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Identity Theft
The continuing crisis in the economy has thrown America’s financial institutions into an identity crisis. And women, who do most of the banking, might find themselves wondering about the brands they once trusted.
It came home to us at Just Ask a Woman when our bank of choice Wachovia was first courted by New York goliath Citibank and then adopted by Midwestern-sounding parent Wells Fargo. We loved our Wachovia team, even their hard to pronounce name which my Mom always called “Watch over ya” as a shout out to their terrific customer service.
Well, just as our account was settling into the new brand digs, we started reading the unsettling news that FDIC might only protect money up to a limit and we had crept past it. So, time to get another bank. We thought we’d turn to Commerce, with its ads featuring spunky and hip Kelly Ripa, since it’s right next door (as is, actually every bank in New York, the city that decided a few years ago, we couldn’t go ten paces without being broke or counting our spare change.) New York is Bank Brand Central, blanketed with WaMu boxes and Bank of America’s…for now.
Anyway, we waffled a couple of weeks before going to open the new account at Commerce, just long enough for it to be bought and become TD Bank. Gone was the cheery red and blue; now all the employees were in gray with green buttons on their lapels. And as they asked me to produce ID and sign a half dozen forms promising I was me and telling me they’d hold our checks till we had proven ourselves trustworthy, I had to wonder….
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