With all this talk of credit unions and how they’re better than banks, I can’t help but wonder how long it will be until the big banks like Bank Of America and Chase convince (bribe) Congress to outlaw credit unions.
America’s three biggest banks — JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC) and Wells Fargo (WFC) — earned more than $6 billion just from ATM and overdraft fees last year, according to an analysis by SNL Financial and CNNMoney.
Hillary Clinton called ATM fees “usurious.” Bernie Sanders vowed that if he’s elected president, he will cap ATM fees at $2.
My bank (PNC) reimburses me for all ATM fees charged by other banks for up to 8 transactions per month. Or at least, they would if I ever used an ATM. They also have automatic overdraft protection, and have never once charged me a fee of any kind.
Bank of America used to pull all kinds of shenanigans with deposit and withdrawal dates to try to get me to overdraft. The first time they got me, I complained and they withdrew the fee. The second time, they refused, and I closed my accounts the next day. I don’t know why anyone would do business with one of the big four banks, ever. They all have horrible reputations for this nonsense.
We caught Chase doing the same thing to us, and went to close the account. The teller tried to come up with some BS about how we couldn’t close the account until we paid the fees…I have a vague recollection of my husband threatening to call the police if she didn’t.
Eventually we got them to close the account (didn’t have to pay the fee) and have been banking happily ever after at our local credit union ever since.
Banks and businesses will try to bully you if they think they can get away with it.