Comments

1
Anyone ever wonder why they send you three notices about how if you don't sign up for their new overdraft protection, they'll have to reject checks - but then don't reject the checks and charge you anyway?

If only we had a consumer protection agency and Banks' pct of the GDP was 15 pct instead of 40 pct ...
2
Thanks Lindy! I was wondering who this comedian was when he appeared on Parks & Rec.
3
My boner for Louis CK went even higher this week when on his show, he agreed to kiss a guy on the lips because he didn't have a great reason not too. Sigh.
4
Hey Lindy, you want me to paypal you 12 dollars?
5
CREDIT UNION.
6
Credit Union for real. Bank of America used to pull this shit with me all the time. When my account was less than -$10 or so, they didn't charge an overdraft, but after their "monthly service fee" of $8.something was deducted, it tipped me over the edge and I got overdrafted anyway. I seriously almost punched the banker guy in the face.

BECU has been so kind...
7
@5 credit unions wont accept you if you have terrible credit from being broke and maybe also for the 10000000000000000000000000 times i have overdrafted my account.

(exact number).
8
I was charged a ridiculous amount in over draft fees recently. I called Bank of America, had a nice chat with a guy on the other end of the line and he said "you are a nice person and you caught me on a good day. I am going to give you your money back.". It was a fine day.
9
BECU is hella awesome. And if you have sprint and BECU, sprint will give you 20% off for being a BECU member. Plus that whole 6% interest on accounts up to $500. =D
10
Lindy "Hi, I can't manage money, and so I made some mistakes and spent more than I had. You honored my debts causing me to be in overdraft status, then charged me overdraft fees per the agreement we made when I opened my account. I'm going to mis-characterize this as "stolen" money, because I didn't read the terms and conditions. Can you please ignore our agreement and give me all my stolen money back? I would TOTALLY kick you a few extra bucks for no reason if I wasn't so poor."

bank drone "We'll give you some money back, but not all of it. We did have an agreement, you know."

Lindy "OMG WTF I'm totally writing this up on my blog! Charles Mudede is going to use this as an excuse to rail against neoliberalism or capitalism and post a picture of a white girl's boobs! Boy are you going to be sorry. Why should I have any consequences for my actions?"

11
At my bank (US Bank) you can call them up and ask to be changed to a type of account that doesn't charge you a poverty penalty. I'd think most banks will do that, although of course none of them would want to publicize it.
12
re @11 - P.S. I never overdrew my account, they just charged a fee for having less than $500 or whatever it was.
14
what @10 said.

learn how to read legal agreements and manage your money. you know, be an adult.
13
@12: Was the $500 minimum listed in the terms and conditions?

15
@12: Yeah, my bank charges a monthly fee for not having $1000+ in a checking account. It's not that I didn't know about it, but I do think it's stupid.

Anyway, I'm closing that account next month. The fucking bastards.
16
BofA is notorious for rearranging the order of transactions so that the maximum amount of overdrafts possible results. I am sure almost everyone at one time or another makes a mistake - but the result of over a hundred dollars in fees as opposed to just a basic $35 is something that can throw you in a tailspin if you are tight with money and especially if you have to go a couple weeks till the next paycheck.

They have lost lawsuits based on this. BofA is not the most scrupulous bank...
17
@10, 13: Look, the banks intentionally do everything in their power to screw you out of money. That's not hyperbole. They really do everything they can get away with to take your money without having to actually do anything.

They run debits before credits to make it harder to keep ahead of things. They run charges largest-to-smallest, to maximize the number of charges after you go into the negative. They do these things this way specifically to take your money. They make all the rules, and, in aggregate, they've been playing the game about a hundred thousand times as long as you have. Their only motivation is to take as much money from you as possible, as efficiently as possible, hopefully while blaming you for it.

Now, before you go all read-the-fine-print douchenozzle on me: YES. They are well within their legal rights to do whatever they can to try to screw everyone else out of all of their money without actually doing any work. Similarly, Lindy is well within her legal rights to say that they are fucking inhuman shitpiles for doing so.

