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Citi Follows Bank Of America In Instituting Debit Card Fee, $1.9 Trillion In Deposits At Risk
When we reported that Bank of America will be the first bank to institute debit card fees we made the following less than insightful observation: "The problem is that the bulk of depositor clients will simply walk away from Bank of America (which had $1,038 billion in deposits as of June 30), and any other institutions that piggy back on this, and from a game theory perspective, everyone has to do it, or nobody will do it." Well, Citigroup, which had no other choice, has just decided to follow in BofA's footsteps, which i) proves there is indeed a collusive move of desperation by the bank cartel, which in a normal country would see at least a statement from Eric Rip Van Holder, and ii) our thesis about America's impatience with petty theft - they are more than ok with grand scale larson such as that by the Fed via shadow inflation and currency devaluation, but when it comes to paying up an additional $5/month, well, just look at Netflix, which instituted a $6/month price hike two months ago... and is now fighting for survival. As for the exemption requirements, they will likely be the same as Bank of Countrywide Lynch's: either have a mortgage with the TBTF behemoth, or have $20k in a deposit account - both which will likely not be much of a help to 90%+ of the bank clients. The biggest problem is that suddenly at risk are $1.9 trillion in deposits - $1 trillion at BofA, $866 billion at Citi. While the financial crisis did little to dent the banks' deposit buffer, it will be highly ironic if it is an act of the banks themselves that begins the great bank run that resets it all...
From the LA Times:
Another day, another new bank fee.
As the uproar swelled over Bank of America Corp.'s planned $5 monthly charge for debit card use, megabank rival Citigroup Inc. was notifying many Citibank customers that they soon would have to start paying for their checking accounts unless they maintained significantly higher balances.
Letters are going out across the country alerting Citi customers of account changes, said the bank's retail banking chief, Stephen Troutner. In many cases, that means customers will have to maintain fatter balances to avoid fees, although Troutner said a basic account option makes dodging charges easier.
Higher fees are the new reality in retail banking, where regulations adopted in the aftermath of the bank bailouts have reduced revenue from several controversial fees by billions of dollars. At the same time, banks have seen their lending income decline due to the sluggish economy and low interest rates.
...
We conducted extensive surveys with our customers, and no one wanted to pay to use debit cards," Troutner said.
One day after announcing the new debit card fee, Bank of America was inundated with visits, calls and emails from customers.
"We are doing our best to explain the impacts, the value and convenience the debit card offers and how to avoid the fee if necessary," spokeswoman Anne Pace said.
Short of taking out a BofA mortgage or depositing $20,000 with the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank, the way to avoid the fee is to avoid making purchases with debit cards and using them only for ATM transactions, which remain free.
And there you have it: the idiocy that is Bernanke's plan to invert the 2s10s is about to succeed in achieving what HuffPo's failed attempt to get Americans to move their money from TBTFs to community banks tried so hard to do for months.
To keep track of just how suicidal this act will be for the banks, keep track of the weekly M2 numbers which show the non-seasonally adjusted metrics for various checking and debit account categories. We are confident the line chart will start at the top left and go to the bottom right.
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Many businesses no longer accept personal checks.
And if they don't use cheques or cash then don't do business with them.
Businesses are desperate for business in this environment, so just walk and say why
They will use cash.
Remember cash?
No swipe, no PIN, immediate acceptance.
"... immediate acceptance"
Unless it's larger than a $20. All kinds of eyeballing and yellow pen swiping going on for a $50 or larger.
Oh, the horror. Cash is always taken.
IF people used checks(regardless how excruciating it may be) People would START to be cognitive that they are spending money. AND, AND, NO fee on using Your Money going to BOA,Citi or other bank.
If you're writing a check at Starbucks you deserve to be beaten unconscious with a stale bagel. And checks at most major retailers like Wally World and Target have a scanner thingy they feed the check through, check your license and done. Some that I've seen will take a standard business check and imprint the name of the retailer and amount. You only sign and date it. But as usual the waiting is for the asshats who wait until the total is given to actually dig in their pocket(book) for the checks. I'm done writing by the time the receipt prints and that was when I last used them 10 years ago...
These fucking SCUMBAGS blow up the economy with derivatives, spong off of our tax dollars so they can stay afloat - when they should have failed.
