Well I Vented Up On Forestry And Logging

[Autocar]

Here is my second vent for the day we get a letter from a bank that we have money in a saving account telling use the account has been dormant and if we didn't put some money in they were going to take fee out because it has been dormant for over a year. I was hot right now so I go to the bank this morning and they tell me it is a law the goverment has that after a year being dormant they get the fee money. I said it once I will say it again it is time as a American for us to take our country back from these greedy S.O.B.'s in Washington. We never had any kids but how can a parent tell there kids Here we are getting a saving account for you so when you get older your have a nest egg. Good luck with that it wouldn't surprize me if the goverment would have a bill for the child. Well I guess I have blowed off enough steam but just sick of the crap that goes on in this country.

[Treeflea24]

State Bank?
Same happened to us about a month ago. 
From the notice that I read, the law required that the bank notify you that you are about to be charged a fee for going dormant. I didnt take it to mean that the law required them to charge you.
In our case it was a savings account we opened with our child's name on it, to get him used to banking and have a place to put summer work earnings. I think he got $.02 interest by the time they tried to apply the $5 dormancy fee...

[doc henderson]

I have a debit card to use at an atm if I ever need cash after hours.  if you do not use it for 2 months, it is stopped.  that makes no sense.  It is for the occasional emergency.  they say it is for our security.  so, I keep cash in my wallet.  is that more secure?  If you wanted to take out cash in large denominations, the bank needs to order in the bills...???   what is the purpose of a bank?

[Hilltop366]

what is the purpose of a bank?

To charge interest and fees to make money, they are not in it for fun.;D

[doc henderson]

I agree, but we pay fees, and they get our money and make money loaning it to others and only pay us a tiny fraction in interest, as noted.  We are supposed to get service as well.  they did wave the 5-dollar fee on a cashier's check recently.  If they concentrate on the fees and forget the service, we have a really good mattress.      the point is I have to carry cash, cause if I need some after hours and more than 2 months since my last use of the atm, I am screwed.

[Hilltop366]

Yup, they are trying to get you to use your ATM card more because ATMs don't have pay checks and pension plans and.......

On the opposite side of the scale I haven't been inside our personal bank in over a year, I deposit my cheques and get a little cash at the ATM, the rest is on CC and paid when the bill comes and on-line banking.

[doc henderson]

I go to the bank once a year or so, my wife does the banking and bill paying.  we pay everything with credit cards, or auto withdrawals.  then pay the balance on the credit cards.  

[Hilltop366]

What I get a kick out of is when banks raise a monthly fee 25¢, most people grumble but it's only 25¢ so no big deal but from the banks point of view if they have 4 million customers that get the fee increase thats another 1 million extra dollars a month for doing the same thing.

If only I had a way to tap into that. :D

[Magicman]

I had to close a Credit Union account that I have had since October, 1962.  Over the years we had taken small loans, financed vehicles, as well as built up a nest egg.  Since I retired back in 1994, it had fairly well remained unused but it did still contain some $$ that was making interest and was available "just in case".

This year we got a statement showing that they had subtracted more fee than the monthly interest was adding.  It was just the thought of having to close an account that I had since I was 19 years old.  60 years.  The account number was only 4 digits when I wrote a check for $5 when I opened it.  

I know and kinda understand rules and stuff, but it was like burying an old friend when I closed the account.   :-\ 

[charles mann]

@doc henderson just wait till they go cashless everywhere or the next up and coming plandemic. As with the last plandemic, i went out of the way to visit an atm for cash so i could pay with it just bc signs said plastic or exact cash. I would try to get close to exact but sometimes, that just cant happen. 
I do agree with you though, what good is an emergency card if they deactivate it every few months. Its conditioning we the people to compliant to the masters. 

If i rcv a letter saying give them (bank/gov) money for fees or for them to use for collateral, id just pull my money and close the account. Cash will soon become useless but precious metals hopefully will keep its use. 

[nativewolf]

Here is my second vent for the day we get a letter from a bank that we have money in a saving account telling use the account has been dormant and if we didn't put some money in they were going to take fee out because it has been dormant for over a year. I was hot right now so I go to the bank this morning and they tell me it is a law the goverment has that after a year being dormant they get the fee money. I said it once I will say it again it is time as a American for us to take our country back from these greedy S.O.B.'s in Washington. We never had any kids but how can a parent tell there kids Here we are getting a saving account for you so when you get older your have a nest egg. Good luck with that it wouldn't surprize me if the goverment would have a bill for the child. Well I guess I have blowed off enough steam but just sick of the crap that goes on in this country.

