4.0 stars across
1 review
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A great small business to support
This review is for: Basic Checking
I love Wainwright. The customer service I've received is always fabulous. They're a local small business with a distinct mission, and all of the staff I've encountered seem to really enjoy working there and seem really proud to promote their products. I've never experienced the kind of incompetence and attitude that I've gotten at most other banks.
Wainwright is committed to progressive values. The staff have always been super GLBT-friendly to our family, which is something we definitely look for in a business. They also donate to a number of charitable causes that promote healthcare, civil rights, education, and growth of small businesses. We like to support them for this reason.
One thing I particularly like about Wainwright is that you can choose whether your account is able to be overdrawn. They're the only bank I've found that will do this. What this means is that if you have, say, $1.00 in your account, and you try to use your card to buy a $2.00 cup of coffee, the card will reject rather than accepting the charge and then charging you $35 for overdrawing your account. I've found this immensely helpful in my work with adults with psychiatric disabilities, who often don't have the cognitive or organizational skills to keep track of their bank account balance (but still deserve to be able to use a bank account like the rest of us do rather than getting ripped off at check-cashing places).
Wainwright also has community rooms at their banks, which account holders can reserve for free to hold meetings. This might seem inconsequential, but they're really one of the few places where I've found free meeting space for things like support groups and startups of community organizations. So these rooms really do help out the community.
The only reason I'm not giving Wainwright the full five stars is that since they're a small local bank, they can't front you the money when you cash a check. If you have five dollars in your account and you cash a $200 check, you can only have $5 in cash right then, and you have to wait until tomorrow to get the rest of it. Not a big deal, and I've just learned to plan so if I really need money from a paper check, I go cash it at the bank it's drawn on. But it's a minor annoyance nonetheless.
Posted by triangular -- July 29, 2009
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