And now this.
FUCK YOU CITI, FUCK YOU BOA!
Close the accounts Bitchez!
Get on the Credit Union bandwagon! Credit Unions rock!
Joined a local credit union yesterday. Ought to be able to ditch my BoA account like the disease it is by the end of the month. People take their time cashing checks, but after that it is over. I should have done this years ago.
I think one can probably trace the n(gr)eed for higher fees to Obama's credit card law. Remember those wonderful days of the new administration where the Pres could do no wrong? Remember Chris Dodd and Carolyn B. Maloney and HR 5244 RFS the 'Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility & Disclosure Act', well as predicted at the time the legislation would come back and bite the consumer right straight in the ass.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2010/0226/New-credit-card-ru...
One of my biggest clients is a credit/lending company and pretty small and family owned. They got hit way harder by these stupid laws than any of the big banks and had to resort to increased fees as well or go under. You think they're on someone's bailout list? NFW. Every time these fucktards in DC think they'll fix something they make it worse. They lump everything together in one big pile of shit, slap some whipped cream on top, and tell everyone they've got dessert for the 'little guy'...laughable and sad at the same time. I swear to God if they do another Tarp I'm going to walk in to my 'representatives' office and shit on his desk if he votes for it and maybe even if he didn't just to get my point across...
Post of the day baby ! That last line made me realllllly chuckle !
If we had a clap emoticon on this board I would use it here. As it is, +1.
Status quo under fire
And, going against a well-known "Tylerism", This time IS different.
Banks robbing their clients. Can remember when banks were a SAFE place to keep your money. Didn't want to lose your money to theft? Keep it in a bank they used to say. Not nowadays...
I can remember actually earning 5% interest on my bank savings, so it was worth keeping my money there then. But thanks to Bernanke and his &*$^% ZIRP, there is little difference between having cash in a bank and having under a mattress. The one big difference is that it's safer under the mattress, especially as the risk of bank runs increases.
A message from Argentina - Get your money out of the bank fast! 1 of 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4inbJmm9oU
Thank you citizen for your concern about our current economic climate. We understand your concerns and frustrations with the banking system and we are on your side.
We also thank you for letting us know where your money is currently being stored. Shortly, we will be dispatching a local IRS agent to collect a monthly $5 tax, which allows you to store fiat currency within your domicile.
We appreciate your cooperation, and Dog bless Amerika!
Sincerely,
The Bureaucracy
Not that funny, and definitely not that enforceable... :-)
I received a letter from Citibank Wednesday.
Citibank wants to charge a fee for having a check account with them.
They are saying maintain your monthly balance at $6,000 or more, or pay us $15 a month for the privilege of having an account with us.
I guess they don't need no stinkin' deposits anymore now that they can get counterfeit money for free from the Federal Reserve.
I can easily keep that amount in the account. But I don't like their attitude. So, I am closing my accounts with Citibank.
It's about fuckin' time, biggster. Put it anywhere but TBTF... and do us all a favor.
Way back, I used to have a Visa or MC with them, right after we had purchased a condo. Nice interest rate, had it for years, and at the time I had 27K racked up on it from all the moving and new home crap. I get this notice one day around the same time the statement comes that my interest rate is all the sudden 21.5%.
I call up, and am all "WTF is this???" (and my credit rating is about as close to perfect as you can get). The reply was "we took some blocks of #'s and adjusted them". I said "well, guess I'll just have to pay that sucker off" and the reply, dripping with sarcasm, was "Oh, you just go ahead and do that".
So I did, before the next cycle. Holy crap, I get FLOODS of 0% offers, calls of "why did you leave" ('Cause y'all are assholes!"), it was to funny...
Au contraire...they need your balance that way so that they can appear to be well capitalized when the regulators come knockin'...and to insure that ALL YOUR MONEY ARE BELONG TO US...when TSHTF.
Yes, move your money like yesterday; find a Credit Union...or be unable to get your $6k when you need it.
Hilarious, the last bullet pointed inwards by the extremely short sighted banksters who think they can do anything they like and get away with it!
HA HA
Pull the trigger please!
