Banks: nickle and diming

[Lucille]

Great, just what we all need, another fee:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/30/b...bit-card-fee.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2


I may just start using cash. It is probably safer than plastic anyway, my card number was already compromised once this year.

I do not begrudge any business the right to make a profit, but it seems to me that certain businesses such as banking, oil and pharmaceuticals are used to such over the top returns that ordinary reasonable returns are not acceptable to them.

There seems to almost be a cohesive attempt to tax, charge, and apply a bunch of ridiculous rules to ordinary people so that the fat cat club can lounge around in extreme wealth and not have to deal with any backtalk about it. There is definitely a widening gap between the haves and the have nots.

 

[Shadera]

Ugh. I'm getting so tired of being pestered for more money. It's like having a mosquito buzzing in your ear, and you can't manage to smash the annoying little bugger.

Why don't they take some of these guys who are currently spending all their time thinking up ways to tax and fee the American people to death, and put them to work putting the dirt back in the grave our leaders are digging for our economy?

Just leave us alone, for chrissake!

 

[sschind]

Anything that encourages people to use cash is better in my book. That way I don't have to pay for your rewards points that you THINK you are getting from your card provider.

 

[WebSlave]

Simply withdraw any money you have in a bank. Their entire business model is based on having depositors. Without people putting money INTO their bank, then they have nothing to offer "customers".

Personally, I believe using cash as much as possible is wise anyway. You know darn right well that the credit card companies sell marketing trend info and your buying history is an open book to any government agency interested in you.

But may be a good idea to get cash in coin now. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if paper money becomes the same value by weight as toilet paper in the near future. At least with coins the metal itself will be worth something.

The government is pretty much painted into a corner to push us into hyperinflation or have to declare bankruptcy. I really don't see any other choices available to them. Raising taxes with a large proportion of people unemployed and such taxes only forcing more businesses out and more people then out of work too sure won't work now.

 

[Lucille]

I think someone got mad at the immense stupidity of BOA making such an announcement now, when many are unemployed and scraping to make ends meet. Apparently their online banking was down for part of the day, they say that everything is restored but they are lying because I can't get to my account. I think someone got pissed off, hacked them and bopped them.

 

[WebSlave]

Apparently there is a hacker group called "Anonymous" that is real big into this sort of thing. Sounds like their handiwork....

 

[deborahbroadus]

Last time I kept cash, someone broke in while I was sleep and cleaned me out. They didn't even have to wake me to find the money. LOL

 

[WebSlave]

Last time I kept cash, someone broke in while I was sleep and cleaned me out. They didn't even have to wake me to find the money. LOL

Sometimes having the reputation of being the "crazy person with snakes and guns" can be a real benefit.....

 

[radera5]

Sometimes having the reputation of being the "crazy person with snakes and guns" can be a real benefit.....

You beat me to it. With the neighbors I have now, I could keep as much cash as I want at home Lol They are NOT snake lovers, or guns for that matter.

I still stay on my toes though....I don't really trust anyone now a days.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

I do not begrudge any business the right to make a profit,

That would be true if they were a average business fighting for market share in a free society. Rising or falling on their on merits but their not.

They our propped up with enough of our money. We should be charging them a fee for the honor of holding our cash until they pay back what they owe.


They have no right to make a profit until The People get our funds back.

Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve's unprecedented effort to keep the economy from plunging into depression included lending banks and other companies as much as $1.2 trillion of public money. The largest borrower, Morgan Stanley, got as much as $107.3 billion, while Citigroup Inc. took $99.5 billion and Bank of America Corp. $91.4 billion, according to a Bloomberg News compilation of data obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, months of litigation and an act of Congress. Erik Schatzker and Sara Eisen report on Bloomberg Television's "InsideTrack." (Source: Bloomberg)

Remember, the public and congress was told 280 billion.

And no they didn't pay it back no-matter the hype. They shuffled the funds around and paid us with our own funds and dumped the toxic paper on us.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

Oh and this is for the new data mining program the FED is doing.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fed-facebook-20110929,0,6886936.story

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York wants to see what's being said about it on social networks. But critics say it wants to keep tabs on them.
By Walter Hamilton, Los Angeles Times

September 29, 2011
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York wants you to friend it — or at least understand why you won't friend it.

In a move that illustrates its sensitivity to public perception, the Fed bank is seeking bids from companies to help monitor what's being said about it on social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

The bank said in its bid request that it wants to "continuously monitor conversations" and "identify and reach out to key bloggers and influencers."

"The New York Fed is committed to improving its communications and engagement with the public in order to enhance and improve the public's understanding of its activities and the role it plays in supporting the U.S. economy," a Fed spokesman said in a statement. "To do that effectively, the New York Fed is interested in getting a better sense of the relevant concerns and discussions that are taking place in the public domain."

Word of the move has exploded in the blogosphere — and if the Fed were monitoring social media currently it would find, not surprisingly, that the commentary has been less than flattering. Much of it, in fact, is of the Big Brother variety.

