Second Helpings.

Only 15 Weeks Until Pitchers And Catchers Report.

I first posted about the Cubs hiring Theo Epstein in mid-October. Finally, the Cubs officially announced the hire and had a press conference. Then the Cubs hired a few more people and had a few more press conferences. I found it interesting that Epstein talked about system wide changes occurring before results (World Series) will come to be. Imagine that, no such thing as an overnight success.

We're Your Bank And We're Listening, So Long As You're Screaming.

I talked about Bank of America's plan to charge $5/ month for a debit card and the importance of Occupy Wall Street in an October 3rd post.  A month later Bank of America has rescinded the not yet in place monthly fee. All it took was world wide protests and a pile of awful press. I'm sure BOA will find an even more noxious way to recapture those fees. Still the lesson of peaceful persistent protest should not be lost. Also, it's important to remember that prior to showing disgust via the ballot box, calls and faxes to elected officials can be very effective. Let the government know how you feel, on a regular basis. Hell, they work for us (at least in theory). 

It's Still Early Movember.

Finally, I talked about this month being Movember, for Men's Health Awareness, especially prostate cancer awareness. I am growing a mustache (pictures later) to participate in Movember. Still, it takes a while for the mustache to grow in, so I added one to my Twitter avatar. Why not join me? It also gives you the opportunity to tell the man you love most "If you really love me you'll let you doctor stick his finger up your...". Or maybe just suggest it's time for an annual check-up.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great weekend.

They're Just Not That Into Me. Or You.

My wife has been with the same bank for 25 years. Actually, she's been with six different banks, but she's had the same checking account. The account started with Horizon Federal Savings (her father worked for Teletype and Horizon had an arrangement for Teletype employees and their families) and has been with First National Bank of Chicago, Chase Manhattan  and now J.P. Morgan Chase with other interim ownership along the way.  I wasn't married (nor dating) my wife when she opened the account. I can only assume Horizon Federal Bank was anxious to build lifetime relationships and create lifetime customers. Things change.

 My Five Cents Worth.

The first time I realized the bank (FirstChicago at the time) wasn't as interested in relationships is when they instituted a charge for making a deposit with a teller. That's right, if I wanted to deposit a check, they wanted me to use the machine or the night drop. Since cash wasn't optimal in a night drop, there was no fee for making a cash deposit with a teller. So being indignant about being charged for service from a service industry, I would deposit checks and a nickel. No teller fee when cash was part of the deposit. I pissed off a lot of tellers, but I guess I wasn't the only one. Within six months, the teller fee was dropped.

New Fees? 

You Can Bank On It.

The banks are at it again. Bank of America has announced that beginning next year they will charge $5/month for the privilege of a debit card. That's $60 a year for access to your money. Bank of America won't be the only bank to institute this charge. JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo are already testing $3/month debit card fees in certain markets.

There are many reasons for this renewed emphasis on more fees. It could be that the big banks upper level management are money grubbing whores that can't start burning in hell next to Milton Friedman soon enough for my tastes, but that would be a political statement and I intend to avoid politics on this blog. The fact is, banks don't really make their money by paying interest on deposits and loaning out the deposits at a greater rate. Banks make more money on fees and investments. There is also less competition in the bank industry over the last decade via consolidations. My mother can no longer call her local banker (Bank of America owns her neighborhood bank) for service, she has to call a toll-free number. For my mother that doesn't see or hear well and doesn't own a computer it is a very sad situation.

Source: Wikipedia

 Occupy Your Thoughts.

There aren't any easy answers (there never are) but I there is one thing I know. If I choose to suffer in silence, I can only look forward to more (and larger) bank fees. There are some people objecting to this bank over reach as well as other bank bad behavior. You may have heard something about Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Wall Street is growing and organizing locally. I realize that it's not so easy to march around with signs once you have a house, family, job etc. I agree. But sometimes a bunch of small gestures add up to a large gesture. My nickel's worth with other peoples actions got teller fees eliminated. Maybe together we can work on the debit card fee and other fee frustrations. Do nothing and the message is the fees are just fine.

How do you feel about being charged a monthly fee for a debit card? Is it just the coast of doing business? Do you have any ideas on how to share your feelings with the big banks?