Banks punish perfect customers
Bank of America and others test program that hits their best customers with new fees.
Pay all your bills on time and have perfect credit? How dare you. All that responsible behavior is doing nothing for banks. They can't slap a single overdraft fee or service charge on you. It's no fun to have you as a customer because, well, you're just too good!
So now, Bank of America (BAC) and other institutions are testing out a new annual fee for perfect customers. If you do everything right and play by the rules, you may be asked to pony up between $29 and $99 a year. Welcome to the new world of banking, where no good deed goes unpunished.
"There is a big segment of their population that they will have never made any money on, which is people who pay their bills on time every month," a research director at CreditCards.com told CBS News.
Bank of America and Citigroup (C) say they're just testing the fees now, and haven't made any decisions.
This isn't the first time we've seen this. Banks and other credit card companies are jacking up interest rates and closing the accounts of all types of customers -- including those who pay bills religiously.
It boils down to this: How much are Americans willing to take? Banks are trying to find out exactly how far they can push their customers.
When they say they're testing a new fee, they're really waiting to see how many complaints they get.
And I hope everyone who gets thrown into this lose-lose situation complains, because this is no way to treat customers.
Related reading:
Citibank yanks customer cards
What a joke and mockery this state and country has created. No wonder the other countries hate us. I had to cut in these bad times. WHY doesn't the fed and state CUT costs. Vote anti-incumbent next election. Make the politician file their own returns (they couldn't fill out a 1040EZ), put them on our SS system and pension system.It is time to stop making credit card payments.
I hate liars and bullies; both attributes of banks and credit card companies. Watch them come begging when the they are the ones begging for money. The whole credit system is a con artist's deck stacked against every single player on the planet. They buy off congress with donations, which in turn rig the game further. Quite the shell game! They are all crooks that belong in a jail cell with good ole Bernie.
Just refuse to pay until they, the bank, does something.
I had a company line of credit and paid it off or kept a small balance for many years. I paid prime + 3.25% and everthing was great for the bank when the prime rate hovered at 8%.
But when the rate hit 3% and my interest rate was just 6.25%, the bank decided to 'convert' my company line of credit to a company credit card, boosting the interest rate to 12.5%.
I simply maxed the line out and refused to pay! I can easily dump the corporation and create another Delaware corp. with a DBA (Doing Business Ass) assignment so I can keep my original name.
It didn't take long for the bank to 'see it my way' and set me up in a 'repayment' program with 6% interest; less than what I had originally asked for.
Citizens bank recently informed me I would have to pay a $39 annual fee to maintain my Overdraft protection on my accounts if I did not deposit more money with them and maintain a minimum balance of $20,000. Outrageous!! My money in my savings account would transfer to my checking account if needed, which happened once or twice a year at most. It was MY MONEY not theirs. I closed my accounts, to which they never blinked an eye, and moved my funds to my credit union. I will not allow a bank to hold me or my money hostage!
MORE ON MSN MONEY
DATA PROVIDERS
Copyright © 2013 Microsoft. All rights reserved.
Quotes are real-time for NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX. See delay times for other exchanges.
Fundamental company data and historical chart data provided by Thomson Reuters (click for restrictions). Real-time quotes provided by BATS Exchange. Real-time index quotes and delayed quotes supplied by Interactive Data Real-Time Services. Fund summary, fund performance and dividend data provided by Morningstar Inc. Analyst recommendations provided by Zacks Investment Research. StockScouter data provided by Verus Analytics. IPO data provided by Hoover's Inc. Index membership data provided by SIX Financial Information.
Japanese stock price data provided by Nomura Research Institute Ltd.; quotes delayed 20 minutes. Canadian fund data provided by CANNEX Financial Exchanges Ltd.
STOCK SCOUTER
StockScouter rates stocks from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best, using a system of advanced mathematics to determine a stock's expected risk and return. Ratings are displayed on a bell curve, meaning there will be fewer ratings of 1 and 10 and far more of 4 through 7.
128 | 268 | 471 | 585 | 652 | 595 | 673 | 422 | 262 | 141 |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
LATEST POSTS
In the never-ending contest for sales, American carmakers are pulling ahead.
FIDELITY VIEWPOINTS
- How to sell covered calls - Fidelity Investments
- Savvy year-end tax moves to consider now - Fidelity Investments
- Seven ways to prepare for tax changes
- Five reasons an annual review is crucial - Fidelity Investments
- Take a look at mid caps now - Fidelity Investments
- State of the sector: Health care - Fidelity Investments
VIDEO ON MSN MONEY
ABOUT
Top Stocks provides analysis about the most noteworthy stocks in the market each day, combining some of the best content from around the MSN Money site and the rest of the Web.
Contributors include professional investors and journalists affiliated with MSN Money.
Follow us on Twitter @topstocksmsn.