See Also:
Bankers’ Language is Financial Jargon
Categories of Banks
Finding the Right Lender
Funding Source Versus Lender
How to Manage Your Banking Relationship
Interest Rate
How To Find A New Bank?
I am sure some of you are saying bankers are bankers and you really don’t value the relationship. That is a topic for another time.
I will help you answer the question, is it time to find a new bank? I believe the answer to that question is hidden in where you or your company is located on the food chain of the bank. It may be hard to believe, some banks may not ever want your business. But, if you choose to be there, they will take your business until you get mad and leave.
What I am saying is your bank may not value your business. People normally bank where they bank because it is faster and or easier (we all know this to be the American way). How many of you have done any due diligence to determine if the bank is going to help you meet your personal or business goals?
When Is It Time to Find a New Bank?
Answer that question by asking yourself about the following topics.
Are They Really Listening to You?
First of all, when you are talking to your bank are they really listening to you? In some, if not in most situations, they are listening to you but not about your needs. Your bank may be listening for selling signals to seize upon the opportunity to offer you some product or service you really don’t need or want. In other words, do you want your banking services super sized?
Matching the Services You Need
You probably know that in the banking world today, banks have diversified their services and are very interested in fee income. I am not saying that you or your business does not need some if not all of the bank’s services they are offering. But are they asking you questions about you or your company to match the services you need? They are probably not. And furthermore, they probably do not ask you any questions at all.
Fee Income
I touched on fee income and that banks are very interested in increasing this revenue.
To make sure we are all talking about the same thing, a definition of fee income is required. I define fee income as the income a bank receives without taking any risk. Such as checking accounts’ maintenance fees, loan closing fees, ATM fees, etc., meet this definition. I call this death by bank fees to you or your company for the benefit of the bank.
Don’t think banks have your best interest in mind? They are in business to make money like the rest of us. I am involved in the area of non-bank financing. Banks have told me they do not want to offer solutions that would reduce cost to their customers because they would loose their fee income resulting in a reduction of their profits. You must remember everything is negotiable and understand all of your options.
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