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A simple strategy to gain some peace of mind, and at least feel like you are sticking it to the banks.
I like practice, not theory.
Do you feel the same way? Are you concerned about bank runs, or just simply hate today's banks? Want to practice disintermediation, but still need to make purchases online and pay regular bills? Here is a simple strategy to gain some peace of mind, and at least feel like you are sticking it to the banks, in eight easy steps.
- Do not own CDs, nor use a checking or savings account.
- Do ask your employer if they will deduct and pay regular bills such as a mortgage.
- Do have a credit card, preferably issued by the same bank as your employer.
- Do minimize the monthly bills you pay (utilities) and purchases you make with this credit card.
- Do take your paychecks to your employer's bank and cash them.
- Do take some of your cash and pay off your credit card, entirely and timely, while at the bank.
- Do take other checks you may occasionally receive to the maker's bank and cash them.
- Do keep your cash some place safer than a bank (not hard to do) and invest in tangible assets.
Why can you feel good that the bank does not have your money?
- You have peace of mind even though the ECB cut the reserve requirement to 1%.
Think about what the reserve requirement is, and what this means.
- You have peace of mind even though the US banks stopped marking to market.
- You have peace of mind even though ZIRP has destroyed any real return associated with having bank accounts...
I know many people who have closed all bank accounts. Without exception, it has worked well, and provided peace of mind.
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Peace of mind -- when my Morgans and Peace Dollars seem to smile back at me
The reason BofA requires direct deposit is their unholy alliance with the IRS. The Federal Reserve pushes the banks to accept only direct deposits so their records will be easily audited by the collection branch. I tried to open an account with a credit union (Trulia), but they refused to accept my instructions to redeem the deposited checks in lawful money, because it eliminated my endorsement signature on the W-9 which is part of the account request paperwork. The banks are trained by the IRS to require you to admit that you are a taxpayer when you open the account, and then to record every (direct) deposit so the IRS can be assured that they are tracking every ounce of flesh that they intend to extract. End the Fed. Use lawful money per 12 USC 411.
Fishhawk
i would take all my money out of the bank but then it wouldnt be safe bitchez
If you are stuck with no choice except direct depost of your paycheck into a bank, try this: Find a credit union which you are eligible to join. Authorize a voluntary payroll deduction to the credit union for the balance of your check, less a penny. This should come out before your deposit to the bank. You will have effectively had your check direct deposited into the credit union, and left the bank to deal with the expense of the transactions involved with the left over penny.
Unfortunately, my employer will not issue cheques. Direct deposit only.
Must have an account to hire on.
A point about EFTs : Somehow when you authorize direct deposit you are also authorizing direct withdrawl. Once an emplyer made a mistake in my pay which had been direct deposited so they withdrew the deposit and then deposited the corrected amount. Also at one point I had a monthly expense that was being paid by eft and when I asked them to discontinue the eft they were slow to respond (months) and my bank said I could block them for a fee because afterall I had authorized it.
Most larger emplyer would use a payroll service for writing paychecks I think so maybe they can hand this to the bank at a savings but the bank will want to do by eft. The emplyer has already chosen not to have the overhead for payroll checks.
I like the barrier provided by physical checks.
You are similarly at risk with credit cards and more so with debit cards. The banks are pulling back on card holder protections.
The whole "Verified by Visa" scam is nothing more than a legal gimmick to transfer liability from the FI to the cardholder. When Visa frist launched the service @2000 we had a nightmare trying incorporate their "terms and conditions" into ours, as their wording made it perfectly clear to anyone with a pulse, and room temperature IQ, that the program was designed entirely to benefit the Bank.
"Caveat Emptor" used the transactional US norm outside of certain historical transaction types. However, since the banking lobby bought off the legal system, both the banks and the identity theives have been given free reign to fuck masses and profit.
I would politely tell him to "Go to Hell", and refuse employment from ANYONE who can not be bothered to write me a physical check.
I wonder, does that company equally refuse to ever cut checks to their suppliers as well?
So they are literally, physically UNABLE to write a check? EVER?
When did cutting a paycheck become such an insurmountable burden?
There is more than meets the eye here.
akak - large hospital groups have "policies" that do not allow payment in the form of a check.
I know this because we brought it to HR and they just won't do it.
I agree...it is wrong. But it's either find another job or accept direct deposit.
And what possible justification (rationalization) could they have for such a "policy".
Again, I find it hard to believe that ANY business or organization is unable to write a check --- this is laughable and insulting on the face of it.
And I would still tell them to give me a check or go to Hell.
We deal with oil companies and large construction companies. I can tell you right now that if they need to write a check to us as a deposit for a purchase they can and WILL do it. If anyone ever tells you they can't write a check then tell THEM you want to speak to the President of the company.
I shit you not, we've literally held back even ordering material for oil companies until they cough up a 50% deposit. We are a niche supplier so they don't buy very often and it's useless for us to be set up on their system as a supplier and give them payment terms for things they buy once or twice a year. We make them pay a deposit and we don't ship a fucking nickels worth of anything until the other half is paid prior to shipping it.
Any company can write a check in mere minutes. It's their own internal bureaucracy that takes so long to get it the fuck done.
About every two weeks my staff cuts checks for about $2 million. Daily we cut checks totaling about $50k. For payroll we have a split between direct deposit and physical checks. It makes little difference in issuing from our perspective.
The only drawback to physical checks, on the Corporate Controller's end, is that there are a few people with the resources to leave checks uncashed...using them as a primitive savings vehicle. Makes bank reconciliations a bitch at times, and we sometimes have to call to remind them that the check will go stale.
Vendors usually don't fuck around holding checks. Though we did have one that held a $10,000 check for over five years, then sued saying she was never paid. We had documented contacting her numerous times warning of the stale check and it was still an open balance each month. Sending all the documents to the court proving that was relatively simple. Then she pulled the missing check out of her purse right there in court. Needless to say we won that case.
I personally don't like getting paper checks. Banks can take any check and place a hold on it until it clears. The default hold time is two weeks, even though checks clear these days within four days anywhere in the country. That gives the bank ten extra days to fuck with your money and make their own profit while you seethe. Personal deposits exceeding $5k, I ask for wires or direct transfers. Then I beat feet down to the bank to withdraw the funds.
I would go a step further and say any amount of a, "Personal Deposit", use direct deposit. It is the only way to have complete access to your money in the shortest time frame.
Thanks OldPhart. We have again been educated on another perspective thanks to your experience.
Cheers!
Interesting perspective --- thanks.
akak - I learned a long time ago that it is very easy to go bankrupt by thinking you can trust even the biggest oil companies to pay you on time if you're dumb enough to give them payment terms of 30 days, etc. Business people are so fucking brainwashed into giving their big "customers" payment terms in the hope that it will keep the customer loyal. It's a fools game.
Most of the gas stations I go to for fuel require me to pre-pay before I can pump the oil companies gas.
I can't get a Big Mac until I pay for it first (I don't eat that shit, just another example).
I can't buy IKEA furniture on 30 day terms. I must pay for it before it leaves the store.
I could carry on but I'm sure you already know why we make the oil companies pay for THEIR orders up front. We now tell people that we are NOT A FUCKING BANK. If they want payment terms they can use their own line of credit or whatever banking services THEY have access to. Believe me, it's working for us.
Yeah but then you have to get another job.
In this awesome recovery it's amazing to see how even medical professionals with impeccable skills, experience, and resumes are treated like characters in Sinclair's "The Jungle".
I see many good people in the medical field struggle to provide the best care for patients that they can, while simultaneously having to (constantly) resist the urge to tell "management" to get fucked.
In my experience, very few business know how to set up direct deposit payments to their suppliers for the simple reason that their many suppliers don't have a fucking clue how to do it either. The BIGGEST REASON companies don't pay their suppliers by direct deposit is because then they would have to pay ON TIME! They can't use the old excuse that the check is in the mail. If your supplier says pay me in 30 days, most companies will stretch that out to 45-60 days.
Employers pay their employees via direct deposit because the employers bank sets it up for them (in my experience). It greatly reduces the tasks of the employers staff to have the bank do all the payroll and deductions. To ask your employer to be paid by physical check will get them thinking you're a Terry Wrist. And no doubt they would then have to task one of the accounts payable drones to calculate your tax and other deductions. Can you imagine the 21 year old payroll clerk who just obtained her "degree" in Womyns Studies trying to figure out how much the boss is paying you, and then trying to issue a check for your labor?
could just rent the account. Although the money laundering laws would catch up with some.
I own hundreds of CDs. And many records as well.
How about just opening a credit union account, then closing your old bank account after all checks clear.
Problem solved..
How about just opening a credit union account, then closing your old bank account after all checks clear.
Problem solved..
Good one Hedgeless!
Bullshit and misinformation.
Wanna stick it to the banks and the lawless incorporated collusion with Uncle Shameless-Sam?
Don't use money - barter -. Do not pay taxes, do not use cash at all.
Buy hard assets with EVERYTHING not nailed down.
FUCK THE COLOSSAL RACKETEERING SYNDICATE KNOWN AS THE FED!
"We saved the banks but lost America." -Traitor Tim Geithner
Fuck you too, Tim, I hope you trip into a meat grinder.
I've been trying to barter my services for years. I live in a city of 1 million people. I have yet to find anyone who understands or is remotely interested in bartering. I must admit, I gave up trying.
