My startup banking story (2023)

Once upon a time my wife went to close a bank account in Italy.

She went to the post office which is also a bank in Rome. She asked to closed her account. She was told that she needed to go to the branch where she opened her account in Florence.

We rented a car and drove to Florence.

When we arrived at the bank in Florence, the teller informed us that we would have to come back “domani” which is Italian for tomorrow because the only person who could help us was the banker who had originally opened the account for my wife when she was a student many moons ago.

We came back the next day and met the banker who immediately recognized my wife including recanting that she was an artist. He informed her that he could not close her account, she would have to speak to the Director of the bank.

We waited in line for the director of the bank but we were told it was too close to the end of the day and the bank was out of money so we’d have to come back… Domani.

Domani arrived and my wife again waited. The Director willfully ignored her for 2 hours and it wasn’t until my wife began to cry that the Director finally called her over and allowed her to close her account.

This for €2500. That was a balance that meant a lot to us at the time.

I will never forget banking in Italy.

This is everything in Italy, not just banking. I remember studying abroad there, it took us a week and a half of “domani” to get the wifi password for the dorm!

I have a similar story in France. Closing an account with Caisse d’Epargne was nothing short of pure torture.

Luckily, I didn’t actually have to go in, but the process took me nearly 6 months of back and forth, multiple phone calls, multiple hand written letters. Yes, France loves hand written letters, no you cannot type it.

Every now and then I think it would be nice to return and live in France, but the thought of having to deal with French administration has vaccinated me for life.

It's so easy in Norway. When you start a new relationship with another bank, they just offer to move all your money and automatic bill payments from the other bank to your new bank. So the new bank handles everything

I'm Italian and both the previous story as well as your comment trigger me.

1) You could've asked the password to literally anybody in the dorm.

2) Unless this was geological ages ago, by law, all you need to close a bank account is a certified email (or PEC) or a certified letter (you go to the post office with a document and a simple form that specifies where you want your stuff transferred) you don't need to go in person anywhere at all.

Sounds like your experience was some time ago. Banking with “traditional” banks is still slow and bureaucratic, but not to that point. And online banks let you do everything online quickly.

Similar in the Netherlands (idk about banking, but), nowadays if you move house, you just make an appointment at the local county hall and set your new address; the old county is informed, and a lot of companies that bill you regularly (e.g. utilities, health insurance, etc) will automatically reroute any mail to your new address.

I'm glad for that too; mail is pretty much dead, I wouldn't know what organizations to report an address change to nowadays.

Yeah same process in Norway when you move. Fill in a form online and all mail is rerouted, and companies will update records.

Regarding closing the account, it's probably just like you describe. However, the author was told something else. Not everyone knows the "proper" procedure by heart, and many people rely on what they are told from officials in a given institution.

The fact that the bank personel in the first bank did not share what you just shared only adds to the misfortune.

Yes, it's similar with banking, you just use OverstapService.nl and they will automatically switch all your direct debits to your new account. Worked for me like a charm when I switched banks, of around two dozen direct debits only one failed to transfer properly.

I wouldn’t call 2020 that long ago. But you’re right my main mistake was not going with an online bank at the time.

That being said, French administration sucks overall. The amount of paperwork required is insane.

Like the time my wife and I got married. Her paperwork was straightforward however I was born in a different country to my nationalities. This just did not compute for them. 10 months later including travelling overseas to get the documents, they call my wife to tell her they lost our file and we need to start again!

Haha the thought of bulldozing the town hall came to mind. Luckily they found them not long after.

It was a long time ago but from what I remember it wasn’t that simple. We needed the IT guy to set us up with individual accounts, and we could never get a straight answer on when he would show up.