http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17376201&BRD=1817&PAG=461&dept_id=222089&rfi=6

A Tale of Two Banks, by Debbie Jordan, Case Grande Valley Newspapers Inc.

east you'll probably be able to figure out where we finally put our money after years of feeling like little guys in a pond that is much too big and rich for poor folks like us. And you'll realize the others are old-style banks that forget each customer is important, no matter how little money we have.

We finally decided to leave Bank N (for Not Very Good), when I got tired of spending money each month to mail checks. I also had to buy those checks, though debit cards make that expense less of a burden than it used to be.

Of course, several banks offer free online bill pay, and I tried opening an account at one that I'll call Bank O (for Okay), but I had trouble there too, so I kept looking. Coincidentally, we'd had our checking account at Bank O before moving to Bank N in 2001, but I digress.

I confess, we were tempted to leave Bank N almost as soon as we started with them, but we were stuck as long as they held our home equity loan. Bank N was one of the few banks that offered home equity loans on manufactured homes, but only if we had a checking account with direct deposit there too. Although we'd had no trouble with our account at Bank O, we didn't hesitate to move, since we'd opened that account ten years and about four bank takeovers earlier. I was tired of trying to remember which bank had our account from year to year.

We first noticed trouble with Bank N when we closed on the home equity loan. Thinking the problem might have been a careless loan officer, I tried to give the bank the benefit of the doubt. But when we bought our duplex a couple of years later, we experienced similar problems with a different loan officer. We realized the tricks were just Bank N's policy and decided never to get another loan from them.

We also had problems with the way Bank N handled our checking account. During the first year, they added all manner of incorrect charges to the account, and I wasted a lot of time getting those charges undone. Only when I complained to the state banking commission did they refund all the money and stop playing those games. Still, we were stuck with them as long as we had that home equity loan.

This spring we refinanced our manufactured home with a single loan that covered the home equity loan with Bank N and a first loan with a Phoenix bank that we'd also had problems with. Our new loan officer gave me all the details up front and made sure I had all the legally required forms well before closing. For the first time in years, there were no surprises at closing, which means not only do we have better loan options for the future, we were finally free to move our money away from Bank N.

That's when I tried Bank O again, but an angel made someone screw up our application there. I quickly decided there must be a better place for our money.

When I checked CONSUMER REPORTS online, I learned that the top-rated bank with a branch in Casa Grande is also the one with the most unbelievable ads. After reading about the unique-and patented-design of their branch offices, I decided I had to check them out in person. Their claims were simply too unbelievable to be true.

The Latin term for the bank's branch design is trademarked, so I won't mention it, but you'll notice the difference in design the moment you walk in the door. When the bank is closed, customers use their debit cards to open the front door and access ATMs in the outer lobby. These ATMs are also handy during business hours when people don't want to go all the way into the main lobby. I realized that this is a far more secure arrangement than the outside ATMs of other banks, especially since thieves are stealing heavy equipment to use in hijacking ATMs from Phoenix banks.

Inside, a woman at a reception counter will take a quick deposit or direct customers to someone in the main lobby. This is the only high counter in the bank, and part of it is low enough to set things down easily. Several teller stations, each no more than four feet high, are scattered around the center of the main room. Along the front wall are a couple of cash machines. Tellers quickly dispose of money they receive for deposits and loan payments, so they never have cash on hand.

This is another of the bank's innovative security measures. I quickly realized people would be foolish to try to rob this bank. Oddly, on the morning I mentioned this fact to my husband, CNN reported that someone tried to rob a Georgia branch of this bank. They set off a bomb behind the bank, but it just left dark smoke marks and didn't make a dent in the impenetrable outer wall of the building. Obviously, a lot of effort goes into making the branches as secure as possible.

Before I opened an account, I spent a few minutes in the lounge area, which is designed for youngsters rather than adults like me. There's plenty of juvenile literature, games and toys for children of all ages, a funny mirror like those you see at carnivals, and a couple of Game Boys securely attached to a couple of child-sized tables with matching small chairs. It's easy to see why children are never bored while their parents take care of business at this bank.

When I was directed to a desk in the back of the main lobby, I learned that all the fantastic promises made in the bank's commercials are true, even for poor folks like us. In fact, they're all listed on a single reference sheet I received before I opened an account. Since there's no charge for checking accounts with a balance of at least a dollar, the man even suggested I open a second account without the overdraft feature for online purchases. That way, if a sleazy operator gets my debit-card number, they can't steal more than a few dollars before they reach the bottom of the barrel.

Now I pay bills online, and when I buy something online, I transfer money from our primary account to the online purchase account. I can also transfer money to our new savings account, which is fee-free for six months. After that, there are no fees if we maintain a balance of $300.00 or if we continue a monthly automatic deposit from our checking account.

There are other free services, such as one free overdraft per year on accounts with that service and free checks for life. There's no limit to the number of checks we can request, but since I opened the account two months ago, we've used only one to set up Jim's paycheck for direct deposit. That came from the small pack we received when I opened the account. We did order a single box of checks, on principle, but with online bill pay and debit cards, we may never need a second box.

Obviously, the bank really is as good as advertised. As I said before, I won't mention any names, but to distinguish this bank from all the others, I will call it Bank W-for Wow!