"What they really want to do is to gather information on everyone that views the Federal Reserve negatively," wrote the Economic Collapse blog. "It is unclear how they plan to use this information once they have it, but considering how many alternative media sources have been shut down lately, this is obviously a very troubling sign."

In a report to clients, Nicolas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx Group in New York, tried to put the firestorm into context, albeit tongue-in-cheek.

"When leading presidential candidates threaten the head of the nation's central bank with charges of treason, it is safe to say that criticizing the Fed is the status quo position," Colas wrote. "Throw a bucket of deep-friend Oreos at any number of state fairs this fall and the majority of people you'll hit will likely have an unkind word or two about the U.S. central bank and its handling of the banking system over the last decade."

The antipathy among parts of the public is largely the result of frustration over the weak economy and high unemployment rate, Colas says.

"If most Americans have a dim view of the institution (and they clearly do)," Colas wrote, "it is likely because the economy is still stuck in the mud of the most recent financial crisis rather than any immovable prejudice to the institution."

YOU SUCK!

 

[Lucille]

"The bank said in its bid request that it wants to "continuously monitor conversations" and "identify and reach out to key bloggers and influencers."



It seems obvious to me that instead of fixing any problems, banks seem to want to exercise control over the appearance of problems, a much cheaper bandaid for them.

I was reading about bedbugs recently, did you know that bedbugs inject a numbing substance into you so that you don't know that your blood is being sucked? That's what I think the banks want to do.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

I was reading about bedbugs recently, did you know that bedbugs inject a numbing substance into you so that you don't know that your blood is being sucked? That's what I think the banks want to do.

LOL.. Great analogy.

 

[Lucille]

I'm thinking some of the mighty banks are in deep doo doo.
A few days ago, I accidentally over drafted one of my checking accounts by 50 cents. Bank of America was adamant about not waiving the $35 fee. I wondered what had got into them since this is a rare occurrence for me.
I just read a New York Times news alert saying that Moody's just downgraded 10 large banks including BOA which is now rated two notches above junk. Their stock is dropping.
The New York Times says the downgrade might scare off big investors. It is a scary thought that those fees they bleed us with might be what they have to live off of

 

[Dennis Hultman]

I'm thinking some of the mighty banks are in deep doo doo.
A few days ago, I accidentally over drafted one of my checking accounts by 50 cents. Bank of America was adamant about not waiving the $35 fee. I wondered what had got into them since this is a rare occurrence for me.
I just read a New York Times news alert saying that Moody's just downgraded 10 large banks including BOA which is now rated two notches above junk. Their stock is dropping.
The New York Times says the downgrade might scare off big investors. It is a scary thought that those fees they bleed us with might be what they have to live off of

LOL, I set up an account for one of my daughters at a different bank than I use. It came up 3 cents short about a year later (this was last year). They refused to wave the fee. I got off the phone and went and paid the $35, waited until it posted in the account a day later and walked back in and closed the account.

The Big Banks don't care about average accounts and banks in general don't care about customers that don't hold balances or generate enough fees.
Much like this bank that didn't care if I closed this account, I once banked with BofA years ago too. They could care less how their customers are treated.

I had accounts with them for 15 years. I closed several accounts with substantial funds in them based on principle. I didn't like several policies of the bank. Never had an over-drafted item or a fee that was outrageous when I banked with them just utterly hated some polices, customer service, and the way they treated several customers in news stories at the time. I had a unhelpful rude telephone customer service experience as well.

So I made decision to move to a truly local bank. When I walked in and stated I wanted to close those accounts they didn't ask why, they didn't try to keep me as a customer after that many years. They don't care.

It was a great move for me. The local bank has treated me like a valued customer at every interaction.
My bank has since been gobbled up by a little larger regional banking group but still substantially smaller then the big boys. I'm still treated like a valued customer with them. The difference is amazing compared to BofA.

Personally, I just loth them if you couldn't tell....

 

[deborahbroadus]

Did anyone notice a trend of businesses not accepting cash? My daughter relayed an experience of traveling, stopping in a motel/hotel and being told that they don't accept cash.

My first thought was that it was a way for credit card companies to strike back and in this way maintain their death grip on the economy steering wheel?

 

[Lucille]

I've had it with Bank of America. I looked around this morning online at local banks in my small town and found one that I like.
I think one thing that attracted me to the little bank is an online billboard where they were cautioning people to watch out for a particular harmful email, I checked it out at Snopes and it is for real (http://www.snopes.com/fraud/phishing/nacha.asp). In the almost 40 years I was their customer Bank of America never cautioned me or watched out for me.

 

[AbsoluteApril]

support your local credit union.

 

[WebSlave]

Did anyone notice a trend of businesses not accepting cash? My daughter relayed an experience of traveling, stopping in a motel/hotel and being told that they don't accept cash.

My first thought was that it was a way for credit card companies to strike back and in this way maintain their death grip on the economy steering wheel?

I would have just said "Fine.." and turned around and walked out. It says right on those Federal Reserve Notes "THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE".

 

[deborahbroadus]

I would have just said "Fine.." and turned around and walked out. It says right on those Federal Reserve Notes "THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE".

I agree!