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Saturday, Sep 06, 2008
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The systematic fleecing of America |
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| The systematic fleecing of America | ||
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by Dennis Cavalier -
Special to the SGN By now, everyone has heard about the sub-prime lending fiasco. Those banks and other lenders who cut corners to extend credit for high-risk home loans are now reaping what they have sown. The front page of every newspaper in the country has had at least one headline about it. What we are not seeing, however, are numerous headlines telling us about how those poor decisions are being paid for. Our current administration is attempting to counter this hit to our economy with a "stimulus package" that apparently is believed to save us all - $300 or $600 per person at a time. I don't know anyone on either side of the political fence that thinks this was actually going to help. The theory that sales of more LCD HDTVs made in China is going to prop our economy is comical, to say the least. I am just waiting for the foreclosures to fly back into the hands of the poor souls whose dreams were fueled and then dashed in less than two years time. The truth is, the real invoice for this fiasco is swishing quietly past each of us as we sleep in the guise of "fees." You might want to take scrutinous notice of the statements from your bank and how the stacking of the order of your deposits and debits/credits to your account manipulates the balance in order to force these fees. This is how they are recouping their losses, and instances of this are increasing at an alarming rate. A "prime" example would be my own account at a local small bank, where - for the purpose of exposing this manipulation - I recently opened a "free checking" account. They promised "free checking" and "superior customer service." Who could pass up that kind of deal, right? I deposited $100 to an account and started to use my debit card (another trap) to pay for items at the gas pump, the grocery store, the coffee shop. When I got near my total balance, I made another deposit in cash to cover the rest of the day's transactions. Lo and behold, as I checked my mailbox a couple of days later I found - you guessed it - a "Notice of Insufficient Funds" requesting I make a deposit to cover the overdraft on my account or risk additional fees of up to $5 per day until the balance was brought current. Oh yes & and also reporting to the credit agencies about my bad accounting practices and risk of lending to me. Oh, the hypocrisy! My deposit of cash had been posted on the day I made it, all right, but - here's the rub - not until all the debits had been posted first. When I brought this to the attention of the bank manager, I was told "It's how our system processes transactions. All debits and credits post first, then the deposits." It's a systematic process that he could not do anything to change. What a pity. Today - after spending only the money deposited to my "test" account - I have a negative balance of $450 that they claim I must repay immediately to save my credit rating. Of course, I am rushing down to the bank to turn over my firstborn child, my car and my wallet while I ink them all in to my Christmas card list. God forbid they report me. What is more tragic is that Democrat representatives from over 20 states signed on to a bill (HR946) proposed in the 110th Congressional Session in order to make the "systematic manipulation of consumer deposits and credits for the purpose of forcing overdraft protection fees" illegal, and that not one Republican representative signed on to this bill. It died in committee a year ago, without fanfare or due mourning. In checking for a history of such bills, I find there were several over the last couple of years, and all suffered the same wilting fate. So what is it that is so terrible about protecting the average citizen from banks manipulating the general population into the poorhouse? I am stunned to find that even in HR946's last dying breath, our own state's representatives signed on to the bill in its final moments simply to say they "agreed." Most had no idea it had even been raised in the first place. This is not satisfactory. Call me Don Quixote, but I am calling my "test bank" and telling them I have absolutely no intention of paying these fees. I am closing my account under protest, and following up - in writing, with documentation - to the credit agencies detailing my dispute over the forced fees. I'll let you all know how that goes. Meanwhile, it may be a good idea to contact your Congressional representatives and let them know we are not happy with this kind of federally-sanctioned pickpocketing. Sitting idly by and grumbling over our bank statements is not going to do the trick. Unless of course, you don't care. Doing the math on this equation, it's easy to see that the $450 overdraft fees are paying for the so-called "stimulus package." I'm so glad that they are giving me back my own money to go buy something. Have a nice day? I think not. |
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