More squeezing the turnip. It proves my point. Whether in a bank vault or in your pocket, Federal Reserve notes are the property of the Federal Reserve. So are you and anything you "buy" with them.
Walking away from a bank account is one thing. Escaping this fiat monetary system is the hard path to freedom.
http://georgesblogforum.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/the-real-weapon-of-mass...
Visa, MasterCard to Raise Fees on Small Buys
Bank of America faces outrage over debit card charge
Manufacturing consent is having supply line problems.
time to call in zombie Edward Bernays
My immediate thought was that any loss of deposit would increase their already nose-bleed leverage. I wonder how much of Citi / BOA deposits are sub $1K accounts? What about $100?
The people with Debit cards, by and large, are smarter with their money. They will notice this, and do something about it.
Like most policy changes I see these days, it seems designed to survive just for the short term. Perhaps these banks know they need to milk for all they can now, it's their last chance.
WTF do banks care about deposits, anyway. There is nothing they can do with them. If by chance somebody qualified for a loan stumbles through the door, Ben will front the dough.
Also, I bet there are plenty of accounts with a zero balance. What happens to them? Do they go into negative on the 1st month, and then the banks charge a fee for this too? I wonder if the angst this will cause (people complaining, closing accounts, statements being mailed etc) will also outweigh any profit.
Banking Darwainism at work
It is unfortunate.....and real red flag on the actual financial position of BOA and Citi........especially bringing it on all of a sudden.........
In Canada, The Big-5 Banking Monopoly has been bum fucking canadians for many years.........started with like 5 bucks then jacked up year by year and now they charge a fee for everything...fuckers.
Everything screams RIP - OFF !! RIP - OFF RIP - OFF RIP - OFF ! ......... there were no such things as "debit cards" when i was a kid & young person !! RIP - OFF RIP - OFF RIP - OFF !!! I'll pay their damn $5 debit card fee when these Robert Rubin protoges pay me interest on my savings account !!! (remember, it was ROBERT RUBIN, the biggest banking criminal of them all who along with CLINTON had the big idea to 'financialize' the economy & look where it got us ! )
Try Reagan, Lynny.
REAGAN ! (i'm still the learner here ) . all i know is things weren't like this when i was a kid. mom & dad, grandpa & grandma were just fine; they worked & saved for their lifetime & scorned debt. & when they passed away, there were inheritances for the next generation. Now, not only are the young people scaping, but so are the old people !
I know what you mean. My grandpa worked for Ford for 40 years, owned his home outright after 20 years of fixed payments, and lived to a ripe old age on his fixed pension and a lifetime of diligently accumulated savings. My parents didn't have it anywhere near as nice and it's only through my hard work and success that they're getting by with my help now.
The rabid financialization of the economy began in about 1982 with the advent of the variable rate mortgage and the veneration of the finance industry and deregulation as the rule for the remainder of the 80s. Before then, brick and mortar business constituted the majority of the economy and the middle-class grew after WWII with returning GIs going to school and sending their kids to college too. You can see it in the graph on this Wiki link...you grew up in the (relatively) flat section between WWII and Reagan's election...after which financialization took off like a shot and never looked back.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financialization
The real reason people should get rid of debit cards is not because there is some $5 fee, it's because you use it like a credit card, says Mastercard or Visa right on it, but when someone makes fraudulent charges and the money is taken from your account you have no recourse. It's gone, say bye-bye.
Good job, Dick Durbin
Did I mention Credit Unions? Find one near you! Not for profit, lower fees, no prop desks! Your hometown utility financial institution wants YOU!
When companies react to govenrment-implemented price controls by raising prices elsewhere, it's not an underhanded conpsiracy to create a cartel. It is normal economic behavior.
at the ATM, make a deposit for $5.00, of course the envelope will be empty, then immediately withdraw your whole balance, if you've got a small balance to begin with! when you get home, reverse or remove your address numbers! problem solved!!!
Don't forget to "make another deposit" (take a dump) on the ATM after you've made your withdrawl.
It's not just BAC and CITI....
From a couple of months ago:
http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/16/pf/debit_card_fee/index.htm
And JPM too
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Bank-of-America-to-charge-5-apf-1381425092...
They are committing suicide.
"They are committing suicide."
Good. It's about damn time.
Agreed.
