First Fed Bank

The Nordstrom's Of Banks

I've been a First Fed customer for 13 years, and am still periodically amazed by how naturally customer service comes to them. They are an old-fashioned conservative bank, so getting a mortgage from them is no cakewalk, but in every other regard, they make life incredibly easy.

My favorite First Fed story: Several years ago, I mistook a 4 in the thousands column of my checkbook register for a 9, and proceeded to record my balance $5,000 higher than it actually was in my checking account. While making a smallish debit-card purchase, my card bounced. First I tracked my balance back and found the error. I called First Fed immediately to tell them I'd be in the next day to move money around. Here's what they said to me: "Oh, there's no rush. We'll just hold off on clearing any checks for the next couple of days til you come in." As a result, there were no fees of any kind attached to my blunder. What bank does this for a garden-variety retail customer?

(I realize this story makes me sound like a serious flake. I'm actually not -- there were a bunch of special circumstances temporarily in play.)