by
Carl Hampton
11/14/2006
I know that there are times that I would
rather use my credit card to make a purchase
but my conscience tells me to use money that
I have, not spend money that I don't have.
For the most part I listen to my conscience.
I have like most people experienced a few
overdraft fees in my life time because of
it. You would think that, just like a credit
card if you don't have the funds, the card
would be declined. All the banks use that
card to their utmost advantage by letting
you spend money that isn't there. They
happily cover what you don't have and then
charge you those large overdraft fees.
Unfortunately for the bank customers this is
a very common practice all across the U.S.
That may change in California soon due to
some recent class-action lawsuits. This is
what normally happens. You have a set amount
of funds available in your bank account, you
then use your card multiple times throughout
the day and spend more than what you have.
Instead of the bank issuing one overdraft
fee for the overall money they will now
charge you an overdraft fee of ALL the
purchases you made that put your bank
account into a negative dollar situation.
The real question here is, does this make
any sense? You OBVIOUSLY didn't have the
money in the first place but the bank has
the nerve to charge you MORE MONEY (that you
don't have) to make the situation even
worth.
Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citibank
are the three banks that are under suit in
California. Citibank states that the law
suit is without merit. All the banks spend
vast amounts of money on advertising
campaigns designed to draw us into their
bank as a “Valued Customer”. If we are,
as they tell us a “Valued Customer” then
why did they allow us to spend more than we
had available. It would seem to me that the
cost to their profits is the real reason why
they seem unwilling to do anything about
this situation.
Debit Cards are a great way to stop us from
over spending and budgeting all we now need
is for the banks to do what is RIGHT for us.
Lets hope the law suit in California forces
the banks to rethink this policy.
Have an opinion or a question you would like
me to answer, then write me!
http://www.CarlHampton.com
