This might be one of the dumbest things that I have ever read. Get a gun and protect yourself against muggers? Moronic.

Banks only take advantage against idiots. Record your withdrawls and monitor your account, and you shouldnt have any problems. Become educated and learn how to run a budget instead of buying a house that you cant afford. Be realistic and become educated in your finances.

I agree go cash. The one thing I found that was an incovenience was the pay and go feature of the CC. I do mantain a savings account and a checking account. I am on the senior plan and have not for years paid for checks or service as long as you maintain a balance.

One day I was in the Bank, I had three CC and I have locked the account to any rate changes and am in the process of paying them off, paying the interest plus 150 % of payment each month. Anyway I ask the Branch mgr of the banl if carried a card. He relpie yes.

I ask him the interest rate, he state 9.9 % on Balances not paid within 12 days of statement.

I ask him if the balance was paid prior to the due date of statement, he said then no interest.

I ask him how much membership fee he told me $0.00

I ask him the minimum fee required for the card, again $0.00

I ask if I could make payments at that back, he said absolutly. I ask when I could make payments, if I had to had a statement, he said no, just have the card.

I asked for one and it wrrived within 36 bus hours.

I was in the back within 12 hours and paid 400.00 on it. I have a program on my computer that I use putting in my receipts and deposits to the card account. Now I can by my gas and movie tickets without have cash and keep my cash for the smaller purchases making certain I do not let the account go into the red as looked at for my side. I also have 5000.00 dollars with me at all time in case of a dire emergency.

I have taken a trip to Texas and N.O. keeping up with all receipts, adding them up when returned, went to back and paid.

So far my out of pocket expense to maintain this card for 1 and 1/2 years = $0.00.

Learn how to make the bank work for you, if the businesses that I use want to make it easier for me to pay cash, they can also make it cheaper for them to operate and take my cash with me having to work so much to pay it.

If they ever change the rules, I just cancle the card and walk away since I owe nothing on it.

EXCELLENT POST!....I'm the same here....I simply cash my pay-check at the Bank it comes from, no charge since my Co. has an acct. with the bank....and use a debit card to stash extra cash...and to make online (ebay) buys, via PayPal...works great...and the debit card only bill's me $39.95 once a year....Better than getting 'reamed' by some bank!!

Thank you! I am glad I am not alone in my decision to use CASH only!
I have been doing this for a couple of years now, if I don't have cash to purchase something then I don't need it that bad.

Banks are a bunch of theives wth all their hidden fees this is how they can offer "free checking". I find it hard to comprehend how all these banks could have been is such financial termoil when they are raping their customers. So again they rape their customers buy expecting the government to bail them out for bad financial decisions so the customer pays for it AGAIN!!!!

How many people have you shot tough guy? I thought so.

Honestly are we really supposed to sympathise with a guy who tried to rent 5 movies even though he didnt have $5 dollars to rent them. He deserves to get hit. Maybe if he gets charged enough overdraft fees hell learn, NOT TO SPEND MONEY HE DOESNT HAVE. Banks are a buisness people. THey make money by lending money to people who dont have it. They need to leverage the losses from those who will never pay them back. Do we need to continually hold peoples hands until they cant even wipe their own.... Your comment is correct carry cash, then when your wallet is empty youll know when to STOP SPENDING because apparently people cant figure that out.

Are we the people not in control, just pull our money and watch how fast the banks realize they need us.

I understand your pain. They key is write all of your transactions down. You have keep up with what you are spending. if banks make an error and post improperly they are obligated to refund, but if it's you that was not watching your account. You have to pay for your mistakes.

This is the dumbest post I think I have ever read.