And of course, you are well within your legal rights to say that she should just have a computer brain that can instantly cross-reference every event that occurs in her life with every word that has ever passed in front of her eyes, all while running a perfect tally of all her financial assets and obligations, updated in real-time, allowing for any sort of emergency situation with some kind of percentage safety margin as determined by an elaborate collection of actuarial data.

And I am perfectly within my legal rights to recurse down to this level, and call you a fucking asshole. You fucking asshole.
18
@10: Aside from the fact that banks make obscene profits off of a system that the average citizen cannot realistically opt out of, your point about personal responsibility is awesome.

How's that boat tan comin'?
19
The poor get overdraft fees while the rich collect interest. Banks fucking suck.
20
ehow on getting fees back:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4679731_overdraf…
21
@16 is correct. Chase does this too.
22
@21: My family's had to deal with a lot of that bullshit. The bank will conveniently move scheduled payments up so that they hit JUST BEFORE my dad's paycheck.
And yet we aren't allowed to deposit post-dated checks...
23
If you like Louis CK you can check out his show LOUIE for free on HULU:
http://www.hulu.com/louie
24
Louie is playing the Moore Nov. 12th FYI. Not just trying to advertise on SLOG comments but I've seen him twice and is always worth every penny.
25
@17 i may be a 'fucking asshole' but i'm obviously smarter than you if you're getting your money "stolen" by banks.

i've had bank accounts, with numerous institutions, for nearly 23 years and have not ever had to pay a fee. i read and make adult decisions (about the type of account i open, the transactions i make, how much money i have) instead of blaming my problems on some banking cabal. i was also taught basic math and instilled with an ethic of knowing how much money i had and not spending outside of my means.

i also don't debit money that's not mine (if you have $5 in the bank and charge $10 you're taking $5 that's not yours) and then complain that a business has the gall to charge me a fee for allowing it. banks aren't your parents!

but i guess it's easier to blame others than take responsibility for one's own actions. of course, the alternative to banks is to just keep your cash in your mattress.
26
Here's some advice that may help you from an overdraft:

Don't sign up for OD protection unless you use your debit card for car rentals. You know how car rental agencies will run a check to see if you have $300 available, but don't put the charge through until you return the car, and then they charge you only for the price of the rental which is usually way less than three-hundred dollars? The OD protection works in that respect only.

Always use your debit card as a debit and not a charge. Debit card amounts show up as debits right away. Charge amounts disappear for a few days and return when you least expect them. Unless you are VERY good and VERY conscientious with your bookkeeping, don't use your debit as a credit card.

Go to the ATM to get cash, and use the cash for your transactions.

Keep $50 in a savings tied to your checking for unexpected debits. The bank will still charge a transfer fee, but it is still much less than an overdraft fee.

The credit union idea sounds like a plan - especially now that banks are looking for ways to replace lost potential profits after the financial overhaul. Banks have recently had a brief spell of being "nice" to their customers - not because it's the right thing to do, but because of pending legislation in DC restricting their heretofore unrestricted game. They didn't want to do more to piss off the populace. Now that the legislation has passed, expect them to be dicks again.

If you don't make very much money and you aren't persnickety about your records (just one penny over will cause an overdraft), then maybe a checking account isn't for you. Just sayin'.

Don't overdraft! You know, there was a time that the road to wealth involved inventing something useful that people were willing to buy. Now, it seems the road to wealth involves screwing a lot of poor people. I hate, hate, hate poor people being taken advantage of by the ultra rich, and short of something similar to the French Revolution, the only answer I see is to do everything possible not to be their tool, their road to even greater wealth.
27
Oh...another thing. Stay away from automatic withdrawals from creditors such as the phone company, the cable copany, and the utilities. DANGER!!! DANGER!!!
28
Or ... just use a Credit Union.

