• FarFarAway
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    8 months ago

    I’ve actually tried to have the bank, on multiple occasions, cut me off when my balance hit zero.

    They refused. But I can link it to my savings so they can charge me $5 to transfer $100 from my savings to prevent the $35 overdraft fee. No, they won’t alert you when they are transferring it. Yes, they will keep perform multiple transfers until you deposit more money / your savings runs out.

    I know the banks need to make money, but aren’t there any legitimate ways they could do so without screwing people over in the process.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Yeah, that pisses me off. As part of getting my kids started on you’d financial habits, they really needed to not afford what they can not afford (especially while they’re at home so there’s no real consequences)

    • Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      I know the banks need to make money, but aren’t there any legitimate ways they could do so without screwing people over in the process.

      Oh there are. They make so much money before they extort their customers. You see, banks make their money by investing the cash that’s deposited in them. They don’t have to have liquid cash available for all of the funds for every single customer. They just have to have enough to cover their average daily withdrawal amount bank wide, which is a fraction of their total value.

      The rest of their money goes into avenues specialized in making money off of money, eg., investing.

      On top of that, banks are typically insured for money that they may not have, just incase they reach the limit of what they need vs what they have on hand. For amounts large enough per customer, that’s a government insurance called FDIC.

      So yes, they do have a legitimate way to make money, and it’s the same way that banks have made money since the very first bank came into existence. They invest. But you know, capitalism demands that they ever increase they’re profit margin. So not only are they making money by investing huge, unfathomable amounts of money and making the interest back, but they also have to squeeze their customers like ripe lemons to appease their own investors.