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Cool story. How does that help the hundreds of thousands of very poor people who are trying very hard to pinch pennies in dire straights?
by t-writescode 3y ago
Cool story. How does that help the hundreds of thousands of very poor people who are trying very hard to pinch pennies in dire straights?
- WalterBright 3y agoIs there something preventing them from visiting the bank manager? Or are you implying that being poor means the bank should cover the overdraft?
- janalsncm 3y ago> Is there something preventing them from visiting the bank manager? Yes. Time. Poor people don’t have time to argue with every company that nickel and dimes them. Most people are working during bank hours. They’re working multiple jobs so they can keep the lights on. A $35 overdraft fee hurts but it’s not enough to sacrifice a shift where you are guaranteed to make $70 for the possibility of getting $35 back (which is by no means guaranteed since they signed a contract that says the bank can take $35 from them). $35 is a very strategic number, isn’t it? It’s just enough to maximize profits but not quite enough to get most people to navigate customer service, which is likely going to go nowhere.
- heyoni 3y agoI think they’re implying that the banks shouldn’t reorder the charges and should pick up the phone when we call them to opt out of overdraft altogether.
- WalterBright 3y agoShowing up in person is always more effective than calling on the phone.
- jjeaff 3y agoit also requires transportation and a flexible work schedule that allows you to make trips during business hours.
- heyoni 3y agoSure. And I would love to do everything in person. But let's face it, half of every company makes you learn their internal systems before they'll even talk to you. Even Amazon forces you to select a purchase before putting you in touch with a rep. If you don't, it tells you "putting in wrong information leads me to make errors and unable to route your request"... What the hell?? My guess is banks have to talk to you because of regulations, but let's not pretend they wouldn't ignore you if they could.
- slotrans 3y agobeing poor means the bank manager won't speak with you, and also the bank doesn't much care to have you as a customer
- WalterBright 3y agoThe bank manager didn't know what my financial state was. After all, why would I be overdrafting if I was rich?
- hot_gril 3y agoLast time I had issues with my bank, they had special help set aside for us premium customers. The regular teller wasn't even authorized to fix that, so I don't want to know how long I would've spent there without the special status.
- WalterBright 3y agoI just asked the teller to see the manager. I'm sorry, I just don't see why this is a difficult thing to do.
- t-writescode 3y agoReasons this may be difficult: 1. historically poor person, they don't want to deal with them and just want to charge them the $35 per individual overdraft, or whatever insanely high charge it is. 2. Poor person works hours that make it impossible to visit or even call a bank. No really, working 1 job with insane hours or several jobs with even more insane hours are not uncommon for poor people. 3. They shouldn't be re-ordering charges in the first place to have the worst possible result and it continues to perpetuate the harm we place on those who have less. Number 2 is the absolutely loudest of these by several miles. A person being able to visit, or even call, a bank during operating hours is an enormous privilege that the people that are harmed by these overdraft fees, in the majority of cases, do not enjoy.
- 3y ago
- klyrs 3y agoYou literally mentioned appealing to your long-term relationship with the bank. You know full well that your situation doesn't generalize.
- WalterBright 3y agoPoor people change banks every year? I don't see why being poor meant you changed banks often.