Credit Unions ftw!
29
@10, 25, snobby haters

From her previous post, it looks like Lindy just got a new apartment / moved. Equals: paying a new deposit, being between the return of deposit from the last place, first and lasts month's rent, etc.. Isn't there a dog, too? Pet deposit.

This type of transition is when this kind of mistake has happened to me (and most other people I know). Then I buy a fucking slurpee and forget about the surcharge or the Blockbuster movie is late or something and LOL $1 over and $35 charged.

PS what part of satire don't you understand?
30
Ally Bank.

http://ally.com

Sure, it's GMAC, but having no fees (including ATM fees) has been working quite well for me.
31
@25:

Considering the dismal interest rates banks currently offer on straight savings accounts and CD's, your money is probably worth just as much stuffed into the mattress as it is with them.

Oh, and what @17 said...
32
@25: Ah, yes, because I don't like banks, I must be stupid. After all, the only reason I would hate them for being inhuman shitfucks is if I'm losing money to them. It's impossible to object to their practices just on principle.

No, I'm sure that since you've been able to maintain a sufficient level of income over the course of your life to keep from running afoul of the predatory practices banks engage in, it's clearly possible for any person ever to do so regardless of income or other circumstances.

Thank you for showing me the error of my ways. Now I too love banks and hate poor people.
33
www.becu.org

Stop bitching and switch.
34
Thanks to Ron for the tip on Louis CK coming to the Moore - I just got my tickets!

And yeah, BECU.
35
zeebleoop @25 - admitting that you're a fucking asshole was unnecessary, as the consensus on that fact was already in. Could I also add condescending, self-righteous prick?
36
I hate to say this but save save save and plan plan plan. I automatically deposit 25% of my take home into a money market/savings account. The rest of it goes towards bills, living, and what not. I might think about moving in the next few months. So I'm starting to already plan for that and siphon some of my paycheck into a different savings account for moving expenses. My point is that the best way to fuck the banks over is to be forward thinkers. Banks make most of their money off people that are present-thinkers and just react to what's happening now than what'll happen in the future. In my early 20s I used to get dinged with overdraft fees because I wasn't making that much and I just wanted to try to enjoy my life. I wasn't that diligent about paying bills and got dinged on that as well on my credit record. Basically, I wanted to keep up with the young adult Jones. Now I've gotten older, gotten higher paying jobs, and started taking more responsibility of my finances. I do know that if I was making 15K more at 23 than what I was making then, I probably wouldn't have gotten so behind in my finances. Since then, my finances have become easily manageable and my credit score reflects it.
37
While a money market account makes good short term planning, you really should be buying up stocks when they're below a P/E of 15. Get ones with high dividend yields.

But I agree about the 25 pct rate. Even while putting my son thru college (ouch) I put aside 22 pct of my pay in retirement (stock) plans as well as pay off my mortgage (which I got in '99 so before the bubble sucks to be Naughties ...).

Take the money you give to the Invisible Man in the Sky and put that into your retirement plans - you can use that for medical emergencies or buying a first house or some college expenses if need be.
38
for everyone moralizing at lindy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protest…
39
I don't understand why poor peeps don't check their balance often, like 4 times a week. Back when I had BoA I think I was able to do it via: automated phone robots, live person during business hrs, ATM, mobile and regular Internet. I was able to transfer funds via auto-robots too. Never had a lot of $$ but my balance was never troublesome.

Everything was fine and dandy when all my stuff was automated. Then jobs changed and I had to deposit in person. The incompetence overflowed and I changed to BECU and learned of the wonderful world of interest rates
40
@32 & @35 ftw.

Credit unions are the only way to go. Fuck banks.
41
I have this awesome receipt from the last time I withdrew money from a BofA ATM. It said my balance was $190.00, so I withdrew $100.00. The receipt shows a balance after the withdrawal of $90.00.

