[josh2600]

Once upon a time my wife went to close a bank account in Italy.

She went to the post office which is also a bank in Rome. She asked to closed her account. She was told that she needed to go to the branch where she opened her account in Florence.

We rented a car and drove to Florence.

When we arrived at the bank in Florence, the teller informed us that we would have to come back “domani” which is Italian for tomorrow because the only person who could help us was the banker who had originally opened the account for my wife when she was a student many moons ago.

We came back the next day and met the banker who immediately recognized my wife including recanting that she was an artist. He informed her that he could not close her account, she would have to speak to the Director of the bank.

We waited in line for the director of the bank but we were told it was too close to the end of the day and the bank was out of money so we’d have to come back… Domani.

Domani arrived and my wife again waited. The Director willfully ignored her for 2 hours and it wasn’t until my wife began to cry that the Director finally called her over and allowed her to close her account.

This for €2500. That was a balance that meant a lot to us at the time.

I will never forget banking in Italy.

[dml2135]

This is everything in Italy, not just banking. I remember studying abroad there, it took us a week and a half of “domani” to get the wifi password for the dorm!

[epolanski]

I'm Italian and both the previous story as well as your comment trigger me.

1) You could've asked the password to literally anybody in the dorm.

2) Unless this was geological ages ago, by law, all you need to close a bank account is a certified email (or PEC) or a certified letter (you go to the post office with a document and a simple form that specifies where you want your stuff transferred) you don't need to go in person anywhere at all.

[mierz00]

I have a similar story in France. Closing an account with Caisse d’Epargne was nothing short of pure torture.

Luckily, I didn’t actually have to go in, but the process took me nearly 6 months of back and forth, multiple phone calls, multiple hand written letters. Yes, France loves hand written letters, no you cannot type it.

Every now and then I think it would be nice to return and live in France, but the thought of having to deal with French administration has vaccinated me for life.

[DownGoat]

It's so easy in Norway. When you start a new relationship with another bank, they just offer to move all your money and automatic bill payments from the other bank to your new bank. So the new bank handles everything

[benhurmarcel]

Sounds like your experience was some time ago. Banking with “traditional” banks is still slow and bureaucratic, but not to that point. And online banks let you do everything online quickly.