Bankers And Lawyers
There is a reason Americans detest lawyers. But the reasons to include the bankers in this category keep growing. Take today for example and a conversation I had at a local BofA branch.
“I’d like to cash this check,” I said to the teller.
“Do you have an account with us,” he asked.
“No.”
“Why not? Would you like one?”
“No thank you. BofA is too big for me. I prefer local.” (What I was really thinking was a long string of four letter words.)
“Okay, can you sign here. And put your thumbprint here,” he said. (I’ve long since given up trying to protest the thumb print thing. But it is an odious practice.)
“That’ll be a six dollar charge by the way.”
“Excuse me?”
“Six dollars.”
“When did you start charging people $6 for cashing a check drawn on your bank? What, do you think you’re check cashing place now? Talk about cheezy and underhanded. Trying to cheat Americans out of every last penny they earn?”
“It’s bank policy, sir,” he said.
“You’re bank policy is a joke. You receive billions from TARP and even more from the Fed in zero interest loans and you wonder why Americans hate you?”
So, I grabbed my check and walked out the door. I motored over to my bank and asked them if they had the same policy:
“No, we don’t. Any check drawn on this bank is free to cash.”
When did banks start charging a fee to cash checks drawn on that self-same bank? We really are through the looking glass here. Of course, the people who are hurt here are the poor–people who don’t have a bank account, or another bank, like I had, to go too.
Bankers really are the new gangsters.