Bank charges "inactive account" fee for a savings account

[Stinsok]

I'm smokin' mad. We have money put away for my daughter in a savings account. They are charging us 10.00 per month for saving money. It's time to change banks.

[MJ5150]

Yep, one of the banks around here does that too. We just post a transaction to it monthly to avoid the fee for being "inactive".

-Mike

[Stinsok]

Nice trick to avoid paying interest. I buying an Army 6x6 and running it through the front door (at least I'm not bitter.)

[UncleFluffy]

Originally Posted by MJ5150

Yep, one of the banks around here does that too. We just post a transaction to it monthly to avoid the fee for being "inactive".

-Mike

I have a couple of accounts like that. On the 15th, there's an automatic transfer from A to B. On the 18th, there's an automatic transfer from B to A. Annoying, but saves me $240 a year...

[pacojas]

i got charged for being charged at my bank!!!

i transfered funds from one acct to another to cover a check and they told me it got there late.
i say,... both accts are at your bank.
they say,... oh sorry, it must've been a software glitch. here's the $70. we stole

my heart goes out to those who DON'T check there statements!!!

most large institutions (ie., banks, telcos, etc.) WILL NOT contact you for accounting errors unless YOU make it.

[stevetx19]

can you just deposit $10 bucks a month into the account to keep it active?

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by stevetx19

can you just deposit $10 bucks a month into the account to keep it active?

I think it's more of a principle thing, surely you shouldnt need to be doing that to use it as a savings account!


I'm currently being shafted by my bank.

It's a student account (has the perk of a 0% overdraft).
When I started my current course, took the paperwork in etc. They took copies and told me it would be fine, it would remain a student account for the remainder of the course (til 2013).

Last month I got a letter saying my course had ended (?!) and they were changing it to a regular account (means I would get charged for being in my overdraft).

When I contacted them, told them I was still a student and that they had the paperwork, they checked it and confirmed that I still had student status, but that I couldnt hold a student account for more than 6 years.

I told them I've had it for 7 years and that I was told in branch, that it would cover me til 2013. They basically said it isn't their problem, and because I was told that in branch, they won't do anything about it (basically, record anything anyone in the bank tells you!)

(ok, so it sounds silly, but I can't really afford the extra £60 a month they want to charge (£2 a day) for using the overdraft, I'm in my 8th year of being a post-high school student so money isn't exactly a flowin in. Because they had told me I had til 2013 with 0%, I had planned to be out of it by then, not with the two month notice they have given me. Sadly it looks like I'm going to have to flog a fair whack of my bass gear to sort this out. Needs must I guess, but it's a pain in the ass, and it took me a good decade to build up my hoard!)

[JimB52]

Originally Posted by Stinsok

I'm smokin' mad. We have money put away for my daughter in a savings account. They are charging us 10.00 per month for saving money. It's time to change banks.

I thought children's accounts were exempt from such charges.

[MJ5150]

Banks are in the business of making money. An account just sitting there accruing interest for someone else isn't helping the bank out. I don't like that some banks do this, but it makes sense.

-Mike

[guy n. cognito]

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

I think it's more of a principle thing, surely you shouldnt need to be doing that to use it as a savings account!


I'm currently being shafted by my bank.

It's a student account (has the perk of a 0% overdraft).
When I started my current course, took the paperwork in etc. They took copies and told me it would be fine, it would remain a student account for the remainder of the course (til 2013).

Last month I got a letter saying my course had ended (?!) and they were changing it to a regular account (means I would get charged for being in my overdraft).

When I contacted them, told them I was still a student and that they had the paperwork, they checked it and confirmed that I still had student status, but that I couldnt hold a student account for more than 6 years.

I told them I've had it for 7 years and that I was told in branch, that it would cover me til 2013. They basically said it isn't their problem, and because I was told that in branch, they won't do anything about it (basically, record anything anyone in the bank tells you!)

(ok, so it sounds silly, but I can't really afford the extra £60 a month they want to charge (£2 a day) for using the overdraft, I'm in my 8th year of being a post-high school student so money isn't exactly a flowin in. Because they had told me I had til 2013 with 0%, I had planned to be out of it by then, not with the two month notice they have given me. Sadly it looks like I'm going to have to flog a fair whack of my bass gear to sort this out. Needs must I guess, but it's a pain in the ass, and it took me a good decade to build up my hoard!)

