Pearl Harbor Day For Banks!

Like a plague of locusts, banks are eating our wealth.  Excessive fees for bad service.  Why do we put up with banks?  Here is one of our recent beefs with banks:

11/26/2010 Pre auth DIS*DISNEY MOVIE CLUB LOC: 800-362-4587 CA -1.00 -36.00

11/29/2010 Overdraft Fee -34.00 -35.00

11/29/2010 DBT CRD 0449 11/30/10 22000660 MVQ*CREDSCORECOMPLETE 800-316-8750 CT Card# **0847 -1.00 -1.00

Dear Ms. Phoebe and Ms. Aleda - Please help me clear up problems with my son Derek's account (Ckg 3958) with First Financial. The first difficulty began when he turned 18 in September and we wanted to change him from minor account under our name to his own adult account. A manager at the Mt. Healthy branch, a nice shaven-headed gentleman, tried to make the changes for Derek, but all it seemed to do was disable his ATM access. He became frustrated and made his own adult decision to open an account at another bank. I went with him on Nov. 1 to the Springdale Road branch and he withdrew the remaining $1.51 from his account and we requested that all his accounts with First Financial be closed. He cut up his debit card.

Derek recently tried to purchase a book from Amazon.com and it slipped his mind that he had changed banks until Amazon (which stores the most recently used bank information) told him the purchase was declined. He corrected his bank info and completed his book purchase. Later we got a phone alert from Visa fraud protection services alerting us to the declined purchase, and that is proper. However, they also said there was an attempted purchase of some "GLP Acai Nutrition" product which Derek had never heard of. Then I went to look at our account online and saw that Derek's account was still listed and had been debited for Disney Movie Club and also Credit Score Complete, resulting in an overdraft and the ensuing overdraft fee. You may recall Derek's "metal" fashion style - he is not the "Disney" type at all, and we have no knowledge of the Credit Score charge either.

Can you please investigate possible fraudulent activity or "hacking" of Derek's account? We would like your assurance that his accounts are truly closed and the overdraft fee waived. Thanks so much for your attention to this issue.

I actually went to high school with one of the managers that the above email was addressed to.  No reply yet.  And to continue the irritation, Derek found that his new bank - US Bank - charged him about $78 for doing too many funds transfers within an arbitrary time period.

What can we do about banks?  Vote with your money.  Take your business to a credit union, where you are not just a customer, you're a member, and you get to vote on management!

If life gives you locusts, make locust-ade?  They aren't bad roasted.  Crunchy, high protein.  Come on, you probably eat crab, basically an undersea spider, or shrimp, which the Old Testament calls an abomination, same as homosexuality.  I'm not judging, just saying.

But those banks...I was helping Marcy get in the shower when the phone rang, and caller ID said Fifth Third Bank.  Better grab it, could be progress in preventing foreclosure via one of those Making Home Affordable / Save The Dream / Restoring Stability We'll Take Anything We Can Get programs that we've been working through since we haven't had the money to make mortgage payments.  We didn't qualify for refinancing because our bankruptcy earlier this year wrecked our credit score (or as I fondly call it, our cancer score) which means they would give us a higher interest rate, not lower.  After that, they turned us down for a mortgage modification, basically for the lame excuse that I've been unemployed for three years and have no income.  So picky!  So after the disclaimer that the call may be recorded, here is the gist of the conversation:

5/3:  "You've been put on the forebearance plan, how's that working out for you?"

ME:  "I saw you sent us a letter about that a couple of days ago but I haven't had a chance to analyze it or run it past a lawyer or even a realtor, so I don't know how I should respond."

5/3:  "There's no need for that, it's simply that since you are in breach, the bank is giving you some time to come up with the money."

ME:  "Breach, that's a new term for me.  Lawyers and bankers often use special words that have different meanings from the way normal people would use them in everyday conversation."

5/3:  "Breach simply means you have not paid your mortgage like you agreed to.  So how's that forebearance working out for you?"

ME:  "You keep asking me how the forebearance is working out for me.  Is that just part of your script or is there some legal consequence to my response?"

5/3:  "It doesn't make any legal difference, it's just that you now have about three months to come up with the money and we want to make sure you use your time wisely."

ME:  "!!!!!!...What do you mean use my time wisely?!  Do you think I've been playing tiddlywinks or having picnics?!  I've been looking for a job for three years now while wrapping up a collapsed business and trying to make sure my disabled wife and our son get the care they need!  How do you think I could use my time any more wisely/"

5/3:  "Sorry about your difficulties"..."didn't mean to imply"..."hope something comes up so that you can make your payment before time runs out."

So let's light a fire under their butts.  (Hey Lili, check out the pattern of the fire ring.)  Soccer star Eric Cantona, who internationally is on a par (haha) with Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan as far as sports fame, is promoting the idea of everybody withdrawing all their money from the banks on December 7.  Happy Pearl Harbor Day, evil banksters!