Last weekend, I decided to open up a checking account at Commerce Bank. My girlfriend has been a customer for a few months, and she is very happy with their service. You can’t beat their hours, either. The branch a couple of blocks from my apartment open late tonight and all Thursdays — to 8:00 pm. They have long hours on Saturday and the branch is even open on Sunday.
I chose the simplest checking account offered. The free checking account has a low balance requirement of $100 (waived for the first year, probably forever) and doesn’t offer interest on the balance. I plan to keep only a small amount of funds here, accessible via ATM if I can’t find one for my primary checking account.
When I opened the account this weekend, the account manager was friendly and helpful. The process was very quick, and I was able to leave with my programmed ATM card and starting checks in hand. Before leaving, I mentioned that I was an amateur coin collector. They have machines there that customers can use to sort and count coins for free, but as I suspected, the bags of coins are shipped offsite immediately.
The account manager offered to take my phone number and let the tellers know that I would be interested in taking a look at any old or “different” coins they might receive.
I fully expected to never hear from the bank. Well, I was certainly surprised when I received a phone call today during lunch, less than a week after opening the account, from the account manager who helped me last weekend. It seems someone brought in $100 worth (face value) of large dollar coins. I’m willing to bet that this is the result of “cherrypicking” the best for their own collection and bringing the rejects to the bank. The sorting machine likely can’t handle large dollar coins, so the collection was brought to a teller.
The manager didn’t mention anything about the designs being “different,” so I’m willing to bet that these are all coins minted between 1971 and 1978, the “Eisenhower Dollars,” probably not worth more than $1 apiece.
Without hesitation, I responded that I was interested, and that I would try to stop by tonight to pick up the coins.
Updated April 9, 2008 and originally published January 24, 2008.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
You are probably right about it being someone’s dumping ground for an already searched bag. I did the same thing with half dollars a couple of years ago. I’d get rolls from different small banks, cherry pick what I wanted and return the rejects to Commerce. In a typical week, I’d fill up their coin sorting bags 2x. After a very nice conversation with the head teller, she started saving all kinds of nice things for me. You would be amazed what some people try to cash in. I’ve received quite a few proofs as well as silver for face value.
I’ve had commerce for a few years now.. they are great. Fast, convenient, and no issues to date.. not much more you can ask from a bank.