“Big banks’ efforts to make banking more expensive might provide an opportunity for smaller, better-managed credit unions and community banks — you know, the guys who didn’t blow up and require government support — to get a leg up on their much larger competitors.” - Yahoo Finance’s Dan Gross  (From Times Article by Brad Tuttle)

N: The bank that I used to bank with, Chase recently decided to implement new fees to offset the Federal Reserve’s decision to cap debit card swipe fees which is costing all of these banks billions of dollars.  So instead of getting money through the people who sell us things, they are just going to take it directly from you, in turn making banking more expensive.  

I recently closed my Chase accounts because my financial situation did not appease their minimum requirements (monthly scheduled direct deposit of at least $500 or a total of $1500 between all of your accounts), they were charging me a $10 monthly fee.  I saw this and called the bank’s customer service line and had a conversation with a very sweet woman who explained the minimum requirements to me.  I told her that what she described to me sounded like a way to push out poorer and less financially stable people from the bank.  When I asked her if the way I understood the situation was correct, I knew she could not answer the way she wanted to (this phone call may be recorded for training purposes).  She got it.  It all made sense to her.  While she felt bad, I knew she had no control over the corporate customer policies of her workplace.  

Luckily there are banking alternatives that are not only non-profit, local organizations, but they also have a purpose: financially supporting and improving their community. Hooray for non-profit credit unions!

What a concept.

This reminds me of the video I recently posted about economics and human drive. When people (or banks or institutions or systems) are not driven by profits and not driven by greed, they are able to provide something more.  It’s a sense of security, of being taken care of and knowing that you will not be subject to poorly run services and policies run by greed. It’s a humane way to do business, which is missing from a lot of institutions and companies.  

We will see how the alternative I have chosen goes.  So far so good!  

Read the quoted article: http://moneyland.time.com/2011/10/20/is-there-any-point-begging-banks-to-drop-debit-card-fees/#ixzz1bMusHVCO