A few days later, I reviewed my transaction records, and they said that my balance as of the time of the withdrawal was about $40.00, due to a transaction which was not reflected in the balance reported to me by the BofA ATM. As a result of my $100.00 withdrawal, I went into overdraft by $60.00.

So I left BofA for a local credit union. And you know what? When I withdraw money at an ATM, the balance reported by the ATM is my actual balance, not some totally-inaccurate number reported by the bank as a way to trick me into thinking I have more money than I actually do. And I haven't had a single overdraft fee since.

So, yeah, free checking is a racket, as those in the industry candidly admit.
42
re: 41

Is this possible in Canada? Does anyone know? All these stories- I have never experienced this up here. Are we just better protected or something, because this seems ridiculous.
43
I HEART BECU! While i am at it let me post a bad word about Key Bank. BEWFERDTEEFUCKOV!
44
@42 - http://overdraft.ca/how-can-i-convince-m…

they do happen in Canada.
45
FWIW, I was #10 and #12 -- but Slog Comments showed my first comment as #11 when I went to add my P.S. (sounds like the kind of thing Bank of A. would do to squeeze out an extra fee). So my comment in #12 was aimed at myself (#11 or so I thought), not the actual #11.

Anyway, @14 - yes it was, I just didn't start out that poor, so it only had a theoretical meaning for me when I opened the account. (AND they didn't tell me about the free checking with no minimum balance at first, because I would totally have gone for that. Duh.) Then a few years later it started biting me in the ass and continued to until I had the bright idea of asking for a change.

As long as I'm typing, I'll offer a story to back up what @17 said:

Recently I had to change account types again to get the best interest rate for a home equity line of credit, and when I asked "what is going to change from the kind of account I have now?" they did NOT mention the automatic $6 monthly fee. (It was somewhere in the 5,000 pages of fine print, though, so it was more like a failure to tell the full truth rather than a lie. I accept responsibility for not catching it.) Anyway, when I saw the fee I called and asked about it, & they said "well, that kind of account has a $6 monthly fee." So I asked if I could be switched to an account without such a fee, and they said yes. The next month I got another $6 fee, and had to call AGAIN to get them to stop for real. They said "oops, sorry - heh heh" and did it. If I hadn't noticed & hadn't called them on it, I'd probably still be paying that fee.

So yeah. They'll do that kind of thing.
46
@41 Canada has tighter banking regulations.

But credit unions are a good option there too.
47
I'm amazed that people can be defending banks here. There is no such thing as a decline anymore, you all realize that, right? The bank will cover a charge in every situation except for the account being entirely closed, just so they can slam you with fees after the fact.

Or so I thought, until my wife was at one last appointment before our wedding, and used the wrong card. The bank honored the charge (on a closed account which supposedly had no money in it), then hit us with overdraft fees and left the account was in the negative. Turns out the bank manager that closed our account didn't actually do it, and left an arbitrary $30 in the account. We had to go back to the bank to actually close it, too; they wouldn't do it over the phone when we called on it. All of this just happened about 6 weeks ago.
48
@10 You are a cocksore who has obviously never had to live paycheck to paycheck. Ever been on unemployment? Ever had that UI check clear every week the same day, until it suddenly it didn't but you had to make a purchase or pay a bill that day? But yeah, it's our fault.
49
@39:
We do check our balances frequently. Multiple times a day.

Not that it matters. The balances the banks report to us at ATM's and tellers are virtually useless. All the fine print says that it's totally ok for them to report inaccurate estimates.

Keeping your own register is the only way to actually know your balance. And even then, it'll differ quite a bit from what the bank has your balance as. Your personal accounting will say you have money, the ATM will say you have money... 2 weeks later you'll get an overdraft notice in the mail.

When you get the statement, everything's out of order and the balance hits highs and lows far different from what you calculated.

