Financial Reforms

tlj009 · 10-20-2010, 12:20 PM

Say goodbye to traditional free checking - Yahoo! Finance

So, because of the new regulations to protect customers from overdraft fees, free checking is going away. Who else sees a problem with this?

Bryan · 10-20-2010, 01:40 PM

Free checking is actually a relatively new thing. For years you had to maintain a certain balance or pay a monthly service charge. It wasn't until the last decade that we began to see "free" checking.

***Art*** · 10-20-2010, 01:44 PM

It makes sense. The banks are finding other ways to get their money. I don't like it, but I would rather have my fees be a known quantity when I open the account than have ridiculous charges for dumb things.

jthomas1600 · 10-20-2010, 02:19 PM

So those who are careless with their check books will have less to fear in over draft penalties and those of us who never are over drawn will be making up what the bank looses by having to eat the overdrafts. The same is happening with credit cards. For at least the last 15 years it has been relatively easy to get a credit card with no annual fee. In fact all the mail promos for new cards we used to get were like that. Not anymore. No that credit cards companies are being limited on how they can penalize those who are late on payments etc. All the card promos we are getting now are for cards with annual fees of $80 or more.

tlj009 · 10-20-2010, 02:24 PM

Quote:

It makes sense. The banks are finding other ways to get their money. I don't like it, but I would rather have my fees be a known quantity when I open the account than have ridiculous charges for dumb things.

I think that jthomas covers this rather well. I just don't see the problem with having ridiculous charges for overdraft. Overdraft does not seem like a dumb thing to have a high penalty. And yet, those who are responsible with their money are being penalized so that carelessness can be rewarded.

acrossthesirion · 10-20-2010, 02:39 PM

How wide spread it this?

My wife and I use a local bank, and don't actually have that much money (in comparison to most "middle class" families) so maybe we're sheltered from this...but can't you just switch banks? I mean, the bank we use isn't getting rid of free checking (at least at the moment) so I'd assume there are others out there. Isn't that the benefit this whole "capitalism" thing everyone is so excited about?

jthomas1600 · 10-20-2010, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by acrossthesirion

How wide spread it this?

My wife and I use a local bank, and don't actually have that much money (in comparison to most "middle class" families) so maybe we're sheltered from this...but can't you just switch banks? I mean, the bank we use isn't getting rid of free checking (at least at the moment) so I'd assume there are others out there. Isn't that the benefit this whole "capitalism" thing everyone is so excited about?

I'm sure not every bank will do away entirely with free checking. Yours may be one of those. Yours also may not have gotten around to it yet. Also part of the consumer protection act (it wasn't all bad, in fact probably I think a lot of good) included limitations on how financial institutions make changes to existing accounts. So you may get free checking for a long time as long as you stay where you're at, but if you move or have to change banks for some reason it may be different.

JerryLove · 10-20-2010, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jthomas1600

So those who are careless with their check books will have less to fear in over draft penalties and those of us who never are over drawn will be making up what the bank looses by having to eat the overdrafts.

Banks rarely if ever loose anything in overdrafts.

Just like how banks loose nothing at all in bounced checks... yet they charge signifigantly.

Quote:

The same is happening with credit cards. For at least the last 15 years it has been relatively easy to get a credit card with no annual fee. In fact all the mail promos for new cards we used to get were like that. Not anymore. No that credit cards companies are being limited on how they can penalize those who are late on payments etc. All the card promos we are getting now are for cards with annual fees of $80 or more.

They also penalized those who'se credit score dropped because they lost their job or took out a loan. No need to actually miss a payment on your credit card..

And there are tons with annual fees anyway. It's not new. Not everyone had them before, not everyone will have them now.

Basic tennent of capitalism: if you don't like the terms of the credit card, don't get one.

Your assertions all seem to want to strongly imply that those who are late on payments, or who bounce a check, are creating a fiscal burden that someone must ante-up money for... I think it's simply false.