Still trying to figure the motivation for this. They have to know that this will piss customers off, but will those customers leave? Changing banks is a bit of a hassle. Think about your "average" citizen. Will they go through the trouble to transfer to a credit union? Not so sure. Moving fiat, waiting for new ATM cards and paper checks..... I can do it easily, sure. I don't have to worry about a "lag time" while all this processes. But can Joe Six Pack? Is he willing to? Or will he just eat the $5 and forget about it.
Many, many, citizens are living paycheck to paycheck. Hand to mouth as it were. Changing banks is a real problem for them. Changing direct deposit, setting up new online billpay and automatic paperless payments....people have these convieniences already set up. It is a hassle.
For me, I find it important and worthwhile to counsel changing to a credit union that will treat them better.
Quite a quandry.
While I'm sure you have more$$ than Joe 6 pak what makes you think he's not smart enough to do what your suggesting--getting shit done in advance? Guy, I doubt that too many people who are living hand to mouth are doing much "automatic papaerless payments! As for the hassle of not using a debit card rather than cash--yea it is a pain to have to walk in and pay for my gas with cash, Ya know though I ssen my doctor a few days ago--I was getting a little chunky. Think there might be a connection??? Milestones
I am availalbe for kaishaku if needed.
only bow-legged need apply
Here's what's sad...BAC...(Bank of Italy in America)was started as a common man's(specifically Italian immigrants/working stiffs) bank, when workers had problems getting loans, from blue bloods. Giannini is spinning in his grave, man! Look it up.
This is the kind of price signalling the airlines used to engage in before the discount carriers destroyed most of them - forcing several multiple bankruptices, except AA, so far.
Come the next decade, the big banks will be just like the big "legacy" airlines, surviving in some form with the TBTF legislation loop holes and roll backs, but which will in the end not save them.
These banks cannot survive with just big and rich customers, and average consumers are on to their game. If we do live in a real free market (which we mostly do), the smaller banks will seize this opportunity to significantly increas market share ... and leave the big banks qwheesing and twisting in the Ben's wind!
People with a decent balance won't have to pay. I wouldn't have an account with a tbtf because they are scum. Plenty of people with decent balances have fled chase et al because they are crooks. Then later chase calls back to apologize but it is too late mofos. People with money have options it is the poor who always end up being screwed over.
surprised they didn't make it $7.50 or an even $10.00 -- it's all a PLOY to get reserves down for QE to the Nth!
Yet another institutionalized form of REGRESSIVE TAXATION. With ALL THE TAXPAYER MONIES LOOTED BY THE BANKS THEY NOW CHARGE MORE FOR NOTHING IN ORDER TO LOOT SAID TAXPAYERS AGAIN!
FUCK THE BANKS!
FUCK THE IRS!
FUCK TEH FED!
FUCK OBUMMER!
FUCK DEMS!
FUCK REPUBS!
FUCK STATUS QUO!
Just cancel the debit card and go back to writing checks....and they'll spend more money on processing those paper pieces.
Hell, the way things are going, B of A might not even be around to enable this cost early next year anyway.
I might say the same for Citi.
Must suck for them to be in death throes.
Use cash. No-one ever stole a President's identity.
I miss President Benjamin Franklin! ;)
Shucks. All I can afford to spend are Washingtons and Lincolns.
I am glad you took it for what it was, a joke!
This is a direct consequence of the disastrous Frank-Dodd regulation that was SUPPOSED to help consumers, but has instead guaranteed that tens of millions will LOSE access to banking services instead. Thanks, Obama, for signing it into law!
This reminds me of the '70s when banks nickel and dimed their customers to death, before banking deregulation brought cheap banking services to all! I remember paying for every service under the sun. Fees up the ying yang! They're baaa-aaack!
Time to use the credit union!
I am sure majority of the people on this blog can afford the fee's.....
But every1 wants to play a patriot and pretend carrying about others.
In either case, i would assume that banks did calculate the risk of introducing the fee's. It will take few weeks for media to cry about and then move on to American idol.
