Ok, so my last post was apparently very timely. In it, I was bitching about how banks know for a fact that you don’t have enough funds in your account before authorizing a debit card transaction, and they could decline the whole transaction, but they authorize it anyway just so they can charge you an overdraft fee.
I logged into my bank today and saw this animated banner, which states right on it that regulation was now giving me a choice between getting charged overdraft fees or having my transaction(s) declined instead (and avoiding fees):
Regulation giving me a choice
Like manna from heaven, regulation came down and forced Chase to allow me to choose if I wanted to have my transactions declined due to insufficient funds, versus being charged a truckload of fees. Obviously Chase could have given me this choice at any time, but it took government to step in and force them to offer me that choice.
I’m not someone who thinks government should coddle it’s citizens and care-take them cradle to grave. But I also think government should listen to its citizens and put the fucking smack-down on businesses like banks that do their best to do the worst for their customers. Free markets only work if there is a business incentive to do better for customers (a proxy for society at large) than the competition. Banks make more money fucking their customers over than doing right by them, so it’s not in their economic interest to compete in a way that would better the customer.
This time, I’m thanking “big government” for forcing Chase to give me a choice.
Personally, I wouldn’t put a whole lot of faith in the Government to stick it to the banks because they’re too dependent on them just like we are. The Federal Reserve runs the country, not the Government. The stuff we get to see and hear about the Government standing up for us is basically just a dog and pony show.
To gain a better understanding of why banks are the way they are, and why we’re in the situation we’re in Google “Fiat Money.”
Here’s a few links:
http://www.kwaves.com/fiat.htm
http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/schoon/2008/0623.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_money
There is a really awesome video out there that explains the Fiat Money System quite well but I can’t find it at the moment. It is about an hour long and well worth watching.
Yeah, I hate banks too.
Interesting. Thanks for commenting, I’ll check it out.
This is the one worth watching re the subject of money/banks etc:
http://thoughtmaybe.com/video/money-as-debt