Breached Walls

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BANKS by John A. Cook and Robert Wool '55 Bantam Books, 1983 256 pp., $13.95, cloth

{This book seemed to me to call for two kinds ofattention a reaction from a consumer, and acritique from a banker. Co-authors meet coreviewers. Ed.]

Hallelujah! The walls have been breached! An insider has escaped the mighty banking fortress of America and survived to tell us how to wrap those dreaded bankers around our little fingers!

Within reason, of course. This easy-toread book will do nothing to alter the basic principle of banking they have the money, we don't but it will go a long way toward helping outsiders understand how that and other principles work and how to get the services needed from banking institutions. Those of us who have to check our balances every time we write a check for $28.95 will learn how to start piling up brownie points with banks. Those of us who wonder whether treasury bills or certificates of deposit make more sense for that spare hundred grand will find thoughts on where to put that money, and why.

John A. Cook left the Bank of New York as a vice president in 1981 to write this book, having picked up 17 years of experience in consumer banking, trust management, and development of banking services. Robert Wool is co-author of All You Need to Know about the IRS. They well understand the fears most people have concerning banks when it comes to applying for loans. They tell you exactly what is happening on the banker's side of the desk while you are trembling on your side, and their demystification of the banking process should slow that trembling considerably.

The criteria used for deciding loans are explained in detail, with sample forms, and suggestions for combating possible trouble spots are given. If you've had credit problems, they suggest, don't try to hide them; the bank will most certainly find out. Instead, be honest. Be prepared to review and document your side of the story. Describe how you have mended your ways and why your fortune could not be rosier. Those who are self-employed should find the tips on obtaining loans especially useful.

Cook and Wool include a variety of thoughts on the importance of making yourself known as more than a number to your banker. They present ways, apart from bouncing checks, for even the humblest of customers to acquire a distinction that could prove helpful down the road. Such a simple device as calling for an appointment rather than walking in cold will help you stand out and could make all the difference when you come looking for special services.

Particularly interesting is the discussion, often humorous, of life in the banking profession. Making martinis for rich widows and cleaning up after incontinent gentlemen are just some of the pleasures and problems involved. Bankers, it turns out, are every bit as worried about loans as you are: their career can depend on both the volume and quantity of loans they secure. "Cover your rear" is no idle slogan in this world.

Warts are not ignored. The problems of discrimination against women, blacks Jews, and other non-WASPs are presented fully and frankly. The authors claim it is virtually impossible for Jews to rise to the top in a banking career. Laws prohibiting discrimination are included, but if you don't get a loan and you suspect discrimination, they caution against suing a bank except as a last resort. Try the "friendly approach" first and second, and third.

If you read All You Need to Know aboutBanks, you will never again fear banks. You may worry about them now and again, but this book will help you handle those worries in a rational, productive fashion. Hallelujah!

Terence R. Parkinson '71

All in all, a book worth reading, particularly for those consumers whose contacts with banks have been somewhat infrequent or limited to routine transactions. The book comes alive with Chapter 4 and its advice for how best to approach the bank so that it will recognize you and give you a higher level of service. Then the reader is carefully and intelligently walked through a variety of deposit and loan offerings which most banks provide, and fairly good direction is provided on the pluses and minuses of each product offering. A full chapter is devoted to explaining "saving" as opposed to "investing," an important subject that does not receive much attention in the financial press. Significant time is spent on the consumer legislation front so that the reader comes away with a fairly good grasp of what to do if things go wrong how to cure a problem quickly. Included here is a good explanation of the Truth in Lending Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, among others.

I found only one negative in the book. The early and concluding chapters attempt to deal with the banker's mind set as it relates to customers and the general public. In this area the writers suggest that the banking industry is still controlled by WASPs and WASP attitudes, and that anti-Semitism, anti-Hispanic, and antietc. are still widespread. Your reviewer sees the situation quite differently on these counts: all one can assume is that either the Bank of New York changed much more slowly than other banks over the past three decades or that a little spice and exaggeration never hurts, particularly at the beginning of a book written for popular consumption.

Terry Parkinson works for the News in Derry,New Hampshire, contributing, among otherwritings, a regular column of commentary onthe foibles of small-town life. Ben Bowden is anexecutive vice president of the First NationalBank of Boston, specializing in the retail side ofits activities.