Banking, checking, debit card, fees, fees, fees....

[fishrdan]

Just an FYI, contact your bank and see if they are going to start charging fees for your accounts.

My wife's found out, through the grape vine, that our bank was going to start charging a $3/month fee for using the debit card at stores. We didn't receive anything in the mail saying this fee was going to happen, but when she contacted the bank, sure enough, there is going to be a $3/month fee. While talking to the banker she also found out that they were going to start charging a $15/month fee for the checking account we have had for 15 years.... To avoid the $15/month fee we have to switch our accounts around, link mortgage, auto savings deposit, etc. UGH!

IF, we (she) had not been proactive on this we would have seen new fees on our monthly statement......

 

[roscoe]

Re: Banking, checking, debit card, fees, fees, fees....

Thats why I have avoided banks for 24 years.
Buyouts, rules changes, fees fees fees.

What the heck is a linked mortgage?

And any auto savings deposit is gonna cause problems for me in January and February.

My credit union charges no fees as long as I keep $100 in a savings account of some type.

They allow me to keep several checking accounts open, with no fees, even if there is no activity in them for months.
They have a no fee atm in the parking lot, and there is another a mile down the road.

I rarely ever use the atm/debit card except to pull out cash if I can't make it to the CU during business hours.

No transaction fees as long as you don't enter the pin number -- so far.

I generally don't use my debit card, because of the vulnerabilities they have. I prefer to use a credit card incase troubles arise.

Sure their loan rates are slightly higher, but I don't have any.


They don't know that my grandfather actually started the credit union back in 1951.
He managed the Farmers union Co-op, and would personally sign for farmers that needed, for example, a new tire for their tractor so they could harvest their crops and feed the animals. After getting stuck with the farmers' bills several times, he looked for a way to help the farmers in need, but not be held personally responsible. But I digress.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Banking, checking, debit card, fees, fees, fees....

use a credit union. You and they will both be happy!

ditto!!!!

 

[12vMan]

Re: Banking, checking, debit card, fees, fees, fees....

My bank is no fees with a minimum balance for the biz, and free personal with a biz acct., so it works out perfectly.

One thing they did recently was cancel the rewards points on my biz acct. credit card. I could rack up an extra $1000/mo in point value that was redeemable in cash!

 

[Summer Fun]

Re: Banking, checking, debit card, fees, fees, fees....

My parents have a LOT of money in the small bank that we use.

And they don't dare to add any bullcrap fee's on them or me.

 

[mscher]

Re: Banking, checking, debit card, fees, fees, fees....

I have to chuckle when "free checking" is considered an American birthright.

Every bank and many credit Unions, always charged monthly checking account fees (somtimes also for number of checks), up through the mid-1980's, when the S&L crisis shook up the competition for banking customers.

If I remember right, most free checking was started by small, local banks, many of which are long-gone.

If banks don't make money off ATM card purchases, nearly everyone has little or no money, in checking/savings accounts and loans are only paying low interest (except or credit cards), other than overdraft/bounced check and out-of-netowrk ATM fees, where do banks now make money?

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Banking, checking, debit card, fees, fees, fees....

I have USAA, I don't have these problems.

 

[dwparker99]

Re: Banking, checking, debit card, fees, fees, fees....

It is all about our government taking the risk out of life for the uneducated consumer. To reference 12vMan above, what is wrong with a credit card company coming up with a program that pays him 5% cash back on his biz purchases for restaurants, home improvement stores, and gas with 1% cash back on all other purchases. Since he pays his balance off monthly and is never late making a payment, he gets no fees and receives $1000 cash back each month. At the same time they provide me with a no frills card that has a decent interest rate as long as I pay on time. I don?t pay on time so they charge me fees and raise my interest rate to the penalty rate. They use these fees and extra income from the penalty rate to fund reward programs to the good educated consumer like 12vMan. Our government steps in and says that is not fair and writes legislation that limits the amount that the credit card company can charge in penalty fees and interest rate. Who does this help? No one. It encourages my bad financial behavior and removes the incentive for 12vMan to be a good educated consumer.

Where will it end? I just recently found out that my Ga. Senator Johnny Isakson has cosponsored legislation with Ca. Senator Barbara Boxer to use tax payer money to bail out homeowners that are underwater in their loan. So those risk takers that bought a $300,000 home expecting to roll it over in a few years to make big bucks because housing prices were going up 6-8% per year, they will no longer bear that risk. We the tax payer will now assume that risk. I sometimes feel our government is totally out of control with no hope for a fix. I think I?ll retire and go fishing.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Banking, checking, debit card, fees, fees, fees....

I tried to keep this thread open and free of politics but it's just not possible. Closed.