The Banking Game

A few nights ago,my husband and I had to make a quick late night trip to the grocery store. We went to pick some lettuce,bread,eggs and milk. We probably picked up a few more items,but those were the main items we needed to get. So, anyway my husband and I are ready to check out and decided to use the self check out lane at our local Kroger's. We made our purchase using his debit card.

The following day he also used his debit card to put some gas in the car. Now mind you, he uses a debit card because it supposedly posts immediately;however,our bank didn't get the memo about this issue and lately hasn't been taking our purchases out immediately. Instead they wait 3 to 4 days to take money out of your account and also have been waiting 2 days to post money that we put into the back.

I mean come on now, if I deposit a certain amount of money into the bank before 2 p.m.,I expect to see my money in that bank account the next evening,don't you?

I see what these banks are doing now and it's not funny at all. They're waiting to deposit money to bank accounts and waiting to post your debit card purchases immediately because they know they can get many people with overdraft fees. Your account can be overdrawn by $9 and they charge you $35 for being overdrawn. This is what happened to my husband,his account was overdrawn by $9 four times,I guess in the past 2 weeks,I don't know,but the bank charged him $140 in overdraft fees.

Now this all started with us going to buy a few staple items at the grocery store (which added up to $13.00),and him having money in his account already before we made the purchases. In fact, he had made a call to check his account because he wanted to see if the money he had deposited earlier that day had posted yet,but it had not,and we were trying to figure out why the money hadn't deposited by now.

When I found out about him being charged $140 in overdraft fees,I was pissed,but I also realized this is how these banks make their money. Banks know that majority of Americans don't carry cash and use their debit cards on a regular basis. They know many people don't keep up with their account and go over budget,and not to mention the fact that many of these banks are struggling right along with many Americans.....what better way to make a profit. So, instead of immediately withdrawing money from a person's account they wait a few days and then, WHAM...... They've got you!

The banks can't get me because I use the cash in my hands. If I don't have the cash in my hands to buy something then I don't buy it. I know having a debit card is basically cash on hand,but I've never trusted that system. There's something about not knowing exactly what's in my account and,I don't know....I've just never trusted paperless,cashless,plastic card carrying system.....Believe me, there were times where I wanted to switch and be like everyone else,but couldn't because I kinda felt like I would become powerless for someone reason.

So, when my husband told me what happened,I said,"basically you need to carry some cash on you. " He said,"Yeah!"


-peace-

P.S.
Now we know the game,and we're ready to play too.