While i don't like the bankers and would prefer to use them in chemical or bio-pharm laboratory as the test material- as of today we still need those institutions regardless how much we hate them. I understand that majority of people here somehow thinks that they saved enough of some metal and guns and just waiting for some1 to turn the switch, so they would become rich and all others will fall into the hole.... but that is far far away. ANd if there will be a time when the threshold will be approaching, we won't be discussing the bank fee's.
PS. Just 5-7 years ago we all had those bank fees as normal. If we want to accomplish any kind of the results against banks, we need coordinated actions and on the massive scale. Rest are just rhetoric’s.
Let's see how many Minuses i will get..............................................
wow. the banks have created a bank run on themselves.
Banks have been giving away free services for years.
I don't blame them for charging fees, especially for deadbeat depositors that keep paltry balances in their accounts.
If you don't want to pay the fee move the account elsewhere.
Here in Los Angeles, JPM has been building brand new, massive branches. Just finished one in El Segundo, now building another one at Torrance and PCH in Redondo Beach, on the most prized corner lots 2 blocks from the beach. The thing is monstrous.
Friend of mine says that JPM makes $1 million/yr. profit from these new "super branches" the first year, then $2 million/yr. thereafter.
Basically they charge fees for pretty much everything, and people just suck up and pay it.
The day of "free checking" from Washington Mutual and Wachovia are gone.
And nobody wants to go to a credit union because they don't even know if the deposits are insured or not.
So Joe Six will simply stay and take a beating on the fees, it is that simple.
They are more interested in who is going to win the NASCAR cup or who is going to get booted off the "X-Factor" than worrying about a measly $5/mo. fee.
Look everyone RobotTrader is running for Kongress!!
Still an idiot, you are!
Here since you are to stupid to punch a couple of keys!
http://www.ncua.gov/
You can jerkoff to Suze Orman while you are there.
How many hot dogs do you think Suze can fit in her mouth?
Could she fit more if she were being spanked?
at once?
Of course!
Otherwise she could just be entered the annual Coney Island hot dog-a-thon.
I was thinking more along the lines of a whole double fist full of foot longs accompanied by that good olde sensual gag reflex....
Is that mayo on your chin or you just glad to eat me?
LOL! Thanks for the chuckles, knukles!!
jerking off to suze orman
thats just WRONG!
i would'nt even consider her to be a good 'SLUMP BUSTER!'
Not if she has a fatal disease and you are feeling suicidal.
Banks have been giving away free services for years...
bogus statement
From an asset protection persepctive you should never have an account with a national bank anyway. If some dude in Bumfuk, Kansas sues you in his local court with a groundless claim, and gets a judgment because your hiring a lawyer there was more than the claim, he can seize your BoA account by serving a local branch. If you deal only with a bank in your state, he has to come to your state + county to enforce his judgment at which time you can have it quashed as groundless more cheaply. AP Rule 12: Avoid national banks.
Thanks for the tip. Care to provide any other Asset Protection Rules?
Replying to Tom:
1. Set up your plan as soon as possible, not after you have an accident or are sued
2. Learn what your state's bankruptcy exemptions are (what you can keep when filing, like which IRAs, 401ks, home equity, tools, annuities, etc.)
3. Don't put all your assets into one asset protection device (use LLCs, trusts, annuities, corps., etc.)
4. Review your plan often, laws change
5. Don't look make yourself look like the "bad guy" (by using tricky schemes rather than using innocent estate planning, education plans for the kids, etc.)
6. Protect your privacy (buy gold with cash, own real estate only in land trusts, change credit cards every few years so you don't even remember which card you had 10 years ago when you purchased those antiques, art, etc.)
CuriousPasserby - Great advice. Thank you. I very much appreciate your reply.
After reading these comments it seems that most people here are young. Before the mid-90s it was the standard for banks to charge $5/month fees on checking accounts unless you had a rather large balance. BAC is not going to lose much business over this.
Within six months most banks will be moving to smartphone cash in the United States. Then what?
No they wont. Because DRUGS are the biggest business in the USA and its a cash business. Banks make a killing laundering the $$ for the dealers.
Your presumption of course is that there will be solvent banks in 6 months?? Milestones
Credit Unions have done very well as of late wonder why ?
