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.