response 1 of 27:

Feb 6 01:19 UTC 2001

It's convenient for me to keep Jan on the list, since he has been backup
treasurer on a number of occasions when I was out of town, and he lives
right near me so I can get him the Grex stuff easily.  (Plus it's definitely
a good idea to keep at least one person from the old list on the new one, in
case a check is written while one list is current and cashed when the other
one comes into play.)

When I heard about the bank's analness about removing people from the card,
I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if we put someone on the card
and then he or she disappeared from Grex, as people do occasionally.  It
could be a difficult situation.  I'm not afraid of any of the current
signers doing that, but maybe Grex ought to have a policy of keeping the
number of signers to a minimum.

response 3 of 27:

Feb 6 02:39 UTC 2001

This bank is under new management and in my experience some of the people
working there are incompetent and/or dishonest.  They are also understaffed,
with an average wait of 20 minutes.  (When I tried to close my account, they
apparently forgot one step, then withdrew $8 from my account, billed me $27
overdraft fee, when I called insisted that this was the normal way of dealing
with closed accounts, you force them open to make automatic payments, and
then promised that the asst. manager would call within 48 hours.  A few days
later I tracked down the manager who said the account was not closed and she
had never been told to call me).
        Would this not be a good opportunity to move grex's money to some other
institution?  It has been about 1.5 years since members and board voted to
invest most of it in something that paid interest, and PAX WORLD FUND money
market fund was approved after much debate, and was paying about 5% interest
with check-writing of $250 or more, and $250 minimum deposit.  Bank of Ann
Arbor (to which I have switched) has checking accounts (no interest, $700
minimum) and also savings accounts (4%, $100 minimum) between which you can
move money at any time by a phone call or online.  I have gone there for a
year and never waited in line more than a minute, and they give you free
tootsie rolls and filtered water and friendly competent service.  The tellers
are actually capable of letting you in to the safety deposit box area (at GLG
you had to do an additional 30 minute wait for this).  

response 5 of 27:

Feb 6 04:03 UTC 2001

But free tootsie rolls!

response 7 of 27:

Feb 6 06:29 UTC 2001

Actually, I've had nothing but problems with TCF, and in fact had to close
my account with them, since they kept messing up my paychecks, and not
allowing me access to my direct deposit on the day that it was brought in,
causing stuff to bounce left and right.

response 9 of 27:

Feb 6 22:56 UTC 2001

eeyore, aruba, other, janc.

response 11 of 27:

Feb 7 02:44 UTC 2001

FWIW, Grex probably files an annual form with Michigan's corporation-
tracking dept. that lists the current officers & directors.  Going in
to the bank with that form, a letter of instruction signed by 'most
everyone listed as an officer or director on it, and a touch of a
"there's something called the law, and your bank's policies can't
overrule it" attitude may shake things loose.

response 13 of 27:

Feb 7 14:07 UTC 2001

Re #9, #10: janc isn't an officer or even a board member any
more, but I have no objection to his being on the card.

response 15 of 27:

Feb 7 16:02 UTC 2001

Not to stir anything up, but is there any law or regulation of non-
profits limiting spending access to persons with formalized association 
with the org?  (i.e. board members, employees, etc.)

response 17 of 27:

Feb 7 18:56 UTC 2001

Does grex actually need a checking account?  Phone and electric bills can be
automatically withdrawn (which also saves time).  Is the rent over or under
$250?  Bank of Ann Arbor (don't know about other banks) has something called
a Money Market Savings Account that permits, I think, 3 automatic withdrawals
a month and also 3 checks.  But it pays only 1% interest.  I was thinking,
for myself, of a combination of Money Market Savings (for limited check
writing) and Statement Savings (4%, unlimited withdrawals, no checks).  The
reason I brought this up is it would possibly save the treasurer the time and
effort of mailing dues checks to a money market fund, if he prefers to deposit
them in person at a local bank when he is already in town.   The difference
in earnings is only about 1% (of $4000?).  But I am sure the treasurer will
come up with something most reasonable overall.  Thanks, Mark, for your
promise to take care of this in a timely manner.

response 19 of 27:

Feb 7 20:02 UTC 2001

I think a checking account is helpful to have for unexpected expenses.  

Automatic withdrawl also *sounds* like a good idea, but I've heard a lot 
of horror stories about it.  People who terminated service with a 
company, and kept getting automatically billed for it, or moved and 
ended up getting automatically billed for both addresses -- there's too 
much room for incompetance in automatic withdrawl, and there seems to be 
very little recourse when it goes wrong.

response 21 of 27:

Feb 7 21:19 UTC 2001

Yeah, I would rather have a check written, with all of the backup that that
gives us.  Auto-withdrawl just doesn't seem accountable enough.
(if that makes any sense)

response 23 of 27:

Feb 8 02:06 UTC 2001

TCF was the problem, not the withdrawal (except that the gas company was at
fault for continuing to withdraw from the old account for 3 months - it can
take a while to switch to a new automatic-withdrawal account and the various
utilities tend to lose your application forms).  BoAA assures me that they
would NEVER take money out of a closed account.   I get monthly notices of
everything automatically withdrawn, which to me seems like perfectly adequate
proof of payment (and easier to read than my handwriting).  My health
insurance company refused to to auto withdrawal from 1) statement savings
2) money market savings 3) mutual fund brokerage account.  They insisted it
be called a 'checking account'.  Never mind that these accounts all allowed
automatic withdrawal and two of them allowed checkwriting as well.  My long
distance phone company will only do auto withdrawal from a credit card - but
they accepted my bank debit card, which is the same as taking money from my
bank account.