Illinois Teen Learns About Bank Fees the Hard Way

[Admiral Yi]

What legitimate and socially useful ways of making a profit are there on a $10 savings account?

[Barrister]

Yeah, I've got to add my voice to the "he learned the hard lesson of growing up - you have to pay attention to your finances" crowd.

I dunno - sounds pretty petty of the bank to me.

You have a teenager with whom you can hopefully build a lifelong, and very profitable, customer relationship, who accidentally accumulated $200 in fees.  I would think the smart thing to do would be to waive the fees and tell the client how to avoid accumulating them in the future.

Or you  can sit there, demand the mother pay you $200, and never earn a nickle in business from the kid for his entire life.

[mongers]

What legitimate and socially useful ways of making a profit are there on a $10 savings account?

[Mono]

compound interest.

[/Mono]

[Capetan Mihali]

I don't understand the rationale for overdraft fees on debit card purchases.  Can't they just be declined at the point of sale if the balance doesn't cover it?  I overdrafted a few times over the course of a day or two on one debit/credit card (when I had changed jobs and mixed up which account was being direct deposited to) and racked up something like $60 in fees on $7 of overdraft coverage.  Whereas I've also had a regular credit card just declined because I was a buck or two over my limit.  I'm not sure if the mechanics of debit and credit are different or what?

The other element here is that generally the people getting screwed from overdrafts and minimum balance requirements tend to be the people who suffer the most from it (almost by definition with the minimum balances)...

[sbr]

My bank recently made overdraft protection opt-in, including on debit cards.  I had a debit card transaction declined for NSF a few months ago.

[fhdz]

Kind of a weird society were the base assumption is you have to be prepared for everyone and every institution will try and rip you off.

I'm not sure that's the base assumption. To me the base assumption is that if you sign up for a bank account, you ought to make yourself familiar with what happens if you fail to maintain the minimum balance, what happens when you overdraft, etc etc - and if at all possible take steps to make sure you don't end up in that situation. I don't expect the bank to manage my money for me. I expect them to hold my deposits and issue funds when I ask them to issue funds.

[Ed Anger]

Here is the way I sees it:

Mom nags kid to open bank account
Goes to first bank nearby
Doesn't read the fee schedule
Being a lazy cunt, she doesn't keep an eye on kid's account
Acts surprised when bank anally rapes her kid's account
Writes angry letter to newspaper/TV station

Fuck her and the cunt horse she rode in on.

[mongers]

Kind of a weird society were the base assumption is you have to be prepared for everyone and every institution will try and rip you off.

I'm not sure that's the base assumption. To me the base assumption is that if you sign up for a bank account, you ought to make yourself familiar with what happens if you fail to maintain the minimum balance, what happens when you overdraft, etc etc - and if at all possible take steps to make sure you don't end up in that situation. I don't expect the bank to manage my money for me. I expect them to hold my deposits and issue funds when I ask them to issue funds.

Well it sounds like it's you base assumption.

[fhdz]

Kind of a weird society were the base assumption is you have to be prepared for everyone and every institution will try and rip you off.

I'm not sure that's the base assumption. To me the base assumption is that if you sign up for a bank account, you ought to make yourself familiar with what happens if you fail to maintain the minimum balance, what happens when you overdraft, etc etc - and if at all possible take steps to make sure you don't end up in that situation. I don't expect the bank to manage my money for me. I expect them to hold my deposits and issue funds when I ask them to issue funds.

Well it sounds like it's you base assumption.

I guess what I'm getting at is that I don't see why anyone should assume anything different. The point of a bank isn't to be your personal finance manager, at least not where retail banking is concerned. If they laid out the terms and kid didn't pay attention, then by definition they didn't rip him off. Now if the bank misled him that's a different story altogether. I highly doubt they did.

[Barrister]

Kind of a weird society were the base assumption is you have to be prepared for everyone and every institution will try and rip you off.

I'm not sure that's the base assumption. To me the base assumption is that if you sign up for a bank account, you ought to make yourself familiar with what happens if you fail to maintain the minimum balance, what happens when you overdraft, etc etc - and if at all possible take steps to make sure you don't end up in that situation. I don't expect the bank to manage my money for me. I expect them to hold my deposits and issue funds when I ask them to issue funds.

Well it sounds like it's you base assumption.

I guess what I'm getting at is that I don't see why anyone should assume anything different. The point of a bank isn't to be your personal finance manager, at least not where retail banking is concerned. If they laid out the terms and kid didn't pay attention, then by definition they didn't rip him off. Now if the bank misled him that's a different story altogether. I highly doubt they did.

Well except that's how they advertise themselves - come to us for personal financial advice.

[garbon]

At the same time - they did rip him off. I mean the cost to them to keep his 5 bucks was pretty negligible and then they charged him a lot with no benefit to himself.

[Capetan Mihali]

I'm also not sure how clearly banks lay out their terms and conditions.  Better than the software or cell phone boilerplate, but still probably a bit obscure to the average person, especially if it's been a while since you opened the account.

[BVN]

I don't expect the bank to manage my money for me.

I do, because of this:

Well except that's how they advertise themselves - come to us for personal financial advice.

I even get phonecalls from my bank to warn me if an account is running low. 

[Admiral Yi]

I'm also not sure how clearly banks lay out their terms and conditions.  Better than the software or cell phone boilerplate, but still probably a bit obscure to the average person, especially if it's been a while since you opened the account.

The information on minimum balances and monthly fees is about as opaque as the instructions on a coin operated laundry machine.

[garbon]

I'm also not sure how clearly banks lay out their terms and conditions.  Better than the software or cell phone boilerplate, but still probably a bit obscure to the average person, especially if it's been a while since you opened the account.

The information on minimum balances and monthly fees is about as opaque as the instructions on a coin operated laundry machine.

Yeah they do typically put it in the brochures they give you when you open an account. I even remember discussing it with a couple bankers.