The stress & venting thread ~ for everyone (buy, commercial, girls)

[Chatteress]

Originally Posted by nomoresnow

I'm so glad you're feeling better. I know how hard you work towards this and I don't want to see something like that mess you up. Talk nice to the printer and I'm sure it'll all work out. YOu go, do your recording, read your notes. I know you'll do well.

OK...my vent today is....these stupid new banking fees. Our bank is Suntrust and they've instituted a $7/month maintenance fee on our checking account unless we do direct deposit. We do, but into our savings account, so we'll have to change it to checking to save ourselves $84/year (we're retired, so we're on a fairly strict budget). AND a $5/month debit card fee for unlimited use. NOw, they pushed this stupid debit card on us and now that we're using it, we're going to be penalized. DH says it's cheaper than buying checks (and he's right ) but I do NOT appreciate paying these fees.

Thank you; I"m feeling much better now.

Thanks for the words of encouragement, NMS! I got all my printouts but sure it was a lot of work putting them all together especially since my stupid printer prints the pages backwards (the last page is on top and the first page on bottom - if that makes any sense!)

Originally Posted by AksarbeN

Why anyone thinks that the bank should charge YOU to use YOUR OWN money is beyond me. I've got that BofA criminal bank and I'm looking for another place to move my money. A good credit union or savings and loan would do just fine for me about now. I think there are BIG numbers of others doing the same thing.

I agree with you and I would seriously switch from the convenience of Chase to another bank if they even TRY to implement any such foolishness! Without OUR money, the banks are NOTHING - seems that they conveniently forget that and act as if they are doing US a favor!

[AksarbeN]

I remember the day when you got a toaster or coffee pot for opening an account with the bank, or make a deposit of a specific amount. The giveaway program is a thing of the past.

[sun queen]

I want to vent about these religious commercials playing over and over again in an attempt to make the religion of a presidential hopeful seem garden variety.... Why is that necessary? I think it is disgusting to exploit faith for political gain... But I guess it's the new "in game" strategy for candidates to win votes. I think those commercials are distasteful.

[Thursday007]

Originally Posted by AksarbeN

Why anyone thinks that the bank should charge YOU to use YOUR OWN money is beyond me. I've got that BofA criminal bank and I'm looking for another place to move my money. A good credit union or savings and loan would do just fine for me about now. I think there are BIG numbers of others doing the same thing.

I'll play devil's advocate here.

Actually, there is some logic to it. Most checking accounts were charged a monthly fee and many banks now provide the account for free. The charges here are just a monthly fee of $5 to use an ATM or swipe purchase -not for every transaction just once a month regardless of how many times you use it. That $5 is less than what they charged me a month when I did pay for a checking account years ago. Consider the bank doesn't make a dime off a vast majority of accounts - so, how are they suppose to provide services such as location, people who process the transfers, even the equipment itself?

I have a checking account at a bank who does not charge me a monthly fee to have it and my ATM and swipe purchases are not charged a fee either. Banks can't operate from people like me. Additionally, many of the fees they are talking about are waived if you keep a set amount of money in an account. They make interest off of it exactly like you do so there is their revenue for operating costs. Banks aren't a non-profit organization.

[nomoresnow]

Originally Posted by AksarbeN

Why anyone thinks that the bank should charge YOU to use YOUR OWN money is beyond me. I've got that BofA criminal bank and I'm looking for another place to move my money. A good credit union or savings and loan would do just fine for me about now. I think there are BIG numbers of others doing the same thing.

It is happening, Aks. We went to our broker who offers certain banking type services like checking, etc. and the office mgr. told us she's seen a lot of BofA customers come in and inquire about their programs.

Originally Posted by Thursday007

I'll play devil's advocate here.

Actually, there is some logic to it. Most checking accounts were charged a monthly fee and many banks now provide the account for free. The charges here are just a monthly fee of $5 to use an ATM or swipe purchase -not for every transaction just once a month regardless of how many times you use it. That $5 is less than what they charged me a month when I did pay for a checking account years ago. Consider the bank doesn't make a dime off a vast majority of accounts - so, how are they suppose to provide services such as location, people who process the transfers, even the equipment itself?

I have a checking account at a bank who does not charge me a monthly fee to have it and my ATM and swipe purchases are not charged a fee either. Banks can't operate from people like me. Additionally, many of the fees they are talking about are waived if you keep a set amount of money in an account. They make interest off of it exactly like you do so there is their revenue for operating costs. Banks aren't a non-profit organization.

I understand your logic and argument. I was married to a bank VP for 20 years, so I'm somewhat familiar with their systems.

