Saturday morning I decided to check out a growing puddle of water in my basement. I grabbed the mop and started to clean it up, and that is when I saw where it was coming from. It was flowing out of the bottom of my hot water heater. HOT WATER. OUT OF THE BOTTOM OF MY HOT WATER HEATER.

And all I could think about was how much my next water bill was going to be.

I've heard tales of the $900 water bill from neighbors of neighbors who've had something go wrong in the basement and they didn't know they had a problem with wasting water until the bill arrived. And I've head there is no credit given when something breaks and money runs down the drain.

My husband figures that the water is leaking at the rate of one gallon per hour. That's a lot. And who knows how long it was leaking before I noticed it. A week? A few days?

On Saturday we purchased a new water heater, but since it was the weekend I'm sure I'll have to wait until Monday to get the install scheduled. If you know me, you know that I'm stressing about the water going down the drain. I know how expensive the water is here in Menomonee Falls, and with gas being $3.79 a gallon, and grocery store visits costing nearly $200 a week, the last thing we need is an out of ordinary water bill next quarter.

On Wednesday I finally closed our checking and savings accounts at Mid-America Bank. If you are following my banking saga you'll remember that my husband and I recently switched to Landmark Credit Union. The process (at Mid-America) I had to go through to close the account was minor, and after all the security issues I had with Landmark I was appalled that I didn't have to show any identification to prove that I was indeed Kimberly G. Laczniak. All I had to do was spell my last name, and then choose to either have a check written for the balance, or receive cash. 

Seriously, I could have been ANYONE, and they could have just given ANYONE all of my money, and closed my accounts too. They are pretty darn lucky that it was really me closing my accounts.

I arrived home, check in hand, to find a letter from Landmark Credit Union waiting for me. What's this? What have I done now?

It was a letter from the Vice President of Marketing, who read my blog entry The Other Landmark Credit Union, from November 3rd. To sum up the letter she apologized for my troubles in locating the correct LCU website and wrote: "I have alerted our staff to this problem and hope from now on that they will highlight our Web address as well as warn members about the Web sites of other Landmarks."

Wow. I'm so impressed with Landmark Credit Union. Someone took the time and initiative to write me a letter, and to apologize for my inconvenience (even though I think it's pretty darn clear that the inconvenience was 100% my fault). Pat, if you are reading this, Thank You!

I asked my husband if I could consider this letter my first piece of fan mail? He said yes. So there ya go. I've got fan mail.

(Cross posted @ Thoughts Outside My Head)

The last 24 hours has been rather hectic. It all started last night as I was making my deposit at my Landmark Credit Union, which as you might recall, I just switched to a few weeks ago. Everything was okay in my life before I pulled into the drive thru lane at Landmark, but it quickly changed as events unfolded and I found out that my accounts were siezed, my debit cards were disabled, and every single check that came into my account would need to be verfied with the issuing bank. And it would be this way for SIX MONTHS!

Folks, I'm one of those people who ALWAYS pays EVERY SINGLE bill on time. My credit history is cleaner than clean. They couldn't give me an answer to why my accounts were being treated this way, but promised that someone would call me as soon as they found out. As I drove home from the credit union steam was coming out of my ears. I was so upset. Is this how they treat all of their new customers?

It turns out it isn't. A branch manager called me within 10 minutes and as we were on the phone together she came across the problem. Someone had used my social security number at a different bank, someone with a name that wasn't mine, and they were not being very responsible. Alerts were sent out, Landmark received the alert, and locked up my funds.

I immediately pulled my free credit reports, which I highly recommend that every one of you do when you are done reading this post, and I was relieved to find that there wasn't anything that appeared to be fraudulent on them. This morning I had to fax over my Social Security card to Landmark, and they were able to put my accounts back to normal once they verfied my number. I then had to visit the bank where all the destructive activity was going on. Thankfully, they were very helpful and once I filled out the proper paperwork and provided the proper identification they removed my Social Security number from this person's bank accounts. I also issued a fraud alert with the credit agencies.

The day was looking up for me, and since I was near the Dept. of Motor Vehicles and my driver's license still had my previous address on it I decided to round out my afternoon by having it updated to reflect my Menomonee Falls address. As I was leaving I looked down at my license and noticed my signature.

