the $208.00, so I closed my accounts & took them to another bank. Really stupid of them; they lost many times that amount.
 
It’s acceptable a bank would want feed back on the reason a customer closed their account but, in my view, they have no right to question what was then done with the money, and I’d be telling them that in no uncertain terms, flaming cheek !
 
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You aren't obligated to respond to the questionnaire, of course, but I don't see any big problem in telling them you got a better rate elsewhere. Either just tell them or pitch the questionnaire -- 6 to one, half a dozen to the other.
 
It is a moot issue because they ask if there's anything they can do to bring be back as a customer. The only thing that could make a difference is to offer higher interest rates and move the branch closer to my house, neither of which they have any control over.
 
When it is something they did that caused me to move I want them to know why ... if it is because they are so uncompetitive on rates I want them to know ..but they never call.

I pulled a half a million dollars from vanguardbe because I think they suck ...no one ever followed up ...on the other hand I pulled 240k from fidelity to buy real estate and they called the next day
 

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