Mike Iacuessa learned two things from his recent experience with a Wells Fargo checking account. First thing: It's expensive to be poor.
Iacuessa said that in August he overdrew his account with three transactions that together totaled about $28, triggering several $35 overdraft fees and $5 daily charges totaling $205.17. Furious, he walked away from the account. After receiving a few collection letters, he figured Wells Fargo charged it off.
"I refused to pay it," said Iacuessa, who is 45 and lives in San Francisco, Calif. "I was broke. I couldn't anyway."
In October, Iacuessa said, Wells Fargo called him up and made an offer. "One of the managers said, 'If you come back and open a checking account we'll waive those fees.' They're around the corner from my house, so I said OK."
This is where Iaceussa went wrong.
Read the full story here.
I just shake my head about overdraft fees. Yes, the banks have gotten outrageous with them.
However, these days, how hard is it really, to know what is actually in the checking account?
I remember when I was growing up about 100 years ago, my Mom was the one who managed the cash flow in our house. Every month, she sat at the kitchen table with that bank statement, checkbook, tablet and pen, and a stack of canceled checks. Every single month, she labored over the numbers, until it was balanced. To.the.penny!
There were no calculators, debit cards, ATM machines, computers or IVR systems on the bank's phone line. She managed to keep the account balanced, simply by recording every single check written, deposit made and DOING THE MATH.
Honestly, I don't know if my parents ever paid any overdraft fees, or if the banks even charged them back then. Knowing how careful Mom was, I'd be surprised if they ever bounced a check.
I am far from perfect; even further from wealthy, but I somehow manage what little money I have, and do NOT pay fees to the bank IF it can be avoided, and usually it can be avoided.
Like Mom did, I record every single transaction in my checkbook ledger, and DO THE MATH.
Thanks to the technology available these days, I have it so much easier than Mom did. I can and do check my account every few days, online. I take my red pencil, and mark off transactions that have cleared, and grab the calculator to adjust for any that haven't. I even use pencil instead of pen in my checkbook ledger, so if I find a math error, I can erase and correct it.
If more people monitored their accounts properly, the banks would not be making a killing on overdraft fees.
How hard is it, to keep the checkbook balanced, and avoid fees? Come on!
OK, I'll admit I have screwed up a couple times over the years. There was the time I deposited a child support check, and instead of verifying it had cleared, I wrote a check to the kids' school for some field trip or other. Yep--you guessed it--child support check bounced, and in turn, my check to the school bounced. I learned from that experience, and never let that happen again!
I don't like banks, and do whatever I can, to see that I don't pay any fees to the greedy bastards!
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