Banks are irritating me
In all honesty – I have no idea how this works in other countries – but our banks are irritating me…!!
Having a bank account is costing me money…. maybe not a lot – but still; I am paying about 45 euro a year to just have a bank account (including a bank card).
A couple of years ago – they decided they are not giving interest on money on my normal account anymore.
Yes; I am getting interest on my savings account…. but we all know; this is a very low amount compare to what they do with it…
To give a little example; I am getting about 1,5% interest on my saving account BUT I am paying about 4,5% on my mortgage…..
Soooooo; for every 1 euro they make 3 !!!
And furthermore; if I go a little bit on the minus on my normal account = YES – I do have to pay interest… (this does not sound fair to me…)
Is this the thing which is irritating me…?
Nope; because I do understand they want to make money out of my money…
BUT; at the moment I am transferring money to another account (so – pay my bills)….
This amount will disappear from my account RIGHT AWAY…..
Guess what…??
That amount will MAYBE appear the next day on the account I am paying it to…. BUT… most of the time… it will take a couple of days.
Furthermore; at the moment my company is paying me salary…. it will disappear from their account directly….and 2 or 3 days later it will appear on my account.
My big question is; WHERE IS THE BIG HOLE – WHICH IS HOLDING THIS MONEY…??
You are not going to tell me – the bank is also making money with that uh..??
Actually – there isn’t a hole anywhere – it is the EFT (electronic funds transfer) system. The money actually remains in the account until the transfer is completed. It just appears it has disappeared for a while.
Our banks are pretty much doing the same things here regarding interest. I’m fortunate that I don’t pay any annual fees to hold an account because I have “enough” money in there to avoid the fees. I do have an interest bearing checking account. However, it was 2.5% when I opened it. It is now down to 0.01% My savings account went from 3% down to 0.50% and my Money Market account is now down to 1.5% from 4.5%. Additionally, I have a CD that I renew frequently. When I first opened it back in 2006 I was making 5.5% after 18 months. The best rate I can get now is 1.5% after 8 months. If I go out any further than that I’m losing money. I thought the countries around the world infused the banks with trillions in order to keep them solvent? Where the hell is that money if they’re not giving it to their depositors? We know they’re not lending it to anyone.
It´s clear that banks are making a lot of money with our money. Currently, they´re paying low interest rates not because of the economy downturn, that´s just an excuse, but because they are making so much with loans and mortgages rates… They´re making so much money that they don´t need our savings anymore.
Currently, I´m avoiding account fees because every month my paycheck goes straight to my deposits account. Here in Portugal we have a type of accounts, called “conta ordenado”. If your deposit your paycheck in this account, you won´t pay any maintain fees but you pay 10.00 Euros for each debit card emission. I have a temporary card to avoid this expense too.
I recently changed bank accounts to avoid fees. I had a student´s account but once I started working last April and received my paycheck trough this account, they wanted to charge me 10.00 Euros every three months! So, I just opened a “conta ordenado” and removed my savings from the other bank.
I think banks are making too much money already.
Regards, Mizé