Search Results for: blog banking deals and banking fees

Overdraft Fees

When I was in my early 20s I worked the 24-hour customer service line for a prominent California bank. I got a lot of calls from customers upset because they were overdrawn. A lot of them were overdrawn because of simple oversights and I had so many dollars per customer to satisfy in those situations. All too often, though, customers were failing to reconcile their accounts and it must be the bank’s fault that there was an overdraft and the bank was trying to steal their money through the well-disclosed fees. I’ve watched the fees for overdrafts and returned checks … Continue reading →

Banking Deals and Banking Fees

Are you looking for a new bank account? Banks are now vying for your business in a new way. They are advertising bank accounts that give you money in the account at start up or money in the account if you create a direct deposit program. New accounts have new features, too. One of my favorite features is the forced savings model, in which the bank rounds up your debit card purchases to the closest dollar and places the extra 30 or 40 cents into a savings account. The idea is that all of these small purchases add up and … Continue reading →

Make Learning About Money Fun For Kids

When I was a little girl my brother and sisters and I played a lot of board games. We played more cards than board games, but we still played board games. In Monopoly we had to figure out the value of property and how to get a complete set. You didn’t learn a lot about finance, though, even if you were the banker. One of my favorite games to play was The Game of Life. The Game of Life was not an entirely accurate representation of what adult life is about, but it was pretty close. You went to school, … Continue reading →

TabbedOut iPhone App

When I was a little girl I had my first savings account. Mom or Dad would take me down to the bank to deposit or withdraw money. The bank was open limited hours during the day, shorter hours on Friday, and closed on Saturday. When I was old enough I could ride my bicycle or walk to the branch in our foothill town. Then our bank had the most amazing contraption installed outside; it was called an ATM or automated teller machine. With the ATM customers could do a number of simple transactions without having to talk to a teller … Continue reading →

What to Do if Your Bank Fails

There have been over 100 instances of bank failures in 2010. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, or FDIC, recently closed several banks in California, Virginia, and Chicago. How will you know if your bank fails? What happens to your money? There are a few ways to learn if your bank has been closed by the FDIC. You may hear about it on the news, which can be shocking. The FDIC does not like to make public announcements about banks that are on the verge of failing. Instead, you can find a list of banks that have recently been closed on … Continue reading →

Work as Education

Why save for your child’s future education? The education savings plan is an item of much philosophical controversy, it seems. Some believe that for a child to value education, she needs to work to pay for it. Others believe in saving all that a child needs to go to university or other post-high school education, thinking that this will free up the child to focus on studies instead of low-paying jobs. I’ll sit on the fence here. I paid for my university fees and for my rent through scholarships and hard work. Of course, I also lived close enough to … Continue reading →

A Review of “Maxed Out”

I recently watch the documentary “Maxed Out.” It takes a look at the banking industry, and the loan industry and they ways that they view their customers. It takes an inside look at debt collectors as well. Dave Ramsey also had a brief appearance in the film. Overall, I did not feel as though I learned anything new from this documentary. However, that is because I used to work at a bank, and I understand that banks are a business that is looking to profit off of its customers. The focus of the documentary was really on how others were … Continue reading →