I'm not quite sure how things work in your part of the world but, in general, overdraft lines of credit are NOT meant to be permanent sources of capital. Rather, they are intended to bridge short periods of time (a few days) in which you do not have sufficient funds to cover your outflows.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by guy n. cognito

I'm not quite sure how things work in your part of the world but, in general, overdraft lines of credit are NOT meant to be permanent sources of capital. Rather, they are intended to bridge short periods of time (a few days) in which you do not have sufficient funds to cover your outflows.

It's the way student accounts work over here (generally), because income tends to be pretty low for the most part. Being that I don't have much in the way of holidays means I can't work during them to bring in extra cash. During UG I would slowly slip into the overdraft over the year, work my ass off during the summer and get well into the positive, then repeat. The best part of my scholarship disappears pretty rapidly to pay for rent, bills & food (see "Hunger" thread on living for $7 a day), tho I have been earning a bit extra on the side (tuition, demonstrating etc) which is being used to slowly work out of the OD.

Basically, I had worked my finances around what I was told by the bank would happen. If they had said it would be this way, I would have deferred the phd for a year so I could work and build up some capital.

(if I finish this course, I'll have completed 2 degrees and a doctorate with only ~£15k of debt, not something many US students could claim )

Originally Posted by MJ5150

Banks are in the business of making money. An account just sitting there accruing interest for someone else isn't helping the bank out. I don't like that some banks do this, but it makes sense.

-Mike

Don't banks make money by investing your money (using it as their own capital) and using the profit from it?

Either that or by basically going bust and then letting government money buy them out and continue to screw the customers . . .

[Jay Ralston]

Man I am glad my bank doesn't do any of this crap! They actually take good care of us and don't do stupid things like the stuff stated above. One of the worst banks I have ever dealt with though was Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank. I will never use any of those guys under any circumstances.

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by Stinsok

I'm smokin' mad. We have money put away for my daughter in a savings account. They are charging us 10.00 per month for saving money. It's time to change banks.

you oughta see the thievin' varmints up here......they want a three grand minimum deposit that they pay no interest on just to get "free" electronic banking

[Stinsok]

Originally Posted by stevetx19

can you just deposit $10 bucks a month into the account to keep it active?

While it's not billions, the bank is using that money.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by Stinsok

While it's not billions, the bank is using that money.

When you consider the amount of money they'll be pulling in from the entire customer base, it'll be a pretty scarey sum of cash they are playing with!

[Jim Campbell]

Originally Posted by Stinsok

While it's not billions, the bank is using that money.

it's juts like paypal.....your dough ain't all that much,but when you have everyone's money in one place you get interest daily.....why do you think paypal always takes the full maximum 10 days to clear an electronic transaction that's done in a few seconds....

[knucklehead G]

I change banks frequently, every time I run into an issue like this. I've got a good relationship going with a small credit union now that cannot afford to lose any members, so I think I'm set for a while.

I was with Community America Credit Union for a while, big one here in the midwest. High advertising budget, they have a ball park and everything. I used my debit card at a vending machine one day when I was pinched for time - three charges, $0.85, $0.85 and $1.00. They didn't show up for two weeks, and they did at a time I was completely broke. Total I wound up $2.50 overdrawn, with a $25.00 fee per transaction. They charged me $75.00 on $2.50. I met the branch manager that day, and she's the one who refunded the money. I walked out of her office and closed my account.


Keep an eye on your wallet boys, I received a spam letter from one bank saying they'd offer a free checking account if I kept a minimum balance of $10,000 for a year. That minimum balance crap was in really, really tiny little letters.

[Bongolation]

In the State of California, the government seizes inactive accounts.

I don't remember the name for the legal concept. [Edit: Escheat.]

Amazing, but true. I very nearly missed having them seize one of mine. I missed it by less than thirty days.

[Bard2dbone]

I'm remembering a clip I saw from South Park that would have been hilarious...if it were funny. They were in a bank and one of the main kids put like $100 in an account and while he's standing there the banker says "Well, we'll put that into a money market aaaaaand it's gone."

[MakiSupaStar]

The fact that we bailed these crooks out just slays me. I have my accounts in a credit union and overall I'm pretty happy with it. If you want to read more about their arrogant disregard for their common customers read this.

'Citigroup Plutonomy memos'. The first one is here:

http://www.cps-news.com/wp-content/m..._Oct162005.pdf

The second version released a little later is here.

http://www.cps-news.com/wp-content/m...2_Mar52006.pdf