Bank Fees — Page 2

TD Safety Deposit Box: Prepare for a Service Price Hike

by bigcajunman on February 13, 2012

Did I say hike? I meant hold up. Holy cow, I received a letter informing me that the safety deposit box that I was paying $42 a ~~month~~ a year for (price has been creeping up the past little while), will now jump to $60 a year service charge (a mere 42% service charge jump). Now that is what I call a price jump, I wish I could make my investments jump at that gradual rate.

The service charge jump was not even the best part of the letter, if I am forgetful enough to lose a key previously the cost to replace the key was $4.95 but now it will be $50 (plus HST), now that is an approximate 10.000% increase in that service charge (10 times the current rate). I think only PONZI schemes can make that kind of claim for payback on investments, so as a TD share holder I am very pleased (but as a TD customer I am very disgusted).

If you are really forgetful, and you have to have your box drilled to get opened, the previous fee was $104 now it will be $200, which is less than 100% so I guess it is not as large a jump as the others, but still an impressive jump.

What other industry could get away with this kind of price increase with little or no notice from the Government? Only the banks (in my opinion). This service fee is really only for rich folk who have things to keep safe, or shady folk who have pornographic pictures or ledgers with shady transactions logged in them (if Hollywood is to be believed), so I guess it is not something that lots of folks might notice, and the safety deposit box rental is also tax deductible, but still this is amazing.

I always end up torn in these situations. As a blogger this is astoundingly good fodder to whine about the Banks and their high service charges, but as a customer I am bloody pissed off by it, but on the third hand as a stock holder I am rubbing my hands with glee thinking of the dividends that may come from this.

Anyone else care to comment on this service fee hike? Does anybody care?

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Financial Services You Can Do Yourself

by bigcajunman on November 15, 2011

One of the exploding growth industries in North America (aside from the cheque cashing industry) is the Debt Counseling industry. There are many (many) of these service companies out there, that are looking for folks that are in over their head (in terms of their finances). These companies portray themselves as wanting to help us all get back on the straight and narrow, and living within our own means (or at least out of debt).

The advertising on radio, TV, and even on the web is quite slick and very alluring, but what you must ask yourself when dealing with any service company is, what is in it for them? How do these companies make money? Unless this is an organization that is run as a non-profit, out-reach program, they are making money doing something while helping you out too.

I have included a video I found on-line of one of these sites (please read the caveat before hand). If you watch it, you might think these people are out to help me get out of debt, but ask yourself while watching this video:

How are these folks making money, and staying in business (and are able to pay for slick advertising like this)?
Can’t I do this all myself?

Caveat:inclusion of this video is not an endorsement, nor am I receiving any payment for including this video in my post.

Where might they make money? This is all speculation on my part, but my guess would be:

They have a deal with a lot of creditors, where they get a finder’s fee, or the like for getting dead beat debtors to pay off (not very likely).
The structured settlement put in place by them, they get a cut on? That seems more likely to me.

If they charge you a fee up front for all of this, I might be more inclined to believe these folks aren’t taking a bite out of you, as part of your debt pay out plan, but even then, maybe they are taking two bites at the same apple?

I am willing to listen to anyone in the industry who can explain where these companies make their money, so if you are part of this industry, drop me a line and I am willing to listen.

For my readers, remember, I think you can do all of this yourself (even calling creditors to create a settlement or pay down plan), so remember that before using these services.

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Change Your Bank!

by bigcajunman on November 8, 2011

That was the battle cry on the weekend in the states as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. There was a hope that somehow if a bunch of folk went and changed their banks (especially a bank that was charging ridiculous bank fees) that things might actually change in the banking world.

Many times I have written about free banking and exorbitant service charges:

Free Banking, where I outlined my yearly battle with my bank trying to free banking.
In Banking it is All Negotiable which outlines my view that you should never settle with the first offer from any bank.
With Changing Banks I pointed out that if you are going to negotiate, you cannot simply bluff, you are going to need to follow through if things come to a head.
Finally with The Answer is Always No, unless you ask, is really something your parents told you as a kid, it never hurts to ask, the worst they can say is No.

Occupy Wall Street's Mascot

These are just a few of the posts I have done about the topic of how to get banks to stop gouging you, and get them to treat

you less like a number and more like a customer. As long as you are a customer in good standing, you should not be treated like it is a privilege to leave your money in the bank (keep that in mind), but also you need to search for banks that give you the services you think are important. If you do a lot of investing, then the investing portion of the bank needs to have good services, and that is just one simple example.

My other statement here is that this is not a revolutionary concept or a radical concept, it is just common sense. This is not something new from our Occupy Wall Street friends, or even from the Tea Party, it is what your Parents told you: make sure you pay a fair price for the services you use, don’t just settle, ask for something better, the worst thing they can tell you is no.

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Cheaper Mortgage Rate or Free Banking?

by bigcajunman on October 25, 2011

That was the interesting quandary I was in last week when I went in to talk with my bank about RESPs and such.

Normally when I make an appointment at the bank, I bring a list of things I need to get done and then a few Christmas wishes too. Typically my main wish is to get Free Banking (i.e. no bank fees, or a vacation from fees (yes I already have a PC account, as well)), however this time a co-worker gave me a different idea.

As background normally every time I ask for Free Banking and then the bank representative acts as if I am asking for one of their kidneys (and possibly their spleen), and they say it’s impossible to get that, and such, but will eventually relent and give me 6 months or a year of banking for free (i.e. no monthly service charge). It all plays out as a very badly written soap opera, so I decided this time I’d try for something with more impact, which is the interest rate on my Line of Credit.

Currently most secured lines of credit are pegged at Bank Prime (not the bank of Canada prime) plus 1% or something close to that, so I decided to ask, can that rate be lowered (guessing it wasn’t likely, but again, you never know unless you ask, and the worst thing they can say is No).

The meeting was going very well and I had reached the end of the tasks I needed to get done, so I then figured I’d broach the interest rate subject and asked, “Is there any way to get a lower rate on my line of credit?”. The bank rep did not jump out of her chair screeching obscenities, she didn’t even seem remotely perturbed by the request (which made me concerned that it was an easy NO), she simply typed a few things on her computer and said, “Yes, we can see if we can cut your rate to 0.5% over our prime”.

I believe my mouth dropped open and I blinked a couple of times, but regained my composure enough to say, “Yes that would be very good”. Some forms were filled in, but I believe I have been approved for this rate (no fuss, no muss, no complaining about me wanting an internal organ, all very civilized).

This good news got me scratching my head a little, since free banking costs the bank about $14 a month, whereas a rate cut by 0.5% on my Line of Credit is more than that, so what gives? My guess is that the Service Fee is actual bank income, and is very important to the bank, whereas income from Line of Credit interest (while important) is a more variable value, so losing 0.5% is not as important? I may be out in left field on this one, and if anyone has a better idea, I am open to suggestions.

At the end of it all, I am proven correct, if you don’t ask, the answer is always no.

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Bank Fees (a video discussion)

by bigcajunman on October 5, 2011

Louis CK is one of my favorite comics (he is a bit blue in his delivery, but I don’t mind that), and in this interesting little video he vents about one of my favorite topics, bank fees, and how banks deal with you if you have no money.

The phone call about not having enough money (in the bank) really does sum it up nicely. If I don’t have enough money, it’s going to cost me money?

I need to have $1000 in my bank account for my bank not to charge a $12.95 a month fee, which is amazingly strange if you think about it, but once you start getting down to near Zero, this is not as much humor, as “welcome to my life”, so please heed Louis’ comments on this topic.

Always have money (I think that is what he is saying, maybe he is saying, having no money sucks, which I agree with too).