With fewer and fewer options, Americans may begin to wonder: is there something better than a bank? It may sound foolhardy, but Americans just might get tired of having money taken from them while they sleep despite the legal provisions which may exist to allow the banks to charge these fees. They seem to have gotten a taste for our money which goes beyond the reasonable. Since there was a time on open seas when we did not tolerate those infamous ones who plundered our stores and treasure, it may be time to ask ourselves: why are we putting up with it now?
A Shocking Change at the Bank
My day had started like any other for me, seeing what work I could get and who I could put on my client list. First, I took a moment to examine my checking account at my bank and noticed a $10 “service fee.” Thinking it was perhaps an ATM fee banks sometimes charge for using one outside their scope, I called customer service because no further explanation of the fee had been indicated. What they ended up telling me was quite shocking and I wasn't prepared for it. I had banked there for years and this was a whole new ball game.
The Options I Was Presented by the Bank
They told me that starting recently the bank would be charging me $10 monthly every month my account was under $1500 or that I did not make a direct deposit of $500 or more. Now at that particular moment my account was under the minimum. In this economy we have to watch to the nearest dollar so this was a frustrating surprise especially since the bank did not even provide me the courtesy of a mailed indicator of the change and because direct deposit doesn't work for me in regular business. I believe this is an indicator that things are getting worse for the middle class and worse still for the lower classes in this country, with the banks compounding the financial difficulties Americans face without compounding their interest.
The Banks Are Getting Worse all the Time
After doing a little research I found that more than half the banks in the country charge these fees. Predictions are that more and more of them are going to do so and finding one that doesn’t is going to be hard. For example, my bank had no such fees for seven years! Suddenly, all that has changed. Reviewing recent developments in our “friendly” banking institutions showed that these fees are being justified by them as necessary due to new government regulatory issues. I fail to see why banks think this is reasonable. Some of them have received multi-billion-dollar bailouts so if they are laying blame on the same government which is helping them and then charging fees on the accounts of those who are banking with them, I guess they figure it is a good idea to bite the hand that feeds them and then bite the legs they are standing on while they are at it, the Americans who trust them with their money. And this is just the beginning which beckons the frightening question about banks: Will there be no end?
Billionaire Philanthropy: Banks Could Learn a Lesson From Money-Makers Who Care
We are fortunate to have some very rich individuals in this country who understand the idea of giving back to their community. All indicators are that these people have learned enough about money and economy to know to be generous with it and that the world is a tough place, doubtlessly because they have experienced tough times themselves. For example, Warren Buffet seems to be busy inspiring philanthropy among those in similar financial positions. Bill Gates is actively involved in getting the rich to give as well. And while less known than these moguls, Ernesto Bertarelli is an entrepreneur billionaire philanthropist backing a great cause. His focus? Saving our oceans, a precious resource for our planet and one nowhere near fully explored and utilized.
The banks could take a lesson from any one of these men and from many others doing similar work. Now, no one expects banks to give handouts, but it would be nice if they didn't put their hands into our pockets. Squeezing another merciless dollar out of the non-rich and justifying it as “necessary” just insults our intelligence while injuring our wallets.
Private Banking: Any Options?
With all this happening on a regular basis, I find myself wondering about a time long ago before banks, or at least back to my childhood. Can you believe there was once a time where you could get 5¼% interest on an account? Now you are lucky to get even 2% with the options available and a great number of accounts do not bear interest at all, and yet even these charge monthly fees without growing your money! I can take the one but both is just too much.
Maybe we should go back to that earlier time before banks existed. Maybe there is a way to do “private banking.” There’s a concept that might straighten the banks out who seem to have forgotten that they work for us, not the other way around. That’s our money they are using, after all, and frankly our stores and treasure belong to us on these choppy financial seas. “Private Banking,” and holding onto what’s ours rather than going to a bank and losing it is starting to sound better and better. It’s funny when you think about it: Remember when you would put your money in a bank because that was the safest place for it? I guess that might be too long ago for any of us to remember.
James Parducci - My writing journey has taken me down different roads. I have had science fiction accepted for publication and had a piece performed ...
Join the Conversation