Arriving October 6th, looking for a bank

[Kapohocat]

I bank at HFS 12 yrs and just love them. Have had an acct at BOH and closed it two years later (glad I never closed my HFS acct!)

I have had few problems with checks - once they get to know you - it is a lot easier...

Funny story - went to Keaau for groceries one day - left my wallet on table at home. Thought oh no prob, will get cash out with ATM... silly me ... ATM card also in wallet... well no prob, I'll use my Visa... again in wallet... oh no prob, I'll go to HFS and get money out... oh wait DL in wallet...(I know I am slow!)... went across to HFS and said I forgot my wallet, dont want to drive back to Kapoho and they said Ms Dumond, we know you, how much do you need?

Try that at BOH.

[missydog1]

Cat, that is not fair to BOH, I could easily meet your challenge, and would have no problem at BOH. They know me and also they have my signature on file.

I worked my way through college as a bank teller, and the sig card was always the gold standard for people without ID. The only problem with that being that it is only at your home branch.

I understand that you didn't care for BOH, but I don't find them big and impersonal, at least not on this side of the island. They know their regulars the same as the credit union. (Of course I speak of regulars who go inside to bank.)

Even though the tellers don't all know me, I know all the bank officers and facilitators on the other side, not because I am special, but just from interacting over the years.

It's just a question of staying with them for a while in order to have a personal relationship.
The bank officers still say Hi to me at Waimea even though it's been five years since I banked regularly at that branch. []

I am not trying to push BOH. I think there are a lot of good choices. I have yet to hear of a "must stay away" bank or credit union on this island.

[Kapohocat]

KathyH, my comment stands and is a fair representation of my opinion. I only gave one 1 example of BOH's ineptitude - I could have shared 10 more. And I also had to into to BOH every weekday for 2+ years, same tellers as it was commercial deposit. My father switched his account from BOH because of their ineptitude. You may have been unaware of a scam two of their tellers in Hilo pulled in 2009, arrested for a scam on older people. They kept that pretty hush hush - FBI and Secret Service were in - one of those scammed was my Dad. It did not make the news media surprise surprise.

Central Pacific Bank on the other hand I can second Mikewj's opinion. The tellers and staff are wonderful, and I dont even have an account there. I just did a lot of banking there for someone else.

[Alex]

quote:

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Originally posted by Kapohocat

You may have been unaware of a scam two of their tellers in Hilo pulled in 2009, arrested for a scam on older people. They kept that pretty hush hush - FBI and Secret Service were in - one of those scammed was my Dad. It did not make the news media surprise surprise.

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What kind of scam?

[Greg]

We get choke banks.........Try find one bathroom!

[]

[Kapohocat]

quote:

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Originally posted by Alex

quote:

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Originally posted by Kapohocat

You may have been unaware of a scam two of their tellers in Hilo pulled in 2009, arrested for a scam on older people. They kept that pretty hush hush - FBI and Secret Service were in - one of those scammed was my Dad. It did not make the news media surprise surprise.

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What kind of scam?

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Two tellers were allegedly taking money from older people, primarily men I understand. They would start chatting with people like my 75 yr old dad, and since he took the same amount of cash out each week, (didnt like ATM's) they would up it by $100-200, give the older person their usual cash, and pocket the other money. the older people typically didnt look at their receipts because they were chatty with the cute teller. My mom noticed it because she balances the check book, and thought maybe Pops had a girlfriend... j/k! Then the FBi called - I guess someone else had caught it. Pops had to go down to the bank and make a report. They got almost all their money back - about $1000-1200 I think.

[Alex]

Thanks,Cat.It is amazing that they were able to prove it.I think may be a sting operation.

[Lin W]

BIFCU on Lono - nice bathroom!

quote:

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Originally posted by Greg

We get choke banks.........Try find one bathroom!

[]

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blessed are the cracked for they let in the light

[missydog1]

We all have our experiences ... good and bad, all valid.

Cat, it sounds like you have more bad to tell and would feel as negative without the scam, so this is not to argue, but I do feel that with the teller scam, unless the bank was behind it, I cannot fault the bank if a couple tellers go rogue. They didn't do it under the bank's auspices, did they?

Four members of my family have banked with BOH for 7-8 years, no bad incidents.
Two have also banked with First Hawaiian Bank, again, all good.
Two credit unions, American savings, all good but lacking in some banking services and/or the convenience of having other branches around the islands.

Greg, BOH Kaiko'o branch has a bathroom! []
It is upstairs, they give you the key.

Note: if you guys could call me Kathy instead of KathyH, I would appreciate it. I don't want to change my username, but there is too much negative association with being called that these days. [] Kathy works just fine.

[SandyS]

I guess any place has it's good and not so good. We switched from BOH to a credit union after we felt we were being charged too many fees for services we were used to getting for free on the mainland. The incident that really made us decide to switch is when our worker's checks bounced after we had transfered money from our mainland bank to BOH. The BOH on line information told us the money was in our account, never said a thing about a hold put on the money so we felt confident in writing pay checks to the workers. There were fees and penalties not only for us to get it all straightened out but for our workers as well who's checks bounced. Maybe that could happen with any bank. So far we have been pleased with the credit union.