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> That's easy to do if you're not poor. It's a problem you've never encountered, so don't pretend your virtue protects you. I didn't always have money. My fath

> That's easy to do if you're not poor. It's a problem you've never encountered, so don't pretend your virtue protects you. I didn't always have money. My father is a carpenter, and I definitely took the time to write down every expense back when there was serious risk I might overdraft. However, I must apologize for phrasing my original comment too harshly. People don't deserve poverty, but what I meant was that they're at least partially responsible for their situation. As you rightfully point out, punishment certainly isn't the answer. (I certainly don't see overdraft fees as a sane punishment.) But payday lenders and the like aren't the solution either. The solution is helping everyone to get the necessary planning skills for the modern world through education. It'd be great and truly refreshing to see a bank which tried to do that (obviously they'd have to find a different business model than the usual). So, help people to learn to plan. Don't excuse not planning and the institutions (check-cashers, etc.) which enable it.

eriksank 13y ago
Life itself may not go according to plan. Not everybody is a civil servant safely working for an otherwise over-indebted local city council. Other people could get fired from their jobs, the company could have packed their bags and moved to China, or their own business could have gone bust, and so on. Whatever happened, in those circumstances, the fact of having money in the bank does not help, because they will just arraign that money too. More often than not, related to what happened in your life, they will just seize the balance. And now you can no longer pay for the rent nor the food. So, you may end up homeless in the streets, unless somebody helps you. That is why I do not save money in the country that I happen to live in. It is much harder to attack a foreign bank account -- how can anybody know it even exists -- than a local bank account. So, I never trust local bank accounts. Whenever things go wrong, that thing will inevitably go wrong too.

eriksank 13y ago

Life itself may not go according to plan. Not everybody is a civil servant safely working for an otherwise over-indebted local city council. Other people could get fired from their jobs, the company could have packed their bags and moved to China, or their own business could have gone bust, and so on. Whatever happened, in those circumstances, the fact of having money in the bank does not help, because they will just arraign that money too. More often than not, related to what happened in your life, they will just seize the balance. And now you can no longer pay for the rent nor the food. So, you may end up homeless in the streets, unless somebody helps you. That is why I do not save money in the country that I happen to live in. It is much harder to attack a foreign bank account -- how can anybody know it even exists -- than a local bank account. So, I never trust local bank accounts. Whenever things go wrong, that thing will inevitably go wrong too.