threecatcorner said:
Brenham National bank is awesome. Very good fraud department. They only have one location in CS, but they cover ATM fees if you use a different one. Not positive about currently, but they have an ice cream case in the lobby so if you do go in, you can normally get a little Blue Bell ice cream. They don't charge you to talk to a teller like some banks do. They have online banking. Small bank with nice bankers.
My experience has been the same with this as well.
Years ago I was traveling for business. I spent the beginning of the week in Moscow and the end of the week in Portugal. I used my debit card in each place to pull out local currency. I had been traveling to Europe about once a month for several years at this point, so pulling out cash in foreign countries was a regular thing (BNB knew this). However, this particular schedule was very odd to go from one side of the continent to the other in a single business week.
I hadn't pulled out euros in Portugal for more than a few hours when I got a call from Barbie, the CS branch manager, checking in on me and whether the draws were legitimate. Unlike others where you get a robotic text, the personal touch of an actual phone call from someone I knew was nice and assuring. It was the only time my activity got "flagged" on all of my trips, so I wasn't constantly getting bothered by fraud alerts.
Similarly, a few years later, I made an advance payment on my mortgage. Wells Fargo had bought my mortgage, so the payment went to them. For whatever reason, I forgot to sign the check. This payment was made in person in Bryan, and Wells Fargo processed the check just like normal. A week or so later, I get a call from Barbie asking whether the check was authorized.
They were actually comparing signatures on checks to what was on file and had caught that mine was unsigned.
I don't work at BNB, I don't have family there, I'm simply a customer. But I have really enjoyed the personal aspect of banking with them. With WF, I always felt like a number and someone to squeeze in every way possible.