Populism in retail banking: Redneck Bank

Many banks give free pens and toasters to new depositors.

At Redneck Bank, they send you a free beer-can holder. (See picture above.)

Many banks have serious slogans (“The Citi never sleeps.”)

At Redneck Bank, their slogan is “Where bankin’s funner!”

Many banks have spokesmen with gravelly baritone voices, meant to instill confidence and demonstrate gravitas.

At Redneck Bank, their spokesman is a talking horse. And, to enter their online banking portal, you click on the door to an outhouse.

Most importantly, at most banks, the money market interest rate is near zero.

At Redneck Bank, they pay 3.10% APY on balances up to $35,000.

Rocky lacks any pretensions. Especially when it comes to making money. After checking with the FDIC to ensure that Redneck Bank is fully insured (it is,) he opened a new money market account.

Rocky successfully transferred $1,000 from his Citibank account to Redneck Bank. But the Redneck website generated an error message whenever he tried to transfer more money. He went to Redneck’s on-line chat and tried to reach a Customer Service Representative. But that didn’t work either because every time he typed the word “Redneck,” their syntax filter (more puritanical than redneck) generated a pop-up message which scolded: “You have used foul language! Your message will not be sent!”

Finally, Rocky called their 800 number. He learned that Redneck imposes a 30-day waiting period on new account owners “to prevent fraud.” Although mildly annoying, Rocky concluded that Washington Mutual might have learned a thing or two from those Rednecks!

For more information, see: www.redneckbank.com

[Disclosure: This is a true story. Redneck Bank is the internet banking division of the Bank of the Wichitas, and is a member of the FDIC system.]