Here we go again with "I remember when ......."!
Growing up in the small town of Plymouth, the two banks in town were within walking distance of the City Club.
My Grandma Myrna had a "working relationship" with the Dairy State Bank across the street. Many employees of the Kohler Company (and the local Borden Cheese Company) would stop at the City Club on Friday afternoon. Myrna would cash their weekly paychecks and they would celebrate the end of the work week by purchasing food and beverages. She needed a lot of cash for one day to handle all the transactions. Myrna worked out an arrangement with Dairy State for "one day loans" to cover the huge cash requirement. She could call the bank and get instant service without a signature for the loan. The bank in return could call Myrna to find out the status of her situation. How about that! A bank concerned for a human being.
Fast forward to 2008. Banks are now impersonal organizations trying to make a buck on every mis-step we take. They love overdrafts because they can charge you $25 for each and every mis-calculation. A one day loan arrangement like Myrna's would cost a fortune today.
I recently read about a lady that got her statement from her bank and noticed a charge of $15.75 for having her checks returned to her. She remembered that she had enrolled in the "Gold Premium Checking" account. By keeping $1000 in the account, there was no-charge for her checking service. She called the bank and indicated that the $15.75 charge was improper. The bank agreed. So they went back 3 months retroactively and gave her 3 months credit. Everybody is happy right? Wrong.
It turns out that the bank had been over-charging the lady for more than 3 years and that there was $500-$600 potential credit involved. The bank said they only went back several months in this case because their files are limited. The lady indicated that she wanted her records for 3 years searched. That would cost another $45. Even with the search, the bank indicated that their policy was to limit correction of errors to 3 months. The woman was out the $500-$600.
There are lots of obvious questions. How could the woman miss a charge on her statement of $15.75 every month? Maybe she didn't balance her checking account? Maybe she was 100 years old? I don't know. What I do know is that Myrna would never have had any problems of hidden charges leveled on her by a predator bank. Isn't progress great?
The lesson Grasshoppers is that the big warm "fuzzy" friendly banker is a disguised shark. They will eat up your hard earned cash everytime you make a minor slip. The suggestion that you have a good relationship with your bank is an illusion. Check all your transactions! When it comes to your hard earned cash, don't trust anyone.
Love,
Dad