A few months ago I offered to pay the woman who cuts my hair a one ounce silver maple in exchange for my haircut. She charges $15 for the haircut. The maple was worth about $32 at the time if my fading memory serves me correctly. She looked at the maple like it was a poisonous snake and declined my offer even though I told her it was worth more than DOUBLE what she was charging. She still declined, so I paid her in worthless fiat instead.
I recall some YouTube videos made by Mark Dice back in 2008/9 where he tried to sell a one ounce gold Eagle to people on the street in California for only $20. Nobody took the offer, yet one guy even knew what it was worth at the time (around $1,100/ounce) but even he wouldn't buy it!
Is this world fucked up, or what?
the thing is we are ll real weary of being duped. someone offering a real bargain sets off alarm bells because.... ill let you answer that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndshbH3qZ6Y
I use a 15 euro hair clipper to shave my head. Do it myself in front of the mirror (use a hand mirror to check the back of my head). It has saved me at least 150 euros on haircuts.
Real men don't use mirrors (lol). I hear ya bro.
I've been shaving my head for over ten years, and I NEVER use a mirror --- and I use a razor and shaving cream to do so. No problems at all --- just do it all by feel.
why bother to cut your hair if you cant see yourself, do you shave your ass?
Now that's fucking funny!
My personal preference is to leave the mustache growing in my ass crack. It adds to my "smile" when I moon somebody.
Probably thought it was tungsten ...
I’ve stayed away from banking anything for over a decade. No credit or debit cards. I’m always trying to think of little things to do to make their lives miserable. If I’m out somewhere and there is a bank nearby I will park my old Ford pickup at the bank, taking up 2 spots nearest the front door if available. Here’s a list of other small, yet annoying, shit you can do whenever you’re near a bank:
1 - As you walk by a bank, cough up the biggest hunk of lung-butter you can muster and spit it on the glass doors near the handle that everyone grabs to go in (don’t spit on the handle itself).
2 - Buy a soda from a nearby fast food joint, then as you walk back to your vehicle pretend you are entering the bank to do some business. As you get inside the door pretend to trip and spill your drink all over the interior entrance. Look embarrassed and leave immediately.
3 - My dad could literally fart at will very loudly. If you have such a talent please use it vigorously inside a bank for a few minutes as you pretend to fill out a deposit slip.
4 - Go to a joke shop and get some fake dog shit. Go to a bank and pretend to fill out a deposit slip and discreetly leave the fake 3-coiler on the table.
5 - Walk into a bank with a ZeroHedge T-shirt on while wearing a thong and steel-toe work boots (I haven’t tried that one yet - still wating for my neon orange thong that I bought on eBay).
6 - Find out the name of the bank manager and make some “WANTED” posters and discreetly tape them to the walls near a bank. Use a photo of some psycho moron in place of the actual managers likeness.
7 - Get some of those big pieces of chalk the kids use to draw on sidewalks. Draw a huge cock and balls on the ground near the bank entrance (after they’re closed, of course).
8 - One of the simplist things you can do while walking by a bank is pretend to be talking on your cell phone while screaming obsenities into the phone as you linger near their entrance.
That’s all for now. I could carry on but I need more beer. Keep fucking with the banks, Bitchez!
I wonder what a hot cup of coffee, would do to an atm keypad
I wonder what a hot cup of coffee, would do to an atm keypad
Nothing at all, they are protected - banksters are droolers
Nothing, electronically, in most cases. There's a neoprene weather seal below the keys but above the actual switch contacts. Does make the keypad sticky as hell, though, and thus unpleasant to use.
Besides, even if you do manage to fuck up the ATM, the bastards will only pass the repair cost onto the cusomers some way - banks DO NOT take losses unless they are to be made good by the customer and taxpayers, remember; that's why we're printing all that QE money!
how about using that chalk and drawing the outline of a corpse with a briefcase and throw in some fake blood right in front of the door. When they are closed of course.
I like the way you think! You're a much more twisted bastard than I am!
I love ZH because we can all come together and share our dislike for the banksters.
Hey, I almost forgot. Halloween is a month away. I'm going to smear peanut butter around my mouth and go out as Bercracky's asshole. That should really scare the parents children!
dupe - fucking Tor is a bit slow.
LMFAO.
Que Dr. Evil: "Charming."
You chose the perfect avatar. When I read your posts, I can just hear Fat Bastard's voice and Scottish accent.
Are we done yet?
Good, cause I've got to take a crap!
Glad you found it humorous. I am Scotsman by the way. Not quite as heavy as my photo shows. But I'm "dead sexy"!
I'm Dutch but I sadly don't have a gold cock.
LOL. Que Austin Powers: "Unfortunately, your neck looks like a vagina."
In that case, I guess I'll go fuck myself.
Aweyandbileyerheedye!
Does that make you randy baby?
'It tastes a little,,, nutty."
Oh bee-hive!