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Do you recall the new regulations being put into place by the government to ensure that Big Banks don’t screw up again and cause yet another crash? It turns out those regulations have an impact on a Bank’s bottom line – mostly because the bank can’t steal from it’s customers any more. Don’t you worry about Big Banks! They have figured it all out – now there will be no such thing as free checking!
I find this amusing and tragic due to several things we here at Blinkinblogs discuss on a regular basis:
- When we were younger savings accounts got you like 3-5% interest. Now banks brag about giving you .25% interest on your money.
- Checking was free.
- If you went to the bank to withdraw your money – you could actually get it! Now you have to request your money and the bank can actually tell you no!
- When you wanted to close your account the process took about 10 minutes. Now you may not be able to close your account at all. (My father tried to close his Citibank account and they wouldn’t let him “make that mistake”. They told him he’d have to sue them first!)
- Banks used to at least pretend that they were grateful for you allowing them to use your money – now they just rip you off and dare you to sue them.
- Banks have fees for fees for fees. (My Niece was charged $490 in overdraft fees for going 11 cents overdraft. Best part? Had the bank actually honored her deposit she wouldn’t have been overdraft to begin with).
- There was no such thing as “protecting” yourself by linking your credit card to your bank account to cover for overdraft. Here is the thing – if you do this, and you EVER overdraft – the bank considers this charge as a cash advance on your credit card and will make it the last thing on the card you can pay off – btw that is the highest interest rate on your card. Didn’t know that your Credit Card had multiple interest rates? You should probably know your cards better.
- There used to be one interest rate for anything – now there are several for everything. Checking accounts will have an interest rate (if they do at all) for one level of cash held in the account and a different rate for a different level. Same account EXACTLY but several interest rates.
My suggestion? Do something else with your cash that put it in a bank that way when you need it you may actually have access to it.
the remedy… i’m not sure. bank of america has a recurring entry in my calendar to call their local office and berate the manager for whatever bullshit they decided to do to my accounts the week prior. i hate them. i enjoy hating them. they know me. they know that i hate them. i enjoy knowing that they know i hate them.
i can say since we shifted the majority of our banking to usaa (military) and a community savings bank… the quality of customer service has increased substantially.
I heard that Big Banks have been trying to do away with Credit Unions for a while now for that very reason.
1. Yep – sad.
2. “Free” checking – urban myth, especially with Big Banks.
3. Has that ever happened – EVER?
4. I just closed a Chase account and it took five minutes and they were very helpful – and I hate Chase.
5. They rip you off because they make the rules, as cheesy as they are, and you don’t jump through hoops to follow them.
6. Again, they have rules – follow their strict rules. If you don’t know the rules or they changed them for the sixth time in a month, ask them to explain the rules.
7. AMEN – know your cards.
8. There has always been different rates for the amount of money you “invest” in any account.
Wholeheartedly agree with your last point – join the Move Your Money movement: http://moveyourmoney.info/
3. Yes. In fact in California several banks told their customers anything over 10k balance would be held until they felt the funds were releasable – and that isn’t cash. They actually told me father that, a man who at the time had no intent on withdrawing his money.
4. Again – that happened to my father with the San Marcos California branch. He had to look at legal action with them for them to relinquish the account. Do a quick search around the net for banking lawsuits and complains. US Bank, last time I checked, had broken the 100k suit floor.
5,6,7 – There is a way that your account is managed by a bank – I know this because I know developers who worked on the banking software. Your deposits and withdraws are not ordered by the date you did them, but rather by impact to the account that suits the bank. To your point DM the bank does have this clause buried in their text but it does server to put you in a position to suddenly be overdraft when technically you would not be if said bank executed your deposit when you submitted it. Their text usually says something about a grace period combined with transactions being applied how they see fit.
You love the use of the word always – you may want to look up what that means.
Just because these things haven’t happened to you doesn’t mean they didn’t happen. Your comments on here have had this trend where if it didn’t happen to you directly then clearly it must be impossible. You are easily the luckiest person I have ever encountered. Perhaps you should shoot for a career representing the tobacco industry, I hear they may need the assistance of a quality drum beater soon.
3. So they did they or didn’t they release the funds? Did they point to guidelines they have about releasing a certain amount of funds? Or did they just twirl their mustaches and say “No money for YOU!!”?
4. He had to “look at legal action”? I’m confused by this statement – but of course I’m easily confused.
5, 6, 7. So why didn’t you present this in the first place? And am I right or not about the obscure guidelines?
Wow you sure do get defensive when people question your broad statements about how everyone is out to get you. You have to be the thinnest-skin blogger I’ve ever come across. Maybe you and your family are the unluckiest people alive? Perhaps you should shoot for a career in Martyrdom.
Yes, clearly I am thin skinned. That said no where in my little blog write up did I say anything happened to me. When challenged I respond. Human nature. To make you more comfortable about your challenges in the future I won’t respond – that way you can feel free to question every single word I use without possibility of me seeming to be slighted in any fashion.
Did you know that people in India do get attacked and killed by tigers? Since it never happened to you I would think you believe that is just not possible.
There’s a great article in the April 5, 2010 issue of Newsweek. In it, Ramin Setoodeh points out that you all are the biggest pack of douchebags ever, and that comparison includes actual packs of douchebags.
ZAMan – can you link me to that article? I would love to read how the conclusion is drawn that I am in fact a douche bag.
Keep the comments coming!
Yeah, sure. It’s:
http://www.newsweek.com/biggest-douchebag-hey-its-you-guys.html
It’s a short read. Evidently, the research was uncontested by the whole world.
Ahh Newsweek, I think as MSM goes they do great work. Fantastic find ZAMan!
Wow, that was undeserved sarcasm to the nth degree. Sarcasm expertly stacked that high deserves less a response and more of a disappointed eye-roll. Bravo in whittling a heated but valid discussion down to a dull nub.
The phrase “dull nub” figures prominently in the Newsweek article.