Shopping for a Bank, Part III: The Huge National Bank

In this third installment of my three part series on bank shopping, I share with you what I learned about small business banking at a national bank.   The difference: money.  I’m not being facetious.  You’ll see what I mean in a minute. 

In case you—gasp!—missed it, I’ve already written about Access National Bank, a small community bank with five locations in northern Virginia, and BB&T Bank, a regional bank in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. My goal with this bank shopping exercise was to figure out which type of bank would be most convenient, easiest, and most fun to do business with.  I’ve got my answer.

From Steve Rhodes on Flickr

Since my husband and I use Bank of America (BofA) for our personal savings and checking accounts, I thought I’d look into using them for small business banking.  Their reach stretches around the world, and, thanks to the recession, they are now the proud owners of Merrill Lynch.  Anyway, instead of visiting a BofA branch to talk to a manager, I decided to research them online.  As soon as I started scoping out small business banking information, I was asked if I wanted to chat live with a BofA rep.  Sure, why not, I thought.  I was immediately asked by “Jewell” if I’d like to open an account.  And so the hard sell began.  (The following are just excerpts from our chat.)

Monika:  I’m actually bank shopping, so I’m not ready to open an account yet. What sets BofA apart from the competition?  In other words, why should my small business bank with you guys?

Jewell: Our customers have the piece [yes, that is how she spelled it] of mind knowing that BofA is a strong, secure bank during these difficult financial times.  Also, BofA is one of the world’s largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services.

Monika: Why should a small business bank with you?  What kind of service can I expect to receive? 

Jewell: We provide unmatched convenience in the United States….Also we are among the world’s leading wealth management companies and a global leader in corporate and investment banking….We also serve clients in more than 150 countries…..We offers [again, yes, that’s how she spelled it] industry-leading support to more than 10 million small business owners through a fleet of innovative, easy-to-use products and services.

And so the conversation went.  I asked a question, and I got long, canned responses from Jewell.  Their “innovative” products and services, dubbed the Online Business Suite, all come with a price tag.  Seriously?  I need to pay you to make my life more convenient?  They do have an online community for small businesses, but honestly, if I need an opinion about something I just turn to my own network.  The kicker: if I wanted personalized service, I could request to have a client manager assigned to me. 

So back to my point at the beginning of this post: the difference with BofA comes down to money.  They have the money to track me looking around their site, and they have the money to pay someone to chat with me live online.  They have lots of extra money thanks to the fees they charge their customers.  They have money because they’re so big.  But so what?  I would obviously be a number to them. 

Oh, and I’ve only kinda made a decision about which bank to use.  I loved both Access and BB&T, so it looks like it’ll go to the coin toss.  May the best man win.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 22nd, 2010 at 8:00 am and is filed under small business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


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