People defending the banks have never tried to get their last $5 out of an active account without overdrafting.
50
@48, @17, @10 - I have had BofA for 15 years. Up until two years ago, they held every single penny that I have ever earned. In that time, I have paid less than $100 in fees. In one case the charge was definitely because they did debits before credits, and in one case it was because I had a large (for me) check that I went into a bank and deposited with a human instead of using a machine. These fees are not "fair." They are, however, low, and infrequent. Since, in 15 years (combined) they have charged me less than what I will pay for my phone THIS MONTH, I will give it a pass. They keep my money safe and warm, and when I spent my account down to 22 cents, dammit they HELD my 22 cents! Protected it, loved it, until I deposited more. When a company tried to charge me for a subscription that I did not sign up for, BofA laid the smack down, charged them with fraud, and got my money back. And I paid NOTHING for that service. Keeping my money safe is one of those services (like electricity) that I would pay three times as much for, and it would be worth every penny.
51
I switched to a credit union after the following series of events:

My fiance and I were banking at Bank of America in 2001. We had separate accounts, we both just happened to bank at the same bank when we met.

The week after we were married, we go to our local BoA branch and ask if we can open a joint checking account and transfer all funds from both accounts into the shared account. This seems reasonable and even today I'm fairly sure it can be done, but for some reason the teller insisted it couldn't be done because I hadn't changed my driver's license yet. My ID still had my maiden name on it, so even though we showed the teller the marriage certificate and a bunch of other papers proving we were a married couple living together, he said no can do. My last name was different and that's not allowed.

In frustration, my husband and I withdrew all our funds, shutting down the separate accounts, and went to the nearest bank -- U.S. Bank. There, we opened our first joint checking account.

Fast-forward to 2005. I have a horrible habit of liking it when human beings provide customer service, especially when the automatic teller has a grating, robotic voice that doesn't help at all. So I call U.S. Bank one day and speak to a customer service rep in order to find out how much is in our bank account. Customer service rep tells me $13.

I convey this information to my husband when he gets home. He asks, "Are you sure?"

At this point in time, we did not have online banking for our account, because of a small monthly fee charged for said service. So I call up the teller again, just to make super-sure.

We are now negative $33. Wait, what? How did this happen? I demand explanation!

Well, apparently when I called the teller and requested my balance the first time, she told me the balance before she deducted the talking-to-a-human fee ($8). So when I originally picked up the phone, I had $13 in the account. By the time I hung up, I had $5. Then I called back to double check my fickle memory, and was charged another $8, bringing my balance to -$3. And because I was overdrafted, I was charged the $30 overdraft charge.

Yes. I went from $13 to negative $33 because I called my bank.

So we switched to ACU. Free online banking, I can talk to tellers anytime about anything without being charged, and even the overdraft fees are more reasonable.
52
So I dont know if you all have Bank of the West in Seattle but its been pretty good to me. Super friendly, not at all bitchy about the fact that I frequently run it down to 3 dollars. I've gotten a couple over draft fees, all of which were my fault entirely, not like when I was with BoA...
53
aahhh lindy just when i think you lost me you bring me back in and i love you
54
Banks are in business to make money for their shareholders. Not their customers. The way they make money for their shareholders is to, whenever they can possibly do so, screw it out of their customers. This is perfectly legal. It is also perfectly legal, as a customer, to choose instead to become a shareholder of a financial institution and have that institution work to make money for you. Ergo, the credit unions.

The banks lost the legal battle (which they waged ferociously for decades) to limit credit union memberships to only very small and select groups. Most credit unions are now open to practically anyone who walks in the door. BECU, Sound Credit Union, Washington State Employees Credit Union - there are dozens, and any single one of them is better than all the banks put together.

And I say that as someone who more or less cut her teeth in a bank. My mother, my mother's girlfriend, both my sisters, and practically everyone we knew worked in banks. Anyone who's spent their life working in a bank will tell you (unless they are trying to sell you something) that banks are in business to fuck you as much as they possibly can get away with so their shareholders get more dividends.
55
@54 - actually, more of the profits go to the execs than to we paltry shareholders.

It's time to Trust Bust the Too Big To Fail Banks.

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.