Greedy Banks

In today's mail, I got a letter notifying me that, starting next month, my free checking account will now have a $9/mo fee attached to it, unless I have a direct deposit of $300/mo or more or maintain a $1500 average balance each month.

So I jumped online to see what else is out there. The best rate I could find was $5/mo, free with direct deposit or that pesky $1500/mo. Other banks are tying their free accounts to a certain number of debit card purchases per month. Sorry, but the Luddite in me comes out big time with debit cards. They don't have the protections built into them yet to encourage me to risk my limited funds.

Now, if you have plenty of buckos to leave laying around a bank, there's no fee involved. Banks stumble over each other with offers of this, that, and the other.

Yet those whose financial situations are already precarious must now scrape up additional income to maintain some security in dealing with their money.

Changing banks may not be an option, either. If your credit rating isn't pristine, banks may refuse to open a new account for you. Doesn't matter if your financial situation may be the result of the sagging economy and persistent unemployment levels.

And what if your employer doesn't do direct deposit? That will likely be the case once I receive a call to a new church. How many of those on the fringe financially are able to maintain a $1500 average balance?

Banks received a major boost on the backs of all Americans with the TARP supports. Now they're climbing once again on the backs of those least able to afford it through increasing use of fees.

*sigh* Yes, I understand that banks are businesses. Doesn't ease the frustration involved in trying to make ends meet and survive with limited income, nor eliminate the sense that the people with most of the money in the first place are trying to gather even more onto their already full plates.