Sunday, June 6

Is This Banking In 2010?

I just saw a Wells Fargo commercial that made me think. I've only seen it one time, so there might be some misinterpretation and some incorrect paraphrasing, but I'm pretty sure I heard what I heard.

There is a guy and his girlfriend in their home, and the guy wants to restore an old motorcycle from his dad. He says something like "It's my dream to restore it", the girlfriend says, "It's my dream for him to finish it". Ok, her line was pretty funny, it made me laugh. Based on the visuals, it looks like the motorcycle is in their house/apartment, so it's certainly an eyesore and an obstacle, for her, us guys can work our way around such arrangements.

Then the banker at Wells Fargo chimes in. She says she showed this guy how to save money to be able to invest in restoring this motorcycle. The guy then comes back and says something like "they take some of my money and set it aside for me". Uh, wait, what?

I'm not sure which is more pitiful; the bank advertising that as part of their services they will take your money and set it aside for you, or the fact that people can't somehow go to the bank and say "I'd like to open a savings account please". Most banks allow for online banking which would allow you to transfer whatever you'd like from your checking account to your savings account. One bank who's commercials I have seen, I want to say it's Bank of America, allows you to set up automatic transfers from checking to saving, so that once a week or once a month (you decide how often) the bank will transfer the money for you.

Ok, so what am I missing here? Fire away.