• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Wells Fargo To Charge You 3 Bucks To Spend Your Own Money

PerfectStorm

DP Veteran
Joined
Jun 30, 2011
Messages
4,184
Reaction score
5,098
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Conservative
Bonus points for the source of this new regiulation.

Wells Fargo plans to test a $3 monthly fee for its debit cards starting this fall.

The industry's experimentation with fees is partly a response to a new regulation that will sharply reduce the revenue that banks collect on checking accounts. Starting this fall, a new cap will limit how much banks can collect from merchants whenever a customer swipes a debit card. It's not clear exactly how much banks will lose. In 2009 banks collected an estimated $19.7 billion in such fees from merchants, according to the Nilson Report, which tracks the payments industry.


Wells Fargo to test $3 debit card fee :: WRAL.com
 
Interesting....Wonder if other banks will pick it up?
 
Federal Reserve Board Votes to Reduce Debit Card Interchange Fees | Merchant Account Reviews & Ratings

In a 4-1 vote, the Federal Reserve Board voted on Wednesday to reduce the interchange fees charged to merchants for debit card transactions to a maximum of 21 cents. This move is quite a blow for banks, however, was much better than analysts originally suspected. As discussion about the Durbin Amendment continued to heat up over the past months, it appeared that the reduction would bring the maximum charge down to 12 cents from the current 44 cents average.

Members of the board:
List of members of the Board of GovernorsThe current members of the Board of Governors are as follows:[63]

Commissioner Entered office[64] Term expires
Ben Bernanke (Chairman)
Janet Yellen (Vice Chairman)
Elizabeth A. Duke
Daniel Tarullo
Sarah Bloom Raskin

You can google all of 'em. Don't see anything to indicate this was a rightwing policy, program, or suggestion.
 
$3/month isn't that bad. The fees that I think are the bigger problem are the over the limit fees. It's one of those things where people think "I just won't exceed my limit" or "I don't feel sorry for the folks that get hit by those, they should just be more responsible", but the reality is quite different. The way they unpredictably hold checks for basically random amounts of time between 0 and 15 days, and debit/credit transactions you have sometimes don't appear on your account for weeks and whatnot make it very tricky to really avoid ever overdrawing your account unless you keep a buffer of a few thousand dollars in your account at all times. Many people can't afford to do that, and even for those who can, that money could be better used in at least an interest bearing account... And the fees they hit you with can be insane. They decide to hold your paycheck for 2 weeks all of a sudden one month and you could overdraw 10 times before you even notice that they held it...
 
This is what rightwing nuttery results in

On a story that has nothing to do with partisan politics, why would you insist on inserting them? Are there not far bigger things to be concerned with than the typical partisan bull**** that plagues 99.9% of the threads on this board? Can we not have a break from it?
 
$3/month isn't that bad. The fees that I think are the bigger problem are the over the limit fees. It's one of those things where people think "I just won't exceed my limit" or "I don't feel sorry for the folks that get hit by those, they should just be more responsible", but the reality is quite different. The way they unpredictably hold checks for basically random amounts of time between 0 and 15 days, and debit/credit transactions you have sometimes don't appear on your account for weeks and whatnot make it very tricky to really avoid ever overdrawing your account unless you keep a buffer of a few thousand dollars in your account at all times. Many people can't afford to do that, and even for those who can, that money could be better used in at least an interest bearing account... And the fees they hit you with can be insane. They decide to hold your paycheck for 2 weeks all of a sudden one month and you could overdraw 10 times before you even notice that they held it...

It's pretty easy, actually:

1. I have a $250 buffer in my checking account at all times.
2. I also have $1000 in savings which automatically transfers over to cover any unexpected overdrafts.
3. My bank credit card is linked to my account and charges can be billed to the card if the first two protections fail.
4. I track my expenditures in a log and double check the math. I deduct debits immediately, as soon as I've signed over or authorized the expenditure. I go by this log, not the call-in balance, text message balance, or website balance.
5. I bill-pay through my checking account online. It is auto-deducted from my available balance immediately so no waiting 15-20 days for a check to show up.
6. My check is direct deposited. When my company didn't offer that option I had an auto-post option added to my account for $5 month, where any check under $5,000 that was deposited into my account was immediately available for my to spend.
 
