Cheating and Banking

I'm breaking my own self-imposed rule and posting twice in one day.

I opened a checking account with San Diego County Credit Union today, in what is the first step in breaking away from Washington Mutual/Chase. I met with a friend who works at SDCCU and she helped get me all set up, then talked with a financial representative (is that what they're called now?) who set me up with a new account. Unfortunately, I had to go to Chase to withdraw enough money to actually open the account. I drove down the street, withdrew $80 from the ATM (not ATM Machine, idiots), and officially opened a new checking account with a credit union. I plan on closing out my Chase account later this week.

I feel like I cheated on my bank.

I feel like a guy who's not happy in his relationship, but they've been together forever, so he has to make a careful decision. His girlfriend isn't doing so well, but since she got help 6 months ago it's been alright. But lately she's started to go down hill again, and he's looking for a way out. Then he meets a new girl, who has her shit together and is going places. He gets together with the new girl (read it as you will) and promises he'll break up with the girlfriend the next day. He dreads it because it's a whole ordeal of actually going to her place and talking with her, answering silly questions like "why?" and leaving with her being disappointed at having lost another one. But when he walks out the door and sees his new lady just down the street his heart is happy and he moves on with his life, leaving poor ex-girlfriend behind to make the same poor decisions that landed her in the arms of Chase in the first place.

Oops. Took the metaphor a bit far.

But I'm OK with the cheating. WaMu/Chase hasn't been very nice, especially lately, and since the credit union is run by the people I should be in better hands. I did get denied a loan and a credit card (they pretty much laughed at me... "she makes how much?!?") but I went home and spent an hour calculating my finances and setting up a plan. It's not as big a debt as it looks, but it is going to take a lot of sacrifice and work (assuming I can work... next week I'm scheduled only 2 days) to get it down by fall.

Which just makes me pissed that there's $20k out there with my name on it that will probably be spent by someone other than me so long as my "pride" keeps it out of my hands. Sigh. I wish I didn't need it.