On Sept 16, at about 2 pm, I visited the CitiBank branch at 4065 S Jones Blvd, Las Vegas, Nevada, hoping to cash a check that was drawn on a Citibank account.
My bank, Wamu, had endorsed the business check with a stamp and signature. I had to bring it to the bank that issued it, because Wamu puts a 10-day hold on every check deposited by new account holders, and our move to Vegas had drained most of the money in our Cleveland bank.
The teller said she was unable to cash it. My choices, she said, were to open an account or to have the check turned into a cashier's check for a $10 fee.
The branch manager showed no interest in my point that this was Citibank's own check, written by one of its own customers. In years, I had never before gone beyond my own banks for something like this, and I was shocked that a bank would charge anyone for cashing a check drawn on it.
I said I would be satisfied if she would just drop the $10.00 fee. She flatly declined.
When I left, I had the toll-free number of corporate headquarters and tried to resolve things there, but they told me they could not overrule a branch manager.
I had no intention of opening an account at a bank that fleeces the public this way. For me it is the principle, not the money: they take advantage of a non-customer and try to blackmail that person into opening an account...
I later spoke with my own bank, Washington Mutual (Wamu), and learned that it does not charge non-customers to cash a Wamu check made out to them when they show proper identification.
From now on I will tell everyone about this CitiBank rip-off and urge their customers to switch to a bank that treats consumers better. That is the only way to begin changing the banking industry and the million-dollar lobbyists who are paid to protect the high fees that banks (and now payday lenders and check cashing outlets) charge...
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