Absolutely, and so much for diversity of service from real competition. So, even with Citi on board this Extortionist Coo attempt by the banks has yet to be solidified. If the other big banks don’t jump on board soon the scheme will be dissolved and forgotten as quickly as it came. Goldman is, of course, indifferent on the matter since the only consumer banks they actually hold as a bank holding company must be located somewhere in the Cayman Islands.
My wife runs a small business and banks at CITI. We keep a VERY large balance in a non-interst bearing checking account (for the FDIC Insurance).
A few weeks ago, she received a brochure outlining new charges to be levied on business accounts. I was stunned how many and how high they were , i.e. $3.50 per payroll check!
Went in and told the manager what would happen if I saw ONE of the fees charged to her. He told me the next day "Not to worry, none would be applied". We'll see.
All this BS about debit fees is masking what's really going on.
Hmmm? Doesn't Citi offer sweep accounts? BoA and PNC do.
Technically, I think it is against the law to offer interest on business checking accounts. So, the banks developed sweep accounts, IIRC.
@ donethat: All this BS about debit fees is masking what's really going on.
with lending ending, it's fees, please!
There's 8100 other banks in this country.
http://www.icba.org/
Ive got over 100K in unsecure cc's through the national banks. Missed the opportunity to convert it all to Physical and tell them to pound it. With the deflating housing market, might just convert it all to FIAT and then tell them to eat it.
I don't know you and you don't know me, so take this with a grain of salt...if you are going to act as you described or have another option you might want to do it soon.
Bill - why "missed the opportunity"? You can buy a lot more PMs at today's price than 2 weeks ago. I'd say the opportunity just presented itself.
It is time to pull all extra cash savings out of the banksters (big banks) paws. Let's bring the deposit base down by 10-15% to start with. Let it burn.
Best Boil the Frog slowly so he won't notice.
Article on the subject. Make your own conclusions. Not taking a stance, one way or the other yet on this subject, but would like to see other article links.
http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2011/09/bully-for-bofa.html#more
http://www.americanbanker.com/bankthink/durbin-opportunity-for-small-bus...
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb262/is_1_34/ai_n57213706/
I don't like the banks for many other reasons! So don't jump my shit. Or do! I don't care!
:p
'Good for all debts, public and private'. Fuck em. I'll just use their fiat. And in the meantime, try to convert as much fiat into things that are real and have value.
Amen! I'm turning those FRNs into physical assests as fast as possible. They say savings are down. Not here, 10% goes into savings; its just that I'm not saving FRNs in their banks.
I for one hope this causes all of these corrupt banks to collapse. Maybe the American sheep were too asleep to notice trillions of dollars being stolen from them, but when you start pulling money directly out of their wallets... they sort of wake up for a second, like someone who's been startled by a pick pocket in Las Vegas. 60 dollars a year isn't a lot of money to a lot of people, but to the comman man, that is just another fee, on top of another fee, on top of another fee... and they have had enough. CNN tickled me the other day, because they said that to paraphrase, that American's were too lazy and too stupid to move their funds from BOA because it would involve getting off their ass, going to the bank, getting new checks made at the new bank, etc...etc. The Mass Media is basically calling ALL of us lazy and stupid. Let's prove them WRONG for once.
M2 is mentioned here [PrudentBear.d.noland] (paste/my emphases)
Global central bank "international reserve assets" (excluding gold) - as tallied by Bloomberg – were up $1.342 TN y-o-y, or 15.6% to $9.931 TN. Over two years, reserves were $2.720 TN higher, for 48% growth.
M2 (narrow) "money" supply declined $14.1bn to $9.570 TN. "Narrow money" has expanded at a 11.4% pace y-t-d and 10.1% over the past year. For the week, Currency increased $0.8bn. Demand and Checkable Deposits slipped $1.1bn, and Savings Deposits fell $7.6bn. Small Denominated Deposits declined $3.8bn. Retail Money Funds decreased $2.4bn.
Total Money Fund assets rose $13.2bn last week to $2.634 TN. Money Fund assets were down $176bn y-t-d, with a decline of $171bn over the past year, or 6.1%.
Total Commercial Paper outstanding sank another $22.2bn (11-wk decline of $229bn) to $1.008 Trillion. CP was up $36bn y-t-d, or 4.1% annualized, although it was down $83bn over the past year.
