A couple of weeks ago, I was in San Francisco and my friends and I were heading to the delicious Volcano Curry, where you can find decent portions of Japanese-style curry being served for a relatively good price.

On the way to the restaurant, I withdrew some cash from an East West Bank branch.  Upon seeing the ATM action, a person in the group asked if I banked with East West, and if I liked the bank.

“Oh actually, I have an account at Charles Schwab Bank, and they refund all ATM fees.  They’re pretty bad ass.”

“Ah, is Schwab a good bank then?”  the person asked.

“Good service so far. Haven’t got screwed yet so I like them.”

Its funny that my immediate thoughts and standard to the quality of a bank is how much, if any, has the bank taken advantage of me.

Charles Schwab, by all accounts, has very decent banking and financial products.  While I haven’t used my brokerage account heavily, I have used my checking account and debit card extensively while traveling , knowing full well that I’ll get a decent conversion rate if I withdraw cash while abroad, and the convenience of having any ATM fees refunded is also a nice perk.

Each time that I’ve called Schwab with a question, my call was answered promptly by a U.S. representative in a professional and courteous manner.  And yes, my questions and concerns are dealt with within the duration of the call.

Despite all these positive attributes, the quickest way I can convey to a person how much I like my bank is how little the bank has screwed me over.

What strange standards we have these days.