So says the bank's mouthpiece, apologist, and defender:
“The bank is after — a relationship. While the giveaways may be attractive, many of the bank giveaways usually come with strings for consumers, designed to keep consumers at the bank long after the promotions end, since changing automated payments from your electric bill to your gym membership can be a hassle. And if customers don’t meet all the account conditions, such as minimum balances, the banks have fees at the ready.”
Yeah, they love us so much they want to f***ing $crew us to the hilt.
"Banks trying giveaways for new customers; Banks steal page from past with prizes" by Deirdre Fernandes | Globe Staff July 09, 2014
Banks steal are certainly two words that go together.
Hungry for deposits and fees, banks today are so desperately seeking checking customers that they have reverted to the days when they offered toasters, Tupperware, and electric blankets as incentives to open accounts.
Translation: banks are greedy.
These enticements have been modernized to include premiums such as free house cleaning services, bags of groceries, grills, coolers, and plain old money. And they seem to be working....
The humble checking account lost its luster as banks pushed gold-plated services such as wealth management and investment advice, but it recently regained a shine for several reasons, analysts said. Chief among them is the opportunity to collect more fees.With low interest rates and the costs of new regulations squeezing profits, financial companies are finding that revenues generated by fees are increasingly important to their bottom lines.
The record-setting profits quarter after quarter haven't been enough for them, huh?
“We’ve gotten to a point that bankers are beating each other over the head to get the primary household checking account,” said Suzanne Moot, a Milton-based bank consultant. “There’s a lot of fee income associated with checking accounts, that’s why banks like them.”
Once again, this is ALL ABOUT $ERVING THEM$ELVES and NOT YOU!
****************
Banks haven’t always been so enamored with the checking account, which can be costly to maintain. The annual average cost of a checking account, from hiring tellers to operating ATMs to preventing fraud can be as much as $300 for each account, the American Bankers Association estimated in 2010.
OMG, the billions-per-quarter in profit banks will go broke!
That led some banks to close accounts of people with low balances who didn’t do much other business with the bank.
Meaning they weren't making any money off you, so why bother?
Following the financial crisis, many banks aggressively pursued affluent consumers with specialized and expensive services, such as wealth advisers. These services have higher profit margins than basic bank services.
But checking accounts still generate a bulk of bank fees, including overdraft penalties and charges known as swipe fees from merchants. Since 2008, banks have raised the median overdraft fee from $25 to $30 last year, according to Moebs Services Inc., an Illinois-based financial research firm.
Overdraft revenues have fallen from their 2009 peak of $37.1 billion but have stabilized, hitting $31.9 billion last year, according to Moebs.
In addition, the checking account remains the entry point to banks for many customers, who might end up buying other products and services, said Greg McBride, a senior analyst with Bankrate.com, a consumer financial website.
“Checking accounts have long been, and continue to be, seen as the centerpiece of the banking relationship,” McBride said. “That’s exactly what the bank is after — a relationship.”
While the giveaways may be attractive, consumers should be aware of all the requirements attached to their checking accounts, including how fees are triggered, said Mike Moebs, the chief executive of Moebs Services. Many of the bank giveaways usually come with strings for consumers....
Many of these requirements, such as direct deposit and bill payments, are designed to keep consumers at the bank long after the promotions end, since changing automated payments from your electric bill to your gym membership can be a hassle.
And if customers don’t meet all the account conditions, such as minimum balances, the banks have fees at the ready.
Glad I read the fine print.
--more--"
Yeah, banks are $O WONDERFUL! What would we ever do without them?
And if you can't get to a bank:
"More relying on Walmart for financial services" by Deirdre Fernandes | Globe Staff July 10, 2014
The state’s dominant check-cashing operation isn’t an inner city storefront or a financial company with a brick facade. It’s your neighborhood Walmart.
The world’s largest retailer, best known for low prices on everything from detergent to dining room sets, has become a significant player in the financial services market by doing what it does best: cut costs and appeal to budget-conscious shoppers.
Walmart holds 30 percent of the approximately 150 check-cashing licenses in Massachusetts, easily eclipsing long-established franchises such as Boston Check Cashiers Inc. and All Checks Cashed Inc.
The Arkansas-based retailer also has expanded into prepaid cards, bill- paying services, and most recently its own money-transfer business.
“Walmart is a shadow bank,” said Mike Moebs, an economist and founder of an Illinois economic research firm, Moebs Services Inc. “They are moving daily to dominate the small cash market, taking a niche that is low-cost for consumers and profitable for Walmart.”
