Recent announcements from Bank of America regarding the instatement of a $5 monthly service fee for the privilege of using a debit card erupted in a tirade of twitted ferocity, with a great deal of carefully-crafted verbal witticisms directed at the bailout recipient and mortgage fraud extraordinaire.
Strangely enough, though such events would seem to imply customers are fed up with paying more and getting less for the price, Wells Fargo and Chase chimed in with plans to start charging customers as well, though at a mere $3. Though such a plan is unlikely to incite the wrath of the reasonable clientele, there is an ever-growing vocal horde of dissatisfied individuals whose idea of service does not include increasing payment.
Recent studies have shown that the value of bank services has declined; banks are no longer a place at which one invests or stores assets for long-term growth. They are merely business one pays to provide financial services such as checking and debit or credit cards. Many banks have interest rates below the average trend of inflation, meaning that leaving money in the bank is actually a way to lose money compared to other investments; and this is not even taking into consideration the fees associated with account ownership, which are likely to wipe out any interest accumulation accrued from owning the account. On top of this, sadly enough, the interest will have to be reported at tax time, whereas the fees probably can’t be written off.
And thus many bank clients are left with the conundrum of wondering why they bother investing their money in banks at all; with such pitiful service, and increasing fees at higher amounts for a wider variety of services, the average customer (especially the ones living from one paycheck to another) have to contend with further efforts on the part of the banks to take more of their money away.
It really shouldn’t seem like $3 a month is a big deal; but added across millions of customers, it adds up to billions of dollars. That’s money that could be going into local businesses, which in turn increases demand, and employment. But it’s all going to the banks.
The impetus for such an onerous charge is the recent swipe fee legislation, which brought with it some of the most intense lobbying from merchants against banks, which reduced the amount of money banks could charge for clients using a debit card. Rather than simply making less money or cutting costs on shareholder dividends, executive pay, bonuses and other “business expenses,” Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase and others simply decided on a new way to extract that money from their clients.
On the upside, at least now we know. Most people (aside from business owners) never paid the swipe fee any attention, but now that it will be coming out of their own pockets they’re more likely to be aware, and be very annoyed. And if the current trends are indicative of any long-term pattern, it means people aren’t happy. Credit unions (non-profit by nature) have been reporting record membership applications. Perhaps this represents the future of American cardholder membership patterns? One can hope.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.world-class-articles.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites
