Robber Banks: All Banks are Robbers; but Some Banks are More Robbers

"Banks have adopted a new type of overdraft plan -- with huge fees -- to cash in on Americans’ bad money habits. You may not know you've been enrolled. 'They entice you to overdraw your account, and then make you pay fees as if you’ve done something wrong,' said Jean Ann Fox, director of consumer protection for the Consumer Federation of America." (Liz Pulliam Weston, Don't be duped by bounced-check 'protection', Moneycentral, www.msn.com, undated).

"While everyone would reasonably expect to be charged a fee for writing a bad check, what many consumers might be surprised to learn is that at 75% of banks nationwide, the person who receives the check, who is already out the amount of money that they were supposed to be given, is also charged a fee – commonly know as a Deposit Item Returned (DIR) fee.  It is true that it costs the bank extra money to process a Deposit Item Returned. But that cost is estimated at between $.48 and $.65 per transaction, while the average DIR fee is $6.88 -- 10 to 14 times the actual cost. Even factoring in the transaction costs, commercial banks make an estimated $1.64 billion in annual profits off of these DIR fees. These profits come on top of the $6.67 billion in annual profits that banks make from overdraft fees charged to the issuers of the bad checks." (Anthony Weiner, Really Bad Check Fees, http://www.house.gov/weiner/report15.htm, July 13, 2003)

"At least 1,000 banks are encouraging customers with low balances to overdraw their checking accounts, allowing the banks to skirt credit laws and collect billions of dollars in new fees.  The banks' programs cover checks that would otherwise bounce and even allow people to overdraw their accounts with A.T.M. and debit cards. The fees are paid disproportionately by low- and moderate-income people, according to industry consultants who help banks create and market the programs. One consultant advises banks to maximize the fees by opening branches 'in supermarkets, particularly supermarkets with a middle to down market and a family target market.' Banks say that they are offering a service that enables people to avoid paying bounced-check fees to retailers. But many inside and outside the banking business say the programs, while extremely profitable for the banks, are a bad deal for consumers and amount to high-interest loans.  The move to encourage overdrafts is a major shift. In the past, when consumer groups complained that bounced-check fees were excessive, banks generally responded that high fees encouraged people to use their checking accounts responsibly. Now, with banks increasingly dependent on fees from consumers, overdrafts have become a source of profit." (Banks Encourage Overdrafts, Reaping Profit, The New York Times, January 22, 2003)

The Internet is filled with news of robberies. Everyday, robberbanks electronically snatch the hard-earned money of millions of people. But, banks get away with all these with impunity. The following letter is a typical complaint of a customer whose eyes are opened regarding a particular bank, but has no clue about the corrupt system: she advises others to choose a little more merciful robber. See similar complaints at click here

I have used this bank for probably 2 years now. They have consistently made me pay OUTRGEOUS overdraft fees. They are the highest I believe of all banks, $36, then $6 for each day your acct. is over drawn! I thought it was my fault so I kept trying and trying to do right by this, but I've learned, IT"S THEM!

The reason this is ludicrous to me, I have tried and tried to keep with my balance, both by receipts, and at the end of the day, spending 30 min., to an hour to go through them all; or the alternative of checking the balance per website every hour to make sure it was accurate. Neither of these have worked.

I have paid overdraft charges every single month for at least a year. I do not even want to think about how much money it is, I'll be sick. I've complained to them, the CS over the phone are rude, and the bank people, while nice, act apethetic. I'm SOOO pissed off about this, I've tried to post this in a nice way on another website, but guess what? they wont let you bad mouth banks!

That's one of the few businesses that they have on there that you cant post anything about! My friends warned me about this bank, to all others: STAY AWAY!!!! there are far better banks out there, this is NOT the one to "try" for ANY period of time! (Tiffany, Austin, Texas, U.S.A.)

The response from one of the forum participants is of a typical brainwashed blind consumer:

"I used to hedge on money and then ended up bouncing a few checks and the fees, no matter where you go, are high. There is a point to this, it is to teach you not to bounce checks. The assumption is the punishment (the overdraft fees) will make you realize your errors and change your ways. The bank didn't do a thing wrong. You did, you bounced checks. You should accept responsibility for your actions and make an effort to do better in the future." (Julie - Guthrie, Oklahoma, U.S.A.)

But, Larry, another Bank customer has at least one of his eyes open, which is refreshing:

She is absolutely right and CompassBank lives on NSF fees. While you certainly shall balance your account and don't force into overdraft but sometimes it happens and WHEN it happens CompassBank arranges both your debits and credits in SUCH AN ORDER to maximize NSF fees. Here is examples what they do:

1. Put credits after debits so you get NSF fees on debits even though they had credit available

2. Arranging debits in such an order that biggest debits are coming before smaller ones. THis maximimizes NSF fess.

Below is summary of my account where both issues plain shown.

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