Moebs Services Inc., a research firm in Lake Bluff, Ill., estimates that it costs the giant banks about $350 to $450 per year to maintain a checking account.

Is that like the street cost of pot confiscated by police?

I don't get it.

sigdiamond2000: I don't get it.

Clearly, the right's definition of "trolling" has to be as elastic as their definition of "comedian" must be to include Dennis Miller and Victoria Jackson.

"Credit unions poach clients"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHEADDESK

"While the Bank Transfer Day movement acknowledges the enthusiasm from Anonymous and Occupy Wall Street, the Bank Transfer Day movement was neither inspired by, derived from nor organized by Anonymous or the Occupy Wall Street movement, and the Bank Transfer Day movement does not endorse any activities conducted by Anonymous or Occupy Wall Street" - from BTD FB page

gameshowhost: "Credit unions poach clients"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHEADDESK

I know. Everyone knows that clients are much better cooked over low heat for several hours.

Only 0.2% of all Americans opened an account at a credit union... last month.

impaler: Moebs Services Inc., a research firm in Lake Bluff, Ill., estimates that it costs the giant banks about $350 to $450 per year to maintain a checking account.

Is that like the street cost of pot confiscated by police?

I thought the same thing.

But I think it's actually closer to the value of an item that insurance is reimbursing. Why yes... that bobblehead Snoopy is an antique. It's worth $350-$450.

FTA:Many banks also have done away with free checking, unless customers maintain a minimum balance and meet other criteria. But with the average checking account containing $5,200, according to research firm Raddon Financial Group in Lombard, Ill., many customers can't avoid the monthly charges.

Don't most banks do free checking with direct deposit? And if not I'm sure $5200 is way more than any minimum amount needed to get free checking. But then again....

Debeo Summa Credo: 10% APR!!! That's a pretty good yield. How do you get 10% when mortgage rates are under 5%? Volume?

Nope. Leverage.

Does Subby just not know what "troll" means? Like how Republicans don't understand racism?

kcoombs69: FTA:Many banks also have done away with free checking, unless customers maintain a minimum balance and meet other criteria. But with the average checking account containing $5,200, according to research firm Raddon Financial Group in Lombard, Ill., many customers can't avoid the monthly charges.

Don't most banks do free checking with direct deposit? And if not I'm sure $5200 is way more than any minimum amount needed to get free checking. But then again....

We still have our main accounts with US Bank (some auxiliary accounts in a credit union), and not long ago we got a letter saying we'd lose free checking unless we "qualified" to keep it by doing one of a few things. One of them was at least one direct deposit per month. Another was a minimum balance of something like $2500 (averaged or somesuch; I don't remember exactly). There were one or two other items too. We qualified in a couple of different ways, so we still aren't paying for checking.

I was surprised TFA says a $5200 or so balance in checking is "small." Sure, it isn't exactly Rockefeller money, but for the vast majority of people it's not a great idea to have tens of thousands of dollars in a checking account. Interest is usually better in a money market account, and although you're more limited in transaction amounts, you can just transfer in or out once or twice per month, leaving an operating balance of two or three thousand in the checking.

And heck, for a lot of people, the thought of having two grand cash in checking is a dream... there's no shortage of people having to check the bank balance before buying groceries.

tznnmp: rohar: tznnmp: BoA will rack in 2 or 3 buck ATM fees when these new CU customers hit their old BoA ATM. I'll smile if they have the technology to recognize if they are an old customer and charge them double.

Why would they use a BoA ATM? Share branching means CU customers get free atm use all over the country with no service charges.

It's 10 miles to my nearest CU ATM...i pass up 5 big banks on the way. I don't belong to a big bank, I dump my money in a smaller 7 branch local bank. but I'm willing to bet most people don't plan ahead.

Your anticipated schadenfreude appears to be predicated on the idea that everybody is as stupid and irresponsible as you.

HotWingConspiracy: The article starts with "LOL banks don't care because poor people cost them money", and ends with

"Some bankers complain that credit unions have outgrown their status as a lender of last resort to poor and rural communities, and should be forced to pay taxes just like for-profit banks.

"At a time when state and local governments are struggling with lower revenue, why should some of these credit unions be subsidized if they are not going to provide those services?" said David Locke, chief executive of McFarland State Bank in McFarland, Wis. The bank has about $500 million in assets but is having trouble competing with nearby credit unions, he added."

Are the Republicans going to start beating the "Remove tax exempt status from credit unions" drum soon?

PrinceofFark: I doubt he'd share this opinion with just any customer, but he's right, and we had a hearty little chuckle together on that one.

Was the shiat sooooo cash?

/"I'm friends with my bank's manager!" == "I have no friends!"

PrinceofFark: I highly doubt BoA or any other of the Monster banking corporations gave a rat's ass about losing these depositors. When you can afford to live in a tent in some park and demand hand outs because you are too poor and lazy to make it on your own, you likely aren't closing an account with much money in it.

I'm friends with my local banks manager and I chatted him up yesterday about the November 5th "bank transfer day". He said they had seen a small uptick in account terminations but made a point of stating "most of the people doing this are in their 20's, clueless, unemployed and in poverty. It's almost a good thing to drive that type of customer away from your reputable business".

I doubt he'd share this opinion with just any customer, but he's right, and we had a hearty little chuckle together on that one. The banks will only notice if large depositors leave or millions upon millions of nobodies move their .002 cents (literally) to a CU.

Not gonna happen.

Yeah, the banks are flush with so much cash they are looking at ways to discourage large depositers from moving their savings to them.

"Though financial institutions are not yet turning away customers at the door, they are trying to discourage some depositors from parking that cash with them. With fewer attractive lending and investment options for that money, it is harder for the banks to turn it around for a healthy profit. " Link (new window)

They don't care really, because the account do cost them money, and they have bigger things to worry about, like they can't actually loan money because they've tightened their standards a bit too tight.

PrinceofFark: I consider him a friend. We talk off the record, as evidenced above. Not sure what your post is supposed to mean but i'll take it you are a supporter of the OWS crowd, or you simply relate to them as you too, like most Americans, are poor and educated.

It means a guy who has to count someone who is financially obligated to talk to him as a "friend" is someone who has no actual friends. I see people like you "chatting up" bank tellers and grocery store clerks and it makes me slightly annoyed that you are wasting everybody's time in order to get your social-interaction fix, and slightly saddened that there are people that lonely in the world.

PrinceofFark: The manager stopped me to ask how I was doing. If you need to spin this as "it's his job to have a conversation with a wealthy account holder" then you aren't likely ever going to admit you know jack squat about this situation.

I know people who work in banks are required to be friendly and ask you how you are doing. I also know that this does not constitute a "friendship" in the eyes of any normal person who actually has daily social interaction with people who like him.

This may be hard for you to grasp but when you have money, you are important. When you come off like it bugs you that i'm rich on Fark.com, it usually means you are poor.

See, now you're over-extending. This doesn't come off as smug, it comes off as defensive, because you realize how ridiculous your "I'm friends with the manager, he talks to me and everything!" story sounds. You know who else thinks anyone who suffers through a conversation with them is their friend?

Retarded people.