Pay Attention to the Zeros

 

I opened my bank account app last week and saw an advertisement for a new savings account with an interest rate much higher than my current account. 

I read the details and decided that it was a no brainer to start the account. 

I went through the online steps and opened the new account, 

Transferring money from one account to the other while leaving enough money in the original account to not get a service charge. 

I figured I would close out the original account but couldn’t figure out how to do it online. 

I stopped by the bank the next day. 

 

First, I was shocked at how skeletal the staff was. 

Second, while meeting with the branch manager because there were no other non-tellers there, I was shocked when she told me that I needed to keep $15000 in the account to not incur a service charge. 

“Oh,” I said. “Well I can’t do that. I don’t have $15000! I read $1500 .”

She said, “Oh, that’s okay. Here’s what I’ll do. I’ll change the interest rate on your current account and we’ll just close out the new one.”

“Wow! That sounds great. And how much do I need to keep in the one I already have?”

“Just $1000.”

“That’s a huge difference!”

“Yeh. We don’t offer the account that you have anymore. You were grandfathered in.” 

“Oh, okay. Well, thank you for changing the interest rate and closing the other account!”

 

I learned two things through this encounter.

One. Always pay attention to the zeros! :-)

Two. Go inside the bank ever so often and see if they will adjust your interest rates. 

 

Don’t laugh. But my interest rate went from .01% to 1.0%.

I know. It’s not a lot either way.

But it’s a 100% increase to my functional savings account.

(I keep long-term savings at another bank with a much better interest rate.)

And despite a few moments of waiting,

It was a painless process that resulted in a positive change.

 

We live in a time when most companies give very little.

Few places, other than fast food joints, honor loyalty and most do very little to reward commitment. 

I know that my bank would have never increased my interest rate on its own even though I have been a customer since 1995.

If anything, they’d have just lowered it to less than the practically nothing that it already was. 

So I guess that sometimes we must look out for ourselves.

The sad thing is that I didn’t realize that I could!

If I hadn’t messed up the 0’s, then my account would still be the same. 

 

May you seek and be granted positive change where you need it today. 

It’s possible.

Sometimes, we just have to ask. 

 

Amen.