They decide to hold your paycheck for 2 weeks all of a sudden one month and you could overdraw 10 times before you even notice that they held it...

I'm unclear as to why the bank is holding your check. What's that all about?
 
I'm unclear as to why the bank is holding your check. What's that all about?

If the check is large or is issued from an account which has been flagged for frequent overdraw they will sometimes hold the check pending guarantee of funds.
 
$3 today, $10 tomorrow, $100 ten years from now. The government will figure out a way to get its hands on this, too.

Notice how "comfortable" people have gotten with $3 gas. Once you've been to $4, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal to pay $3.

Such is the subtle psychology of conditioning the human mind.
 
$3 today, $10 tomorrow, $100 ten years from now. The government will figure out a way to get its hands on this, too.

Notice how "comfortable" people have gotten with $3 gas. Once you've been to $4, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal to pay $3.

Such is the subtle psychology of conditioning the human mind.

I don't know a single person who is "comfortable" with $3 gas. In fact, it's taken quite a toll on many people's financial situations. What can you do when you rely on gas to get to and from your job? Doing something because there are no other options doesn't necessarily mean that you are okay or comfortable with it.
 
I don't know a single person who is "comfortable" with $3 gas. In fact, it's taken quite a toll on many people's financial situations. What can you do when you rely on gas to get to and from your job? Doing something because there are no other options doesn't necessarily mean that you are okay or comfortable with it.

Heck, $3 gas is why I am looking at buying a Hyundai Accent as my next car due to its gas mileage.
 
Heck, $3 gas is why I am looking at buying a Hyundai Accent as my next car due to its gas mileage.

I would love to get a car like that. Unfortunately, I live in an area where there is a lot of mountainous terrain the winters here are kind of brutal, so one kind of needs 4wd.
 
I would love to get a car like that. Unfortunately, I live in an area where there is a lot of mountainous terrain the winters here are kind of brutal, so one kind of needs 4wd.

That reminds me of my trip to Michigan one January. They were in the middle of a milder blizzard, but the straight-a-way from Detroit to Battle Creek was pretty much in white-out conditions. I asked Enterprise to bump me up to the next level so that I could get a car with a little bit of weight, maybe an AWD...they stuck me in a Chevy Aveo and I barely made it the 90 miles to BC. That car was all over the place everytime the wind would blow. I don't know how people in northern states get by with little cars.
 
I'm unclear as to why the bank is holding your check. What's that all about?

Most banks have a policy that for checks over $y they don't make funds available to you to use until x days after you deposit the check. The idea is that that way if the check bounces they have time to reverse it before you went and spent it. But, in practice, they seem to sometimes let it go through immediately and some times not. In my experience when I had a paycheck that was regularly deposited and for a consistent amount, and the check was printed out by a computer, they would hold the first one, but not subsequent ones. But if it was hand written, if the amount varied dramatically, or if they were deposited at irregular intervals, they were more likely to hold it... They must have some kind of program that looks for certain patterns and decides whether it is risky or not to put the cash in your account immediately. That's all speculation though. If you call them up, they'll say "we hold all checks over $x for y days" even though they don't really.
 
I would love to get a car like that. Unfortunately, I live in an area where there is a lot of mountainous terrain the winters here are kind of brutal, so one kind of needs 4wd.

We are going to check one out this weekend to see how well the kids fit in it. But it will be a nice "to and back from work" car for my wife.

We will keep the minivan for long trips, but it hit 150k miles last week and I want to take it out of regular rotation.

But with my wife's monthly income going up 2k next month, I agreed to get her a new car for a change.
 
Last edited:
That reminds me of my trip to Michigan one January. They were in the middle of a milder blizzard, but the straight-a-way from Detroit to Battle Creek was pretty much in white-out conditions. I asked Enterprise to bump me up to the next level so that I could get a car with a little bit of weight, maybe an AWD...they stuck me in a Chevy Aveo and I barely made it the 90 miles to BC. That car was all over the place everytime the wind would blow. I don't know how people in northern states get by with little cars.

