better bizness practices
If you’ve been down to your favorite fiduciary lending institution lately, you’ve maybe run into the New Improved Tighter Regulations. These are the folks who brought us the Great
Recession we’re still trying to climb out of, but now they’ve learned their lesson, at least the ones who weren’t bankrupted or defaulted or reorganized by the FDIC. We gave them TARP loans so they’d loan money to jumpstart the
economy they’d stalled, and instead, they just hung onto it. You got a house underwater, good luck getting new finance terms. They’re going to take the house —- the only question is how
long can they convince you to tread water, meaning, how long can they keep you making those payments before you sink like a stone.
I got a check recently through my high powered business name and when I went down to deposit it, I was informed I would now need to open a new business account.
Undaunted, I went to another of my many favorite banks who used to cash my business checks just fine, without the necessity for acting like they were
my parents. And once again I was told firmly and patiently that they could not, no, absolutely not, confuse my business with my personal account. I
said it is WAY too late for that in my life that is approaching what for some would be retirement age. They said no, the time is now.
Of course I don’t suspect the real reason for this change of heart and policy has anything to do with extra service fees or set-up charges. I would never never accuse my banks of
petty greed, nickel and dime tactics or outright deceptions from debit card fees, late fees, overdraft fees and all those myriad other small print hand-in-my-wallet charges that eat the poor alive, one dollar at a time.
So I spent an hour setting up my corporate account. The one I will use til the last check clears from the current client — after which I will have checks issued to me, personally. Muddy bizness
practice, sure, but simpler for me. And when we were done and the handshakes with the assistant manager done, I mentioned their promotion of $100 to anyone opening a new business account. And they smiled sadly before lamenting I was just two days too late, the offer expired already. To which, I smiled sadly and pulled the internet ad that showed the offer good for another week. Trust, as they certainly mentioned more than
a few times, is crucial to a good relationship between my business and my lending institution, a partnership, as it were, in these uncertain fiscal times.
It finally cost them 100 bucks for my time. About $100 dollars an hour. I’m sure they would agree that this constitutes a fine business acumen. I may open a dozen new accounts. Hell, I could easily learn to love finance
with these folks as tutors and mentors. Or vice versa.
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