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Do You Trust Banks?

Do you trust banks

  • Total voters
    30
Ikari said:
This one is interesting, I have a buddy who doesn't trust restaurants. If he orders something and it's not what he wanted, he sends it back but declines to have them remake it. He claims they'll spit in his food since they'll take offense to him having sent it back. I don't particularly trust restaurants either, I'm sure I've eaten things I probably shouldn't have...especially from McDonalds and crap places like that.
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I owned a restaurant once. You don't want to know what goes on back in the kitchen!

:rofl
 
I trust the bank to do what's best for the bank. Though I generally use banks quite frequently. I make far more money off of them than they do off of me though.
 
MyOwnDrum said:
I owned a restaurant once. You don't want to know what goes on back in the kitchen!

:rofl
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Yeah, I worked at McDonald's, you don't want to know what happened there. It's why I really don't trust restaurants. I mean, super high quality ones maybe since they are very concerned about **** like that. But fast food or places like TGI Fridays....I don't trust them. I imagine that a lot of my food has hit the floor...I just pray that's all it's hit.
 
Ikari said:
Yeah, I worked at McDonald's, you don't want to know what happened there. It's why I really don't trust restaurants. I mean, super high quality ones maybe since they are very concerned about **** like that. But fast food or places like TGI Fridays....I don't trust them. I imagine that a lot of my food has hit the floor...I just pray that's all it's hit.
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It's a trade-off, IMO...

Spend your own time making food for yourself...

Or pay someone else to make it for you and risk things happening to it you might not like.
 
I don't use banks. I have used a credit union for about 25yrs, and they treat me just fine.
 
Dav said:
That's kind of an odd question.

Do you trust restaurants?
Do you trust stores?
Do you trust companies?
etc.

It should depend on the bank. To say that you trust or distrust all banks as a rule makes no sense.
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Restaurants? Not since I heard that fecal matter has been found in a lot of soft drink dispensers.:shock:

Buyer beware!
 
Ikari said:
This one is interesting, I have a buddy who doesn't trust restaurants. If he orders something and it's not what he wanted, he sends it back but declines to have them remake it. He claims they'll spit in his food since they'll take offense to him having sent it back. I don't particularly trust restaurants either, I'm sure I've eaten things I probably shouldn't have...especially from McDonalds and crap places like that.
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The sickest I ever got was from food poisoning I got at a very high end restaurant.
 
LiberalAvenger said:
Restaurants? Not since I heard that fecal matter has been found in a lot of soft drink dispensers.:shock:

Buyer beware!
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How does that even happen? Someone in the kitchen couldn't make it to the restroom, and decided to go in there instead? :shock:
 
LiberalAvenger said:
That was wise of you. Local banks and credit unions are the bomb.
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Credit unions are great if you live in a small town where you can walk/drive to the local union to hit the ATM. In NY, that's not exactly plausible. I use big banks because they have branches every 6 blocks and ATMs every 3.

As to the main question: Yes, I do trust banks. If you're a vigilant consumer, they don't screw you any more than other industries do. If you:

1) Pay off your CC bills early every month, and
2) Don't write checks that you don't know that you can cover

then I don't see what the problem is. I've had accounts with ING, Citibank, and Wamu/Chase for 7-8 years now and have paid probably $100 in fees through that entire time.

Another thing that often goes unnoticed is how much the banks trust us. Citibank has given me an ungodly amount of money in student loans that allowed me to get an education that I could not have otherwise afforded. No local credit union is going to write checks for students. For that alone, I'm very appreciative of the big banking industry.
 
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RightinNYC said:
Credit unions are great if you live in a small town where you can walk/drive to the local union to hit the ATM. In NY, that's not exactly plausible. I use big banks because they have branches every 6 blocks and ATMs every 3.

As to the main question: Yes, I do trust banks. If you're a vigilant consumer, they don't screw you any more than other industries do. If you:

1) Pay off your CC bills early every month, and
2) Don't write checks that you don't know that you can cover

then I don't see what the problem is. I've had accounts with ING, Citibank, and Wamu/Chase for 7-8 years now and have paid probably $100 in fees through that entire time.
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It's not as much of a problem for upper-middle class people who can afford to carry a balance, but the banks do a lot of sneaky things to people who live paycheck to paycheck. For example, say you have $100 in your account, and your employer deposits a $2,000 paycheck into your account on payday. Since you know that it's payday, you figure that it's OK to make some purchases. You write a check for $30 and a check for $150.

When the bank balances the accounts at the end of the day, they'll process your withdrawals BEFORE they process your deposit so that you get hit with overdraft fees...regardless of which transactions were actually made first. And not only that, but they'll process your BIGGEST withdrawal first (the $150 check) so that you get hit with fees for BOTH checks.

There's really no reason for them to do this OTHER than to screw the consumers out of more money.

RightinNYC said:
Another thing that often goes unnoticed is how much the banks trust us. Citibank has given me an ungodly amount of money in student loans that allowed me to get an education that I could not have otherwise afforded. No local credit union is going to write checks for students. For that alone, I'm very appreciative of the big banking industry.
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This is true. When I finished grad school I was about $150K in debt, despite having no collateral and (for the most part) no co-signer. However, I'm sure the bank didn't do it out of the goodness of their heart. They know that most college grads are a good credit risk, and that student loans are generally non-bankruptable.
 
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Sterling Savings, and probably every other bank, has a bankline number where I can check my balance at anytime. I have the number in my cell, it's easy as pie.

I can't believe that tech savvy young people, with student loans and iPhones, can't keep track of funds available.
 
Kandahar said:
It's not as much of a problem for upper-middle class people who can afford to carry a balance, but the banks do a lot of sneaky things to people who live paycheck to paycheck. For example, say you have $100 in your account, and your employer deposits a $2,000 paycheck into your account on payday. Since you know that it's payday, you figure that it's OK to make some purchases. You write a check for $30 and a check for $150.

When the bank balances the accounts at the end of the day, they'll process your withdrawals BEFORE they process your deposit so that you get hit with overdraft fees...regardless of which transactions were actually made first. And not only that, but they'll process your BIGGEST withdrawal first (the $150 check) so that you get hit with fees for BOTH checks.

There's really no reason for them to do this OTHER than to screw the consumers out of more money.
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The first time this happens, you go to the branch and complain. Every bank that I've ever dealt with had a policy of waiving one overdraft fee per year. After that, with your lesson learned, you wait one day to write your checks in the future.

While you're right that it's more difficult for people who are living paycheck to paycheck, I don't think it's impossible to follow.

This is true. When I finished grad school I was about $150K in debt, despite having no collateral and (for the most part) no co-signer. However, I'm sure the bank didn't do it out of the goodness of their heart. They know that most college grads are a good credit risk, and that student loans are generally non-bankruptable.
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Agreed, but it's still an incredibly important service.
 
No more than federally protected and less than any other institution staffed by people?
 
Something especially important to look out for, that banks often get blamed.

Businesses that do double charges, I got reminded of this about 3 or 4 months ago but some businesses double charge your debit accounts to make sure they get their money when you buy stuff.

This specifically happens when you pay at the gas pump or when you purchase high dollar items.

I bought a $800 computer and the company double charged me to make sure I had the funds, the bank would of processed it and note it to my account if they didn't know me.

The staff at the bank, which was a part of one of the larger bank, didn't process it because they knew it would have put my account into the negative.

Large banks aren't always bad and not always good, it's important to get to know the people that run the local branch you go to.
 
Kandahar said:
How does that even happen? Someone in the kitchen couldn't make it to the restroom, and decided to go in there instead? :shock:
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Teenagers that refuse to wash their hands.
 
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