Choosing a Bank Account

Abstract

This case simulates the decision of choosing a bank account through the eyes of a new couple on the verge of getting married. Bill Donlon has no prior experience in banking, choosing instead to accumulate his savings in cash. Donlon's fiancee, Melissa Ivy, had a bank account in college, but rarely used it other than to withdraw funds occasionally. After their marriage, the couple will move from Norfolk, Virginia, to Roanoke, Virginia, to start new jobs. Donlon will be working as a salesman at the local Ford dealership and Ivy will be a pharmaceutical sales rep for Actavis, Inc., working mostly from her car as she visits accounts. Both Donlon and Ivy will be paid via direct deposit by their new employers, thus necessitating a bank account. This motivates Donlon to talk with his uncle Ned about banking and sends Ivy to the internet to compare banks and account options. Excerpt UVA-F-1893 Aug. 22, 2019 Choosing a Bank Account Introduction Bill Donlon should have been in a great mood. After all, in just two weeks, he was finally going to marry his high-school sweetheart, Melissa Ivy. The pair started dating during their senior year at Lake Taylor High School in Norfolk, Virginia, then maintained a long-distance relationship while Ivy went off to college in Richmond. In Ivy's absence, Donlon had struggled through a series of minimum-wage and temp jobs before becoming a salesperson at his cousin's store, Mattress Outlet. Donlon's success at sales allowed him to wine and dine Ivy during the summers when she was home, keeping their relationship alive. Now they could finally be together for good. Donlon had squirreled away his biweekly cash payments from working at Mattress Outlet, parking a growing pile of cash literally under his mattress. Donlon had never bothered to get a bank account since his cousin paid him in cash. He liked to keep his earnings in his possession—he'd started distrusting the banking system after the 2008 financial crisis. But all that was going to have to change. After the wedding, Donlon and Ivy were moving to Roanoke, Virginia, so that Ivy could start a job in pharmaceutical sales with Actavis, Inc. Donlon was going to work at the local Ford dealership, putting his selling skills to work peddling cars. Both jobs paid their employees through direct deposit. Donlon wondered how that would work, because everything about banking intimidated him. . . .