Banks . . . I Hate Banks - pretty much

Howdy!

Have you noticed how your bank - especially the large nationwide operations - instead of treating you as a valued customer and trying to be a helpful addition to your life, now tries to prey upon you whenever possible?

For example:

• if you have checks that clear on the same day as a deposit, making sure they clear the checks first, maximizing the chance that your account will go into the negative - even though you have a deposit pending for THAT DAY - so they can charge you an overdraft fee
• charging the fee for overdraft protection to the credit card you use for that purpose, instead of your account, hoping that you won't notice that they're charging you ten bucks for so-called "protection" against overdrafts, when in fact they're just charging you a lower amount than the $25 they would usually charge you
• sending you a letter changing the terms (read "interest rate") of your credit card agreement, and casually mentioning that the only way you can avoid this change is to write them a letter stating that you don't agree to the change, and then never using the card again - or else the change then automatically goes into effect anyway

Yep, banks are really big on honest dealing - when it comes to you paying them. When it comes to how they treat YOU, not so much. I hate banks, except the bank I currently use, USAA Federal Savings. You can't just get an account there, unfortunately, because they're oriented primarily toward serving active and retired military - which is why they don't try to cheat you at every turn. An excellent bank, and hooray for our troops that they get to take advantage of it.