I thought debit cards were used by the same people who willingly pay 29% interest on their credit cards and aren't even aware of it. I wouldn't expect them to take any action. Most of them won't even know it's happening because they don't read their stmts.
I thought about that too. How many people are going to actually read their statements, and was it presented in a manner that made it understandable.
BOA NA share price $6.12...60b in assets.......WRTS (we reem the stupid)
Yup boycott folks.
Withdraw your your money and stick to cash transactions.
Stop feeding the monster that is sucking you dry.
payback time for Citi and BofA. lets take all deposits out and see how they feel...
I do all my banking at the local credit union in my town in Canada. My debit card is free, checks are free and my "share the wealth" bonus was $2400 this year. They do my house insurance for 20% less than the competition and their wealth management department charges less than normal financial services companies. They are associated with the local coop that sells me gas at a 10% discount to shell/esso/BP/Husky. They are also associated with the local theatre association that built a brand new 5-plex movie theatre that charges 25% less than famous players to see a movie. They use their profits to maintain 5 buildings which they donate for free to community groups like scouts/moms+tots/food bank. They also built and run the local dual ice surface indoor hockey rink/pool charging it out at cost. I'm not sure if this is socialism or what but whatever it is it is good.There is a lot of money in banking and if it stays in your town your town becomes rich!
.
There will be a penalty for non-compliance with the masters of the ATM. As long as ADD prevails, autism is the antidote.
ATM's are not Debit Cards.
ATM's are a great service, cost you nothing if you maintain even smaller balances,usually $2500.00.
Debit Cards are the devil in disguise.
Tyler, friend at work has had all his accounts at BoA for long time, and is pulling them out over "$60/yr".
Now that a few biggies have done this( due to gov regs),supposedly costing them more.(More Obama crap I am sure),many more Banks are doing the same thing.
It's started a tsunami. I think it will amount to much ado about nada, or we see a lot of Banks going under from deposit w/d's.
Find a local CREDIT Union, and remove financial assets from big banksters.
here's what you will get:
1. better human service;
2. no fee-price gouging, perhaps no fees;
3. better rates on loans, mortgages, etc;
4. transparency and veridcality in financial reporting statements"
5. the warm feeling that others in the credit union are a collective aimed at enhancing each others well-being, and financial position.
Full disclosure: I don't work for a credit union, neither does my wife, neighbor, or anyone I personally know.
Seriously, a GOOD DEAL no matter how you see it = consumer to consumer.
Find a local CREDIT Union, and remove financial assets from big banksters.
here's what you will get:
1. better human service;
2. no fee-price gouging, perhaps no fees;
3. better rates on loans, mortgages, etc;
4. transparency and veridcality in financial reporting statements"
5. the warm feeling that others in the credit union are a collective aimed at enhancing each others well-being, and financial position.
Full disclosure: I don't work for a credit union, neither does my wife, neighbor, or anyone I personally know.
Seriously, a GOOD DEAL no matter how you see it = consumer to consumer.
1) Use credit union for checking account.
2) Don't use debit card. Easy to get credit card that gives you 1% to 3% back (fidelity mbna is 3% into college savings plan). Pay it a month in advance to ensure no fees.
3) At today's interest rates, no reason to leave large amounts of savings in the bank. Keep it in your house or buy gold gradually or buy high yielding utility stocks if you don't like gold.
My Bank "Suntrust" in Atlanta Ga sent a letter to me over a month ago telling me that they would begin charging $5.00 per month for checkcards and free checking accounts are no longer free. There will be a $7.00 per month charge. I expected to see the big dogs doing this soon also. So here they are.
My Bank "Suntrust" in Atlanta Ga sent a letter to me over a month ago telling me that they would begin charging $5.00 per month for checkcards and free checking accounts are no longer free. There will be a $7.00 per month charge. I expected to see the big dogs doing this soon also. So here they are.
Bank of America's $5 month-to-month debit card fee plan has really caused most individuals upset and now, President Obama joins with their active criticisms against the institution. It is known because at present, Obama criticizes Bank of America $5 monthly debit card fees. As reported by ABC News, President Obama is among the more vocal critics and this made individuals more active in criticizing banking institutions more specifically the largest bank in America that has the most investment from the public. The President's words motivated a heavy response from the banking market.