Yes, it's actually less expensive and more convenient for us to use the debit card for our daily purchases, even with the $5/month fee. We no longer have to buy checks and hold up the line while we fill them out. Agreed, banks are for profit organizations. Are you aware that the retailer who accepts the debit card is also charged a percentage of the purchase by the bank for accepting it? That's why you'll often see signs that say the retailer will only accept debit cards for purchases over a certain dollar amount. They'll waive that $5 fee if we use direct deposit, which we already do, but it has to be into the checking account, not the savings acct. where we currently have it sent. Guess we'll be changing that soon.

We used to get interest on our checking account. No more.

Now, there's a $7/month maintenance fee on our checking account, where it used to be free. Yes, they will waive these fees if we maintained a certain amount at the bank. We're on a fixed income, as are many people, and don't have the $$ to keep that amount of money with them.

The interest rate on our savings account is ridiculously low. Granted, loan interest rates are also low, but not as low as what you get on money markets, savings accounts or CD's.

It ticks me off that they pushed these debit cards on us and now they want to charge us for using them. Oh, now they're telling us we can use our credit cards instead and pay them off monthly. I'm sorry, but in our house, credit cards are not as easily controlled as debits. Which means the banks are now pushing the credit cards so you'll be paying more interest.

Now, $5 here and $7 there each month doesn't seem like a lot. But when you're on a fixed income or, like a lot of folks, unemployed or underemployed, $144 in one year makes a difference.

So, whether you see it or not, they are making money from your account and from each swipe of that debit card.

Thanks for the discussion. It was interesting and I was able to vent a bit!

[Thursday007]

Yes, gas stations here have one price for cash customers and another price per gallon if you use credit. But in consideration of inflation I was paying almost $14.00 a month 20 years ago every month for my checking account and now I pay nothing. So, $12.00 would be way less than that comparing today's dollar from 20 years ago.

[ylisa7]

Originally Posted by sun queen

I want to vent about these religious commercials playing over and over again in an attempt to make the religion of a presidential hopeful seem garden variety.... Why is that necessary? I think it is disgusting to exploit faith for political gain... But I guess it's the new "in game" strategy for candidates to win votes. I think those commercials are distasteful.

I agree....I won't vote for for them. So much for separation of Church and State I've had enough bad experiences with people who tell me "I'm a good Christian" They never turn out to be a good Christian. Your actions will speak louder than your words. I run far and fast from people who have to pat themselves on the back because they "think" they are good and they have to "announce" it. Then again...many fools will buy into it....wait and see


I want them to "walk the walk" as well as they "talk the talk". Anyone can talk b.s.

[AksarbeN]

^^ I noticed that as well. I really don’t want some cult type believers telling me about who the good guys are to vote for. We have one scumbag local legislator in the area who was recalled and now is running again to regain his seat. He’s a corrupt criminal who should have been prosecuted for his actions as a director of a state department years ago. However he has a great deal of religious influence in his district that voted him in as a state legislator. He now faces charges for criminal actions in the election process. Simply unbelievable how a religious group can continue to support their own in the political offices with no regard to their qualifications.

I don’t need commercials telling me how “they” are just like everyone else. They are controlled cult like zombies voting for their own.

You can sit in your garage for an hour a week and it won’t make you a car any more than you can go to church and that makes you a christian.

[taigagirl]

Originally Posted by younglisa7

I agree....I won't vote for for them. So much for separation of Church and State I've had enough bad experiences with people who tell me "I'm a good Christian" They never turn out to be a good Christian. Your actions will speak louder than your words. I run far and fast from people who have to pat themselves on the back because they "think" they are good and they have to "announce" it. Then again...many fools will buy into it....wait and see


I want them to "walk the walk" as well as they "talk the talk". Anyone can talk b.s.

I agree. I don't think going to Church makes anyone a good person. I've grown up around Ministers/Priests my whole life. Church and State need to be separate, no ifs, whats or buts. Seems like everyone is pushing their own agenda My Grandfather left the Church after WW1, after spending years as a sniper. I've never forgotten his words of wisdom "All you need to do to be a good Christian is to be a good person, help the less fortunate, and to give back to your country what you can as peacefully as possible". I think one of the reasons he was able to keep us all close was to separate religion and politics in his home and his life. It made for wonderful family times, where we learned to appreciate the differences we had for each other as human beings, and embrace our many differences.

[AksarbeN]

^^

I think one of the reasons he was able to keep us all close was to separate religion and politics in his home and his life. It made for wonderful family times, where we learned to appreciate the differences we had for each other as human beings.

Well said and very true!