Wouldn't you know that I signed my license L. Laczniak. I don't even know what to say to that, other than it's ironic that my entire day revolved around someone else using my identity and then I go and muck up the signature on my license.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we recently switched from a bank to Landmark Credit Union. While we were at Landmark opening the accounts, we were set up with online banking. Login names and passwords were created, as well as I had to choose and then answer three security questions. The questions were the usual kind. For example: What street did you grow up on? What is your father's middle name? What was your kindergarten teacher's name? etc.... The point is that I had to answer all of these questions, and then the banker took a screen capture of my answers and printed it for me. Yesterday I set out to login to Landmark's website for the very first time. I did not write down my password, but I figured that I could remember it just fine. They emailed me my login name, so I had that. This was going to be a piece of cake.

However, I couldn't recall the website address was for Landmark, so I typed in what I thought it was: www.landmark-cu.com. The welcome screen to Landmark Credit Union appeared on my screen, I found the login area and typed in my login and password. Instead of being directed to my account, I got the screen that said that my password was wrong.

Well, okay. I'll try it again. So I typed in my codes again only to find that they were wrong that time too.

I clicked on the Have You Forgot Your Password? link and was prompted to put in my user name, the last four digits of my zip code, and the last four digits of my phone number. That's odd. Where's my super secret security questions that I have the answers to from the screen shot?

At this point I was sure that if I'd just plug in the proper numbers I'd get into my accounts, but after about 10 minutes of typing in the same set of numbers (I was pretty sure I knew zip code and phone number) and getting nowhere I finally called the customer service number on the screen.

"Landmark Credit Union, how can I help you?"

"I opened new accounts last week and am set up for online banking, but I seem to forgotten my password."

"What is your last name?"

"L A C Z N I A K"

Then started to search for my account in every imaginable way, finally admitting that it appeared that I didn't have an account with them.

Puzzled, I asked: "How can that be?" 

"What state are you calling from?"

"Wisconsin."

"Oh. I see the problem."

As it turns out, the fine state of Massachusetts also has a Landmark Credit Union, and it's not a part of my Landmark Credit Union. Once I typed in the correct website of www.landmarkcu.com I was able to login just fine.

Tonight my husband and I are switching from Mid-America Bank to Landmark Credit Union. Why? I've been unhappy with Mid-America ever since they switched from St. Francis Bank, and the only thing that has kept me from switching before this is all the automatic payments that I'll now have to change.

I didn't set out to switch our accounts, but I think he secretly set a plan in place where I would come up with the idea, and then because it's my idea, do it.

Here's what happened: He and our daughter have been saving all their change in this huge piggy bank we bought in Cape Cod when we first got married. They 'feed the pig' and every once in a while they'll weigh the pig and see how much it's gained since the last weigh-in. It's like the opposite of Weight Watchers, the heavier the pig, the better. About a month ago they took the pig up to Landmark Credit Union and opened a savings account. We are saving for a vacation, and coin by coin, we'll get there. It's realistic. I once sold items on ebay for three months and had enough for a 10 day trip to the Disney World ... including the meal plan, which by the way, is a good deal.

I digress..... In order to put my name on the savings account he needed to escort me to the credit union where I'd then have to sit in front of a very pleasant banker who had account literature on her desk. I think he called ahead and asked her to take her time in preparing the signature card: Fake like you are working on the paperwork until she takes a brochure. After she opens the Current Rates brochure then you can ask her to sign the signature card. So I waited, and chatted, and waited, and chatted, and waited, and then reached for the brochure.

I think witnessed a fist pump and a victorious 'yes!' from my husband as I noticed the interest rate on the Premium Checking account.

After verfiying that the numbers were not a misprint, I looked over at my grinning husband who said, "Clark Howard always says to go to a Credit Union".

"What about customer service? Is there an 800 number that I have to call where I'll get some worldwide call center where I'm just a number and no one cares?" I asked.

"Unfortunately," the banker told me with a note of sarcasm, "You'll get our New Berlin office."

"We'll be back on Thursday."

 What about you? What would motivate you to change banks?

To read more of my writing until my next post, please visit Thoughts Outside My Head.