Identity Crisis, Book I: Banking

In 1994, my new bride and I opened a checking account at Central Jersey Bank. A pretty nice, pretty stable, local bank. All of a sudden, signs go up at our local branch: "NATIONAL WESTMINSTER BANK." Okay, we have to change our checks and stuff. A few years later, more implosion as our bank now becomes Fleet Bank.

With the acquisition of Fleet by Bank Of America (and the latter's dumping of the Fleet name), we now have a FOURTH name for our bank! No wonder our money is confused! It doesn't know who to call home.

What else goes through these kind of name changes almost at the drop of a hat? Our local cable in Toms River started out as Clear Channel Cable, then Adelphia Cable, then it was acquired by the much more stable Comcast (which was my employer for seven and a half years, so I can't speak too ill of them... except my modem is a piece of crap and I need to get a new one). I'm sure there are other industries that go through these kind of striations, but with the Federal Reserve's rule that banks can hold no more than 10% of deposits nationwide, don't look for Bank Of America to be swallowed up by anyone bigger. Thank goodness.