We know how to drive in winter weather. You have to unless you're planning on staying home for 5 months.
 
We are going to check one out this weekend to see how well the kids fit in it. But it will be a nice "to and back from work" car for my wife.

We will keep the minivan for long trips, but it hit 150k miles last week and I want to take it out of regular rotation.

I had a great commute car -- a '98 Metro. The rust claimed it after 13 years (didn't even hit 100k on it). Replaced that with the minivan because of the kids, so now it's a Blazer and a van. So it goes.
 
We know how to drive in winter weather. You have to unless you're planning on staying home for 5 months.

For a Texan I'm not too shabby on the show and ice. But driving a car that weighs less than most weight lifters bench certainly doesn't help with the wind gusts go over 50mph and you can't see 10 feet in front of you.
 
1. I have a $250 buffer in my checking account at all times.
2. I also have $1000 in savings which automatically transfers over to cover any unexpected overdrafts.

My rent is $2,200/month, I live in SF where everything is overpriced... $1,250 of buffer wouldn't cut it for me. I have to keep about $4,000 of buffer to consistently avoid overdrafts. Which I do, but is wasteful.

3. My bank credit card is linked to my account and charges can be billed to the card if the first two protections fail.

Yeah, I have that too, but they charge me fees up the wang every time that kicks in. Same with the savings account too.

Do you have Wells Fargo? They're known for being the biggest dicks with fees :)

4. I track my expenditures in a log and double check the math. I deduct debits immediately, as soon as I've signed over or authorized the expenditure. I go by this log, not the call-in balance, text message balance, or website balance.

Yeah, that I don't do and probably should... Although in this day and age I don't think you should have to. Computers ought to be able to handle that.

5. I bill-pay through my checking account online. It is auto-deducted from my available balance immediately so no waiting 15-20 days for a check to show up.

Yeah me too. That helps a lot.

6. My check is direct deposited. When my company didn't offer that option I had an auto-post option added to my account for $5 month, where any check under $5,000 that was deposited into my account was immediately available for my to spend.

Interesting. I don't think I knew about that auto-post option. When I was working in a salaried position I had direct deposit and the checks were for a predictable amount, so after the first one they always posted immediately. When I was working as an independant contractor it was way more chaotic where I might not have any checks to deposit for a month, then I'd suddenly deposit 3 from different clients, usually with at least one being a hand written personal check, totalling $20k, then another lull... That's when it got really unpredictable for me, when I was independant contracting. Sometimes I'd deposit a $15k personal check and it would be in my account in the morning. Other times a $3k check from a business wouldn't post for 3 weeks...

Anyways, you're right generally that it is possible to avoid overdrafts. IMO it is more of a pain in the ass than it should be to avoid them though and the fees are disproportionate. At least at Wells Fargo. IMO they're taking advantage of folks with less money for buffer and placing a tax on the disorganized that isn't really justified by their actual costs.
 
Last edited:
This is what rightwing nuttery results in

Since the policy was pushed by Democrats, I guess the Dem's are rightwing now. Actaully this was forced by the Frank-Dodd bill of 2009.
 
Last edited:
if my bank did something similar, i wouldn't pay the three bucks. i'd move my money on general principle. i suspect many others will, as well.
 
I don't know a single person who is "comfortable" with $3 gas. In fact, it's taken quite a toll on many people's financial situations. What can you do when you rely on gas to get to and from your job? Doing something because there are no other options doesn't necessarily mean that you are okay or comfortable with it.

i don't know anyone who is comfortable with gas prices, either. they are mostly buying it because they have to and not buying other goods and services. which is part of what's hurting the economy.
 
$3 today, $10 tomorrow, $100 ten years from now. The government will figure out a way to get its hands on this, too.

Notice how "comfortable" people have gotten with $3 gas. Once you've been to $4, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal to pay $3.

Such is the subtle psychology of conditioning the human mind.
Doesn't that tin-foil hat get a bit itchy after a while?
 
Back
Top Bottom