Hass Hole wrote:
If you do not like the terms of your bank account, go in and talk to the reps. It is simple, shop around until you find an account that you like.
The problem is that all banks charge overdraft fees. (I guess there are "protections" but they're questionable). Like another poster noted, it's not like the banks performed any service to get the $35 fee. They literally did nothing. And for those people saying that the banks don't have time to monitor thousands of accounts: they're called computers. Banks don't have to monitor each customer's accounts, they simply need to setup the system (as it is in some cases) to where if you swipe your card with insufficient funds it will say "insufficient funds". It won't let you make multiple $2 purchases (and get fined heavily) when not all of your check got deposited, there's a discrepancy between the online statement and your register, etc.
As for the apartment, I didn't mean that it's crazy that apartments ask you to pay money. What's crazy is that, often, you have to meet very strict financial guidelines. That is, if you don't make 3-4x the rent (even if you have the funds to pay rent) you wont get accepted. And pet "rent" is just stupid.
How many of you have signed a piece of paper for a job offer, medical services, apartment lease, etc. when you didn't completely agree with what you were signing but you had no choice? Extremely steep fine for breaking the lease, promise not to sue even if it is the other parties fault, etc. I'm willing to bet that nearly everybody has. You kind of have to to get by. And that's not right.
I'm all for personal responsibility (really, I am). But at the same time, as a society, if there are questionable business practices that are affecting millions of lives, we need to do something about stopping those practices, and not just saying "take care of yourself, it's not that hard to manage a register" (which I do, by the way).