Wow! Mike! Can I "RELATE!"
I've gone into banks 'SCREAMING' as "LOUD AS I COULD!"
To let people know what a 'Bunch of Bandits' they are!!!!!!
lol.....You should see, giggle.....The 'Security Guard' comes walking over and standing like right near by like he's just 'waiting for me to do something rash!'.......But I'm like a
69yr old woman so they're kind of 'Hesitant' to get 'Too Fiesty' with me......lol........But I stay just 'UNDER THE LIMIT' ......And keep making a 'FUSS' .......and making 'sure' people are
paying attention so they can 'hear' how "MAD I AM!!!!!!"
OH!....And, then I tell them "YOU GUYS AUGHT TO HAVE A GUN AND A MASK!!!!!!!"..........YOUR WORSE THAN THE CRIMINALS!!!!!!! ....OH, They get 'REAL CONCERNED' when they 'HEAR THAT!.......Scream!!! Sometimes it works and they 'Return My Money' just to get rid of me!......lol!.....I also tell them "I'M GOING TO START KEEPING MY MONEY UNDER THE MATTRESS! LIKE MY GRANDMOTHER DID!!!!.....LOL...They Love that one too! But here's what I really think. 'COMPLAINING' doesn't do a 'Damn bit!....They just keep "Apologizing" while they have their 'BIG HAND IN YOUR POCKET!!!.......What we need to do is start finding a
'WAY TO FIGHT THEM BACK IN "THEIR POCKETBOOK!!!!"
That's the only thing that will 'change anything!'........I've even thought of 'PICKETING THE DAMN BANK WITH A SIGN SAYING "I'M MAD AS HELL AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!".........I wonder how many 'PEOPLE WOULD JOIN ME!!!!!........I bet 'A LOT!!!!'

I suspect you are most ticked off over return check/overdraft charges. The way to avoid that is to be careful in your record keeping and always make sure you put the money in the bank and all checks deposited have cleared before you write your check. Stolen cash is seldom recovered, as you noted.

But your tirade, while not new or original (I've heard it for years), was fun to read.

Right-on!

Cash and Carry....

As in Permit to Carry....

I seriously can not believe how ridiculous most of you people are. Why is it so hard for you to take responsibility for your own actions and your own money for that matter. Banks are NOT accounting firms...if you want someone to manage your money spend the dough to hire an ACCOUNTANT...if you are using a bank then DO IT YOURSELF.....and yes as someone said earlier...here's a bright idea...I know it might sound outrageous but here goes....DON'T SPEND MONEY YOU DON'T HAVE!!!!!!!! It's called a BUDGET. There is also this really neat invention called a REGISTER...its used to write down your debits and credits (that's when money is added or subtracted from your account) so that you have the CORRECT balance at any given time.....its YOUR responsibility to keep track of this...NOT your bank's. I mean GEEZ I work hard for my money and would NEVER just leave it to someone else to tell me how much I have. I want to know for sure and me doing it is the only way.....besides...if your bank does make a mistake, how are you going to prove it if you don't have the paperwork to back it up. This whole "entitlement" mentality most of you have really ticks me off.

One problem w/your post is that Goldman Sachs is NOT a retail bank, it's an investment bank. Investment bank are firms that help their clients do things like raise capital, do an initial public offering (IPO), borrow big from the bond markets, do private placements by borrowing from private investors, etc.

That said, I do agree w/some of the stuff you mentioned in your post. Other culprits include the folks who repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, which prevented banks from owning brokerages and other institutions. Let's not forget the mortgage bankers and brokers who sold complicated "products" to people who probably did not understand what they were buying. Then there's folks who did mortgages based on little more than whether borrowers had a pulse, and subsequently sold those mortgages to the bond markets as securities. But let's not tar every bank with the same brush. I'm sure there are smaller banks who were not involved in this nonsense, such as community banks and S&Ls.

Jan,
You are absolutely right. It is thee GOVERNMENT that has ruined our financial system--Barney Frank and Chris Dodd being at the top of that list. Why don't people go after them with nasty letters? Thee government wants you to go after the banks and wallstreet because it takes the blame off of them who caused this whole mess---please people turn off CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC think for yourselves, research for yourself and you will find it is your government who is stealing trillions of our dollars and they want you to blame somebody else.

Morons. It isn't one entity that has ruined our finiancial system. You too are to blame. Remember theses words "I want it NOW!" You make it easy to be taken advantage of.

I agree with much of what Shep said. There are many Community Bank's, Savings and Loans/thrifts (which the current administration want's to eliminate ... the thrifts/S&L) which did not get involved with the loans that the mortgage brokers did. I work with many Community Banks who are being broad brushed with Chase, BOA and the mortgage brokers. Many of their customers went to the mortgage brokers because the community bank wouldn't make the same type of loan. There are many good community banks throughout the country. You have to know what you are signing up for and the fees involved. Bank's are businesses and very heavily regulated. The mortgage brokers were not regulated.