Road Trip
Sat Mar 07 2009

We have an account in a credit union a couple hours down the freeway. Money goes into it every month, and it is the account we use for our college costs. It is a savings account only, which means whenever we need money, we have to drive down and get it.

We set it up that way when we moved back up here six years ago, we wanted it to be "untouchable" until we needed it.

The account used to be both a checking and savings account, but a few years ago we let the checking account stay at zero for long enough that it became inactive.

Hubby and I decided that since the twins are in college now, it might be nice to re-enable the checking account and just pay for any school costs directly rather than driving down to take the money out.

With that goal in mind, while Hubby was at Guard today I made a beeline down to activate the account.

A little history here, the account was originally Hubby's, opened about 25 years ago or so. When we got married (20 years ago) I was put onto the account.

I get down to the credit union, and was told that I did not have the authority to re-open the checking account. I asked the clerk why it took both of us to open it back up, and I was told that they didn't need me at all. Only Hubby could open up a checking account that tied into the savings account.

EXCUSE ME? Both of our names are on the account, but only Hubby can make any changes to it. Does this seem wrong to anyone else but me? The clerk went on to tell me that I couldn't open it up because I might be planning on leaving Hubby and "cleaning him out". I then asked why it was OK for him to open a checking account with the possible intent of leaving me and "cleaning me out", and I was told it was because he was the one who originally opened the account.

I was left speechless.

In fact, I'm so speechless that I can't even go on to write about #1 using a taser on himself after we left the credit union and went to my brothers.

6 Comments
  • From:
    Pragmatist (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Mar 08 2009
    That's a crazy assumption, and maybe you (Hubby and you) should empty that Credit Union account and deposit the money in a regular account in another bank with both of you as signatories.

    If that's the CU's policy, then you *really* need to get out of there. Sheesh!!!


    Bless
  • From:
    Kaliko88 (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Mar 08 2009
    I can't even believe she said it at all. That's customer service?? Definitely need to find another CU.

    >^..^<

    P.S. Wanna finish my Sudoku book? All the easy and medium are done. I'm stuck in the middle of the hard ones. Haven't even touched the extra hard ones. Would you believe I leave it in the bathroom? *LOL*
  • From:
    Apinkspirit (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Mar 08 2009
    I HATE that sort of crap. It happens to me all the time. I tell them we are a communitty property stae and WE even had a lawyer draw up a communitty property agreement good for ANY state. But they never care. So what IS my rights for being married???
  • From:
    Yetzirah (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Mar 08 2009
    We have an account that is the same way. Hub Man opened it and he is the primary person on that account, so any inquiries have to be made by him.

    Actually, I kinda get it myself.

    A lot of those rules ARE there to protect people from unscrupulous spouses. You AREN'T one, so it seems goofy to you.

    It's a pain in the patoot, no question.

    Your taser story probably trumps my youngest son's bb gun story, so I won't go into it.

    :-)
  • From:
    Welshamethyst (Legacy)
    On:
    Sun Mar 08 2009
    Something similar happened to a friends mom several years ago when her husband died. She took his death certificate to the CU to have his name taken off of the account and was told because the account was set up as Mr. AND Mrs. instead of Mr. OR Mrs. that the account would have to be frozen until after probate. Needless to say that didn't go over very well and it took a lawyer and a court order to unfreeze the account. Obviously she changed financial institutions, lol
  • From:
    Yetzirah (Legacy)
    On:
    Mon Mar 09 2009
    It's a local knitting guild.

    However, if you search in your area for knitting guilds you might find one. If you don't want to join one, I'll bet your hospital has someone who would know if they have a preemie hat and chemo hat donation program. The hospital volunteer groups would probably know too.

    There is also a national group called 'Headhuggers' that take caps.

    http://www.headhuggers.org/default.htm