Quote:
Originally Posted by flip
This is always such a frustrating argument. Your complaint and reasoning are  . How many other businesses arbitrarily up their prices? All of them. And what a sound argument that it takes one computer like 2 seconds to do all the work. Have you ever been to a bank? you think those people are just paid to hang out? yes, they aren't just accounting for your 2 cents but c'mon use some sense here.
BANKING IS NOT FREE!
This isn't like mail delivery which just "happens" or with a small fee to mail it somewhere. Banks are not non-profit organizations out there to "serve the public". They are a business like any other where they provide a service, like say your local car wash does or your lawyer or accountant or mechanic or masseuse or golf instructor or alarm company etc, and in return YOU PAY THEM.
When the car wash goes up does anyone start a thread or suggest rioting in the streets? No. When the cost of a t-shirt or the zoo or the cost of dry cleaning goes up we don't get in a huff. Why? I don't know but banks like any other are doing something for you and as such you pay for it.
What do they do for you? Well, if you don't like them so much go get a loan from Money Mart and pay near loan shark interest. Or just withdraw all your money and keep it under your mattress. No? Didn't think so. Or get your mortgage from someone else, or your student loans or be able to use your fricken debit card or get cash out from anywhere in the world...I could go on.
For the record banks make A LOT of $$, usually. The CIBC just wrote off like $2billion dollars because of the US market and dollar. Most of that profit that you see on the news isn't because of your $20-30 a month banking fees. In fact lots of people don't even pay bank fees because they keep a certain $$ limit, usually quite high, or just take out cash bundles at a time to avoid service charges.
Yours is a very common but mistaken viewpoint. Can banks be expensive? Yes. But they are also commissioned AS A FAVOR TO YOU to look after your money, which is quite possibly the most important inanimate thing you have. |
Wow, if my reasong is crap, what the hell would you call that wall of text?
I haven't been to a bank in years other than to get a mortgage or do some fanancial planning. Why pay for tells who stand around and tell you you should just use the ATM instead if you actually do go to one for a withdrawal?
Banking is not free. That's what the whole complaint was about... Thanks for grasping that. Basic banking, like withdrawing your money or shuffling it from one basic account to another should be. Charge fees for advanced stuff like managing investment portfolios, mortgages, loans, what have you. Not because I want to take $50 of my own money out.
I have no problem paying my bank interest for loans, mortgages and what have you. I do have a problem that it costs me money to make a friggin' purchase at 7-11. I'm basically paying money for the ability to pay money... That's awesome.
I'd complain if the car wash upped it's prices and was using water from my house to clean my own car. That's about the only way you can even compare that to what I'm talking about here.
Yeah, withdraw my money and keep it under a mattress. Awesome idea. Have you ever thought about trying to live life without dealing with a bank? Good luck. No mortgage, no student loans, none of that lovely crap you just rambled on about... It's pretty much impossible, which is why they can gouge you for ridiculous crap like making a simple withdrawal of money that you worked to earn.
MINE is a very common and mistaken viewpoint? Then you go on to say that banks are doing ME a favor? That friggin' ######ed. I'm doing the bank a favor by letting them have my money, invest it and profit off of it. No wonder you're so content to bend over and take whatever anybody gives you if you're thinking they're doing you the favor.
I have no choice but to use a bank. Nobody does. Rare is a job that pays by cheque and not direct deposit. As we both already said, good luck buying a house without a mortgage, going to school without a student loan, etc., etc.. It's exactly that reason that people get jacked with all sorts of fees and charges, because there's nothing you can do about it except pull your money out of that bank and find one who isn't going to screw you. Which is evidence that banks aren't doing US favors by "managing our money for us," it's that we're doing THEM a favor by ALLOWING them to handle our money.
If they were doing us the favor, you'd think there's be fees to deposit my money, not fees to take it out and ease their heavy burdon of making a profit off me.