Walmart charges $3 to cash a check of up to $1,000, compared with as much as $25 at other check-cashing services and the $7 that many banks charge people who don’t have accounts with them.
I've never been a fan of Walmart, but....
In the chain’s smaller stores, customer service counters double as financial hubs; in the cavernous “superstores,” Walmart Money Centers are wedged between optometrists and Subway sandwich outposts.
Eugene Campbell, 36, a freight worker from East Providence, recently stopped by customer services in the Walmart in Walpole to cash a paycheck from one of his two jobs.
Think you can give one of those up so someone unemployed could have it?
Campbell, the father of four, said that after being hit by a series of fees that snowballed into $700 during one month, he decided to leave his bank and get rid of most of his bank accounts.
That is a VERY GOOD IDEA! Either that or leave only what you need to cover a check in there. Better to take it out since the government is about to steal your retirement and savings and give it to the greedy criminal bankers.
“It’s cheaper than anything out there and there are no overdraft fees,” he said of Walmart. “I’ve never had a problem.”
But bank executives do. They say that Walmart can offer low prices on financial services because the chain has cherry-picked services not subject to the layers of regulation that banks face.
FUCK YOU GUYS!!
Unlike check-cashing services, banks are required to lend in urban and suburban communities, provide direct insurance on deposits, and make detailed reports to several federal and state agencies, said Richard Holbrook, chairman of the Massachusetts Bankers Association and chief executive at Eastern Bank.
“We’re not afraid of competition,” Holbrook said. “We just want to make sure the rules are the same.”
What $TINK $HIT $CUM!
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. several years ago sought to obtain a license to operate a bank, but abandoned the effort in 2007 in the face of widespread opposition. Walmart officials said they have no intention of trying again to become a bank; the check-cashing and ancillary services are aimed only at meeting the needs of customers.
“We are absolutely a retailer that has financial services offering,” said Molly Blakeman, a spokeswoman. “We are looking to give our customers options. When customers have options they win.”
Financial services, including check-cashing and prepaid cards, accounted for less than 1 percent, or about $280 million, of Walmart’s $279.4 billion in US sales last year, according to financial filings. The company also gets the benefit of financial services customers spending at least part of their paychecks in the stores, analysts said.
At the Walmart store in Walpole, customer service clerks process returns of shirts and batteries, help consumers who want to exchange recently purchased appliances, and walk people through job applications. But starting at about lunchtime on Thursday — payday for many people — customers line up at the counter.
Julie Smith, 43, a nurse who lives in Milton, keeps a small savings account at a credit union.
Better than a bank!
But she uses Walmart’s financial services for her daily money needs, drawn to the lower costs and the ability to get cash fast.
“I don’t need the regular banks,” Smith said.
None us really do.
Walmart has taken aim at consumers who don’t have deposit accounts or rely on alternative financial services, such as check-cashing firms, payday loans, and money orders.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation estimates that one in four American households fits into these categories.
Many are lower-income families, and Walmart’s fees and convenience, especially for suburbanites, make it an appealing alternative, consumer advocates say. Walmart has 48 stores in Massachusetts, but none in Boston.
“People who are forced to live on low incomes are very aware of how much things cost,” said Michael Goodman, associate professor of public policy at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. “It seems in the short run a rational choice for folks in that position.”
I hate to say it, but I will bet there are also a lot of illegal immigrants who get their checks cashed that way.
He oversaw a 2011 study that found many low-income residents in New Bedford avoided traditional banking services because they did not trust banks, felt they did not need an account, and feared they could not afford the fees.
I can't imagine why, can you?
But Goodman said building a relationship with a bank can provide long-term advantages, leading to better access and rates on loans and products that can help secure assets, whether a home or a college degree.
Yeah, for the bank! What a $hill!
A study released last year by the state Division of Banks found that consumers can spend from about $200 to more than $1,300 a year on fees by using check-cashing services, as opposed to using a basic banking program with a $36 annual fee that the state established more than two decades ago. The program is offered primarily by smaller banks.
It's still worth it to not have to deal with a bank.
Walmart’s upfront fees and low-cost products can help consumers save money and graduate to traditional accounts and bank products, said Tom Feltner, director of financial services at the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America.
“The opportunity to start building savings is a step in the right direction,” he said.
Yeah, just give your money to the bank. It's all going to wind up there anyway.
--more--"