The law just lets bank charge you a fee.  It does not make them do so.  The banks are just being greedy.  Change banks, go take your cash to a credit union that will agree not to charge you a fee.  I'm sorry your bank is being a jerk about it.  I feel your stress and life is for sure stressful enough without that crap.

[Ljohnsaw]

I opened a line of credit at a bank to purchase my cabin property because my credit union wouldn't loan me the money for a vacation property.

I had to open a checking and savings account, too. About a year into it, I was getting an inactive account charge of $5 per month. I just had $25 in each because I didn't need or use them. Got them to reverse the charges and I set up a monthly auto transfer of $5 from each account to the other.

Fast forward to this spring. I'm out traveling and I don't look at these accounts. I get home and there are several overdraft letters. Seems that because my credit line amount borrowed dropped below $25k, they were assessing a $24.95 fee each month on the checking account!

I got them to reverse the three months of charges, took my $30 out of each account, closed them and also paid off my credit line.

I have until October 12th to decide if I want to close the credit line or pay the yearly $75 maintenance fee.

I like my credit union. No fees, no real interest either!

[beenthere]

Credit Unions do not pay federal taxes, and Banks have to. One of the reasons that Credit Unions have cheaper fees. 
Banks are a business.. making money is part of that business. Credit Unions are more like a Club. 

[Southside]

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered."

Thomas Jefferson

[Ianab]

Vote with your feet. If everyone puts up with the scammy fees, the banks keep adding them on. 

We have a good local bank, which started out more like a Credit Union way back. The history over the years is quite interesting.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TSB_(New_Zealand)

It's now owned by a Charitable Foundation which takes and distributes the profits around the community (about $20 mil a year). And they do this without charging excessive fees, in fact no fees at all on regular accounts. So they operate as a business, and turn a decent profit, without having to rip of their customers. 

Most of the other "Savings Banks" merged and were bought out by a multinational. But even then competition and Govt regulations tend to keep them honest(ish). 

[21incher]

You won't have to worry about banks in a couple years the way the current administration is moving forward with digital currency.  We are one election from a cashless society.  

[Ron Wenrich]

The problem with digital currency is the amount of greenbacks that are distributed around the world.  Much of the cash is outside the US.  They would have to call all that cash back home.  They would also have to ban cryptocurrency.  They could ban the use of precious metals.  It wasn't that long ago when it was illegal to own gold in the US.

I listen to Catherine Austin Fitts at times.  She said the cure for bank fees and their overreach is to use cash.  I have yet to reach a point where cash is not accepted, especially in other countries.  I don't have an ATM card.  Emergency use is a credit card.

[Ianab]

The US is well behind many other countries on the "cashless" front. But it's still based on regular Govt backed $ ( or whatever they use). I dont know what % of US dollars actually exists in cash, but it will be only a small amount. ALL the really big transactions are only computer entries already. 

[Southside]

Glad to be loosing that race.

[Old Greenhorn]

I guess that makes us a winner!

The Winner - YouTube

[Ron Wenrich]

There's about $2.3 trillion in US cash.  The estimate is that 45% of that is outside the US.  While a good deal of purchases are already digital, there is still a lot of commerce done in cash.  Mostly with small businesses and individuals.  Hard to track.

[Ianab]

A lot of transactions, but the BIG ticket items are all electronic. Elon didnt show up with a truckload of cash when he bought Twitter, but 44 billion changed " hands".

[newoodguy78]

To me it's a good thing the little guys still operate with cash or means other than electronically. They're the ones keeping this country operating. What does Twitter do other than waste people's time and promote pointless bickering between strangers?
This country would operate just fine without it, same can't be said for the lowly working people.

[Ianab]

Of the ~$2.3 trillion that is in circulation, only about $54 billion actually exists as banknotes. That's about 2%. The rest is basically electronic. At the retail end of the economy sure there is cash circulating, so you see it every day. But it makes zero difference to the economy whether you trade small slips of paper with pictures of Presidents on them, or transfer numbers on your banks electronic ledger.  

[Cedarman]

When electronic bits change hands, the government knows it.  When dollar bills change hands only two people may know it.