BANKS: PARASITES, LEECHES

[How much do banks spend processing an overdraft (OD-overdraft)? Most
bank cost-analysis surveys indicate a cost of 35 cents to 75 cents. So, for every $35 bank fee you pay for an overdraft, your local friendly bank pockets $34.25 to $34.65!]

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He that stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, He also shall cry himself, but shall not be
heard. -PROVERBS 21:13I

It was my fault. I switched to "bill pay," on line, with First Citizens bank. It was my fault. I mistakenly made an overdraft, resulting in $459.00 in overdraft fees, in one month! It is my mom and dad's bank account.

Dad, 86, a retired minister, died on July 10th this year. Mama has been sickly for years. Most recently, she had a hemorrhagic stroke. She uses a walker; and I push her in her wheelchair when we leave the house.

My mother raised two boys and two girls while my dad went from town to town preaching, as an evangelist, at any church that invited him. She started
having seizures on Saturday, September 11, 2004. I was there when she had
her first one. After finding her lying face down, immobile, between her bed
and the bedroom wall (she'd been there four or five hours) I made the
decision to watch over my mom and dad for the rest of their lives (I
promised my mom, in the '80s, that she'd never go into a nursing home if I
could help it). As attested by her family doctor, my mom needs
around-the-clock care.

Mom lives on dad's social security: $638.00. After subtracting overdraft
fees for September 2008, she had $179 left to pay bills.

Just as a sidebar, after my brother called me around 10:30 pm one night, in September, to tell me there was a Hurricane Ike gas-hike scare in town I drove to the Hasty
Mart (where gas was usually available 24-hrs. a day, with a credit card) in
La Grange. I started pumping gas at 11pm or a minute or two past 11, when
the station attendant, after shutting the pumps down, ran out saying that
the station was not allowing 24-hr. service that night. I had already pumped
$.09 worth of gas. My mom's account was billed $35 for that 9-cent purchase!

I talked to Liz Dixon at First Citizens in Pink Hill, where my parents
opened their checking account in 1983. Liz is a nice person and had helped
me in August when a "Free Credit Report" web site billed us for a Credit
Diagnosis account and a Credit Protection Account that I was unaware I had
signed up for. It turned out that the credit report cost was $.99; and
that's how they were able to withdraw money from my mom's account without my
knowledge. It was a scam. Liz removed the overdraft fees after I complained
to the web site and told them to cancel the accounts.

I pleaded with Liz to remove the overdraft fees. She said she could not. I
asked to speak with manager, Steve Oliver, he said he would cancel $175 in
overdraft fees. I sent "Thank You" notes to Mrs. Dixon and Mr. Oliver. I
pleaded further, however because our situation was, and is dire. Our utility
bill alone was $312. Mr. Oliver's attitude from the beginning, I felt, was
one of indifference to my mom's plight. I felt that he felt that I was just
an annoyance. So, I asked who else I could talk to about the matter. He said
I could call Bill Whaley at the main office in Kinston, on Queen St.

Like Mr. Oliver, Bill Whaley, too, had all the compassion of the Berlin
Wall. He assured me that nothing else could be done to help us out.

Banks function according the principle that 'you can make the most money
from the people who can afford it the least' (meaning the average
family). --EDWARD F. MRKVICKA, Jr., The Bank Book (1991). Edward F.
Mrkvicka, Jr. is a former president and CEO of a national bank.

Now here is what really is unconscionable, detestable, and immoral:

How much do they (banks) spend processing an overdraft (OD-overdraft)? Most
bank cost-analysis surveys indicate a cost of 35 cents to 75 cents. I
believe it's closer to a dollar, based on the following:

Computer cost per OD (overdraft) $0.25

Employee's processing cost 0.46

Mailing cost of OD notice 0.29

(*Mailing cost is now $0.42) $1.00


--EDWARD F. MRKVICKA, Jr., The Bank Book (1991).

He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich,
shall surely come to want.

-PROVERBS 22:16

"The order in which banks process checks and other debits determines the
overdraft fees they charge. Those fees make up 90% of service charges on
deposit accounts, and they're expected to yield a record $53.1 billion for
financial institutions this year, research firm Moebs Services says.
--Smart Banking, MARC HEDLUND, USA TODAY

I would say that if your bank is making money off of you by waiting for you
to make a mistake or have a bad month, they're not looking out for your best
interests. --Smart Banking, MARC HEDLUND, USA TODAY

He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth His Maker: But he that honoreth Him hath mercy on the Poor. ---PROVERBS 14:31

Dixon, Oliver, and Whaley all said they didn't know the bank cost of
processing overdrafts. Well, they are lying or they're ignorant of and
uninformed about, the largest source of bank revenue: overdraft fees. I don't
believe they are bad people, however; in their tacit approval of wrong, they
are complicit in wrongdoing.

Now that you know the truth, you also know that the motto of First Citizens
Bank--"We value relationships" --is only empty rhetoric and hypocrisy. The
only thing First Citizens Bank and all the other banking institutions care
about is the relationship they have with your overdraft fees.


© Copyright ALLEN BALL ENTERPRISES 2008