Being married to a financial guru must be hell.  Poor Deb first had to deal with my wrath when I noticed that AOL was charging her $5.95 a month to keep her e-mail address.  At the end of the day, it was none of my business.  We share most of our money but do keep separate accounts for the little stuff.  So wasting money on e-mail was her right.  But still, it bothers me when the little guy gets ripped off by a greedy mega conglomerate.  


                                                


Well, David finally battled Goliath.  Deb found out that she could keep her AOL e-mail address active for free as long as she didn't need any of their other services. 

She didn't. 

Next came Bank of America.  Oh, yes, the "Bank of Opportunity".


                               

As in... opportunistic.  As in... seizing the opportunity to shake down the little guy and collecting the pennies that fall out of their pockets.  Yes, that Bank of America.  They were charging Deb $6.95 a month for the honor of housing her money.

Now, that fee could have been waived if she kept $1,500 in there or if she added in a direct deposit feature.  But, as I mentioned earlier, this account is for the little stuff, so there's never going to be $1,500 in there.  Plus, Deb left the world of direct deposits to pursue her dreams.  But $6.95-- really, $7-- per month?  (Round up to the real price, douches!) 

My dad is right when he expresses that the idea of 95-cents should be outlawed. 

Where was I? 

Oh, yeah, the $6.95 that wasn't enough of a fee, so Bank of America decided to up the anty to $8.95 a month.  I got Deb angry enough to take action.  With my help-- after all, a good part of my job is the art of negotiating with these very same banks on the debt side-- an e-mail was sent to Bank of America, asking them to waive the fee given the facts that she was a decade-long customer and that she could easily open up a new account with TD Bank without paying a monthly service fee.  And just in case they thought Deb was bluffing, she reminded them that TD Bank was only a few blocks away and even included a link to their latest offer. 

The response she received was an explanation for the $8.95, an apology for any inconvenience and a suggestion that she explore other types of Bank of America accounts.  DUH.  She knew WHY Bank of America charged her a fee.  She was just giving them a chance to retain her business.  Guess she was about to become their loss.

All ready to march to TD Bank the next day, we happened to surf around Bank of America's website.  There, we noticed that the monthly fee was waived if one opened an account online.  And that's when it hit me: why not open a new, online account and shut down the old account? 

That's the thing about big banks; they're too big and stupid for their own good.  Bank of America was content in screwing their existing customers but enticing new ones.  So all Deb had to do was become a *new* online customer.  Honestly, she didn't hate the bank.  She's always found Bank of America's customer service department helpful.  Thus, this was a win-win.  But, really, why go through all that?  If a bank is offering a no-fee account to new customers and a customer of over 9 years brings this to their attention, then they should just wave the damn fee!

While I'm on the topic of ripped-off consumers, it's time to bitch-slap Best Buy, Sleepy's and all the ridiculous deferred-interest promotions.  You know, the pay no interest until 2011! ones.  Most understand the concept: if you don't pay the balance off by the expiration date, the interest rate will hike up.  But what many don't know is that ALL accumulated interest gets added onto a balance retroactively.

Let's go through an example.  I go into Best Buy and see a state-of-the-art Swedish Meatball Maker retailing for $1,000 with zero percent financing for 24 months.


                                                 


THAT'S a bargain, I think, and so I religiously pay $40 a month for it.  By month 24, I'm only $40 away from paying off the debt.  On month 25, I'm not surprised to find that the rate increases to the standard rate on a retail credit card, 22%.  But I figure it's only $40, so 22% APR on $40 is only 73-cents a month.

Not so fast!  Actually, $315 in deferred finance charges have accumulated.  The second I pass the 24-month mark, $315 is immediately added onto my balance and now I owe $355.  Thing is, I still only have $40 a month to send, so it'll take me another 10 months-- not to mention another $37 in interest-- to pay this off.  All told, I've paid $352 in interest on something I thought would have no interest.  

                                              



What a waste!  I could have purchased 17 "I love Swedish Meatballs" T-shirts from E-Bay with this money.


-- Chris Dlugozima
    


                                                  
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