Written by Ben Carter
It's incredibly fitting that we sometimes realize things about our own lives that only arrive after we hear of news of something happening to another person or group of people.
It would be the equivalent of having your girlfriend break-up with you a week after hearing your 67-year-old Aunt Meredith and Uncle George are getting divorced for the third time, or realizing you've had an uncomfortable rash in your pelvic area after hearing a story about a Chlamydia outbreak at a Colorado Springs high school (just Google it).
Yesterday, associated editor at @Money, Susie Poppick published a story about a new survey that revealed data on banking institutions that did the best and worst jobs of satisfying their customers. Credit unions fared the best, with the highest customer satisfaction rates, while Wells Fargo and Bank of America sat at the bottom of group. This isn't incredibly interesting. Larger institutions usually struggle to serve large numbers of customers as the size of the company reduces their ability to tend to customers diligently and personably. Just ask the larger of the cable companies in America.
The incredibly fitting realization I had after reading this story was that my own Bank of America checking account had been debited $8.95 for a "Monthly Maintainance Fee" (shown above). I'd never before seen (or noticed) this charge and so immediately became concerned that someone be might using my checking account for a marginally profitable debit card scheme.
What I realized only moments later was that it was Bank of America who was comitting fruad... Or more correctly, charging me for holding a savings account with their institution.
And there, in plain sight, only hours after reading the story about Bank of America sucking at serving their customers, I too had definitively become an unsatisfied customer. I could go on about how a large corporation shouldn't be charging small time savings and checking account holders like myself, or how they actually can use the money in my savings account to create profits for their company... But I'd rather use the time you're reading this to sound the alarm.
Go check your bank statements! Go online and check your account! A plague has arrived much like the high school Chlamydia outbreak and it's come in the form of ticky-tack bank fees! Hide your kids, hide your wife, the large, customer service deficient banks are coming for your money in the form of $8.95 in monthly fees and we need to resist! Move your money out... They want to suck your financial blood, slowly and without your knowledge like a mosquito who bites you at Uncle George's summer barbecue after your fifth Corona!
The banks are coming, the banks are coming!!!
Now... Excuse me while I go find a credit union to transfer all my money to.
Did you know large banks are starting to charge for simple checking and savings accounts? Are you willing to move your money to a place that doesn't charge these fees?