Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Chase Your Checking Away

I do my major banking with Chase and have several accounts with them. Not by choice of course, I originally opened my account in 1993 with Household Bank. They were eventually bought out by Home Savings of America, which then became Washington Mutual. And of course, we all know they are now Chase. We have several free checkings that we've kept over the years for ourselves as side accounts. You know, for gas, lunch or extra little things instead of using our main account.

Well, the fees are here now! I had perhaps $30 sitting in my checking and now it's $20. As of 3/7/2011, they are adding a $10 fee. That is of course, UNLESS you meet one of the following criteria:

* At least one single direct deposit of $500 or more,
* A minimum daily balance of $1,500 or more,
* An average balance of $5,000 across all Chase deposit accounts (checking, savings, CDs) and/or investment accounts with Chase Investment Services Corp,
* Pay $25 or more in qualifying account fees (not including this monthly service fee)

While it was nice to have our own side checking accounts, which pay NO interest as it is, it is time to say:
Why? Well, for one, we bailed these mother f*ckers out with OUR money, and this is how they repay the people. And another thing, the hardest hit people who can't meet these requirements are poor people, which is most people (and growing).

and I borrow this quote from PND:

"This was the year America finally took on the power and greed of the Wall Street banks.

And the banks won.

They dodged the bullet of real reform, probably for all time. They bounced back to post huge profits, helped by legal theft from the middle class. They completed their takeover of both political parties – and bought themselves a new Congress even more pliable than the old one. Middle-class America is flattened, devastated and broke. The bankers that caused it all have escaped punishment. They’re raking in huge profits. Oh, and the tax cuts just got extended for high earners, too!"


Luckily, our main checking account will meet the requirement for what I hope will be a long time. We still have savings with them but they seem to be okay for now. We've also taught ourselves to NEVER use an ATM that isn't Chase, unless it's an extreme emergency.

Why? I'll give you the simple math: You pull out $20 at a 7/11 ATM, which charges you $2.50. Then within that period, you will be charged an additional $2.00 at your bank for using a non-Chase ATM. So that $20 you pulled out cost you $24.50, which means you paid 22.50% to get $20.

And you know what? It's only going to get worse.

6 comments:

  1. credit union man. seriously join a credit union.

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  2. Some are pretty good, others are slowly mimicking the big banks. Charles Schwab has an awesome checking too. I also bank with other internet banks like ING and HSBC and have had no problem with them or fees.

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  3. If you have a mortgage with Chase the fee might be waived for one qualifying acct., but you'd have to decide that your Chase relationship has value.

    Next time you watch "It's a Wonderful Life", you'll now know how the real story ends. So long to the S&Ls and say hello to the banks.

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  4. Timely. I was at my Bank "WF" which is WF because the three previous banks were bought out and sold. I turned over a CD that earns a whopping .30 percent. Thats about the cost of a stamp. I now wonder when I use my ATM card at Vons if I'm experiencing the same fees. Really, I don't look that carefully. I'm thinking about going to look into credit unions. One is up the block from me

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  5. Pasa adj, check your monthly statement, if you see some kind of Non-WF or Non-Atm fee, that would be it.

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  6. Really something to ponder over and I completely agree with you.

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