I did not see a link for Pinnacle Financial strategies. They are a wonderful MSP. I have done banks for them. I had some issue with one of their scenarios. It could be interpreted as my way or their way.

We argued a little. I was willing to accept no pay, but the scheduler is going to pay me.

[www.pinnaclefinancialstrategies.com]

The problem is that they keep changing their name. They are on the list in the first post of the first thread of this section as PROS. When I signed up with them I think they were PRO Review. They don't get discussed much. I have worked for them and they were no great experience or horrible experience. The pay was middle of the road, the payment timing was middle of the road, the shops were middle of the road. Most of the discussion here was when they were first doing a shop requiring deliberate overdraft of an account.

"The pay was middle of the road, the payment timing was middle of the road, "

That I agree, but they pay on schedule and more than $3 or $4 like to food industry.

They only offered banks in my area so I have no idea about other industries they may shop.

Only banks here too.

If you want to open an account w/ a particular bank in a big box store you get a lot of easy phone shops and any fees reimbursed. It has worked well for me.

I agree, they offer a lot of supplemental shops once you have an account. Their scenarios and reports are straightforward. I use that bank account to stash money for my tax liability. I don't access it online or use its debit card, so it's inconvenient enough for me the money doesn't get spent.

I just wish Pinnacle would revise their guidelines so they don't look like children's picture books. There's no need to have full color clip art of children or phones to tell us how to do the shops. It's just a huge waste of ink.


cynb Wrote:
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> If you want to open an account w/ a particular
> bank in a big box store you get a lot of easy
> phone shops and any fees reimbursed. It has
> worked well for me.

I have considered setting up a bank account. I looked on line. Don't they a hefty service charge each month?

Ah, that is where a nice selection of bank shops can actually be helpful! I have a number of little bank accounts around town to do shops. One is a credit union that I need to keep $5 in my savings account to stay a member and other accounts then are free. One is a bank where I needed $200 to open and need to keep $100 minimum balance for the account to be free. One required a direct deposit or a monthly electronic payment. I shipped over a couple of bucks from Paypal every month to keep it free.

Banks where I have not opened accounts have had nice interest on checking and no minimum balance but insist I use their debit card 20 times per month, accept E-statements and do 5 ACH transactions per month. Another one has a $5 charge if your balance goes below $1000.

There is just a huge variety out there of fees and requirements and the best way to find out who offers what is to be paid to go ask about their accounts :-)

TechSavvy Wrote:
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> I just wish Pinnacle would revise their guidelines
> so they don't look like children's picture books.
> There's no need to have full color clip art of
> children or phones to tell us how to do the shops.
> It's just a huge waste of ink.

If you want to print the instructions, save them to Word then delete all the images. It'll take a few minutes but save in ink and paper. Unless they come as a PDF. I haven't done any shops with them under Pro Review or Pinnacle.

i am just finishing up a bank overdraft shop... for them

they paid for the first one $50

i ran into some snags for the second part... waiting for the overdraft to kick in... the bank would not let me overdraft my acount 3 times... finally i paid for gas with it and it let me overdraft... but they did not charge me the fee... so i had to overdraw it again using the internet because i could not do it in store... i got the overdraft fee and emailed what was needed to the first scheduler... they respnded it was what they needed and thanked me... i thought it was over...more than a week later they had not refunded me the fee...i emailed them again with questions... then a second (different schedular) said they needed more information... i sent them the same information as the first... they had some questions... i emailed them their stuff... they said thanks and toke off the overdraft as well as the monthly debit card fees... i went to close my account... the teller said that they had to charge me a 25$ early account closure fee... i left and went home and contacted the scheduler... she said i would have to go back and empty my account ( 43 cents ) then they could close out the account... none of the last two issues were in the guidelines... and i would be paid the rest of the fee on nov 11th ($40)

so lets see

expenses...
1 trip of 40 miles rt to the correct branch-- $8 gas+ $6 time in car

2 trips of 12 miles rt to the nearer office and lets say 1/2 hour time (one not done yet to close my account to take the 43 cents out)--$6 gas+ $5 of time

3 hours filling out forms, setting up a new account, and emailing back and forth (had to spend some time finding the right information)--$30

waiting- 7 weeks of a bit of stress over this... not sure what will happen to my credit... i wasnt too worried...b ut i am going to buy a house in 2 years and i was a bit concerned... -- *no way of putting a monetary amount on it... lets say an hour... --$10

Gain...
$90 ($50+$40)

$90
-
($14+$11+$30+$10) $63 expenses

Total $27 gain...

worth it? no... gonna do it again? no does pinnacle have some hr issues? yes...

I did a few of their check out a bank at a big box store $15. Open an account at the same $50. Deliberately over draft the account $40. Make lots of silly phone calls $4. each. I eventually closed the account. Too bad. The shops were ridiculously easy. Not sure why I closed the account. Pinnacle has always been fair with me and easy to deal with. When I was doing the overdraft shop, they held my hand through the process. Not many MSCs will do that. They have other bank shops but not many.