Banks Take More Money Now

Now that there are more consumer protection plans with Obama as president, banks and other financial institutions are finding other ways to rake in more money.

Bob Hammer, chief executive of bank-card advisory says,

“The fee income is becoming increasingly more important as interest income is falling as a percentage of total revenues.”

I was amazed to find that late fees, loan-origination fees, over-the-limit and overdraft charges accounted for 53% of banking-industry income in 2008.

I noticed banks like “Bank of America” really charging hefty fees for overdrafts this past year. One way they really trap you is by counting pending transactions if you do not have the sufficient funds to cover them, and tacking on overdraft fees even if you get money into the account before the pending transaction completes.

It’s OK to add fees, but there has to be a certain boundary of reasonableness, and outright fleecing of the common people. The banks see an opportunity to take advantage, and they do often comparable to price gouging and scamming.

The one thing you won’t find, is that when a bank is in error, you as a consumer are not allowed to fine them or get special credit for their error. Usually according to most banks a simple “sorry” will suffice.