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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uicsl!mather
From: mather@uicsl.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Don't Bank On It - (nf)
Message-ID: <5283@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 31-Jan-84 22:42:36 EST
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.5283
Posted: Tue Jan 31 22:42:36 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 7-Feb-84 08:39:05 EST
Lines: 59

#N:uicsl:4300134:000:2649
uicsl!mather    Jan 31 16:53:00 1984

Is there anyone there that has anything nice to say about banks?

I'm getting sick and tired of my bank nickel and diming me to death.

There is a penalty if I make too many withdrawls/quarter from savings.
There is a penalty if I let my checking balance go below $100.00.
There is a penalty if I let my savings account go below $50.00
There is a fee to find out what my current balance is.

They get you hooked on these 24 hour tellers, then switch you to an
Easy Answer (here in IL) (which has new and glorious features) and
then charge you $12/year (reminds me of the surcharge levied by the
credit card companies.)

My bank's checking account balance statement looks like it was thought
up by a first grader (maybe second).

I asked for an Easy Answer card 10 weeks ago, it still hasn't arrived,
and they've ripped out the old 24 hour teller machine (so I have no
24 hour service yet.) When I asked what the deal was, they said, "It
takes time to process these things."

I talk to bankers in my church and they say that consumer accounts are
such piddly (spell doesn't seem to like this one) pains because people
write such small checks (0.50 checks are common, says he), have very low
accounts, bounce so many checks, blah, blah, blah, that we have to have
all of those charges to pay for that service (while he works in THE
BIGGEST building in the town, with THE PLUSHEST carpeting, etc. which
somehow I feel I have an interest in (no pun intended.))

I would request that any response does not include the usual:

"Why don't you keep enough money in the accounts?"
"Why don't you switch banks?"
"Why did you get an EA card if you are so against them?"
"Why don't you keep the balance accurately?"

a) I'm a student with only modest income.
b) All banks in town have similar charges. (I called)
c) It's free till April 1, then I burn it.
d) With direct deposit income checks, it is an easy way to verify it.

I am aware that banks are not governed by the usual trade laws, and in
fact have their own board that oversees all bank operation. It is usually
true that most banks MUST have similar charging arrangement, as determined
by this overseeing panel, so that one bank can't suddenly have 15% savings
account interest rates and get all the business. It just seems that the
'average' consumer get's the screw when it comes to banking.

Maybe, after I graduate, I'll be a systems programmer for CITIBANK and do
like Richard Pryor in "Superman III" did with the roundoff error. I could
use a new car.

                                 B.C.Mather
                                 Le Maitre
                                 uiucdcs!uicsl!mather