Put Your Hands Up For Detroit
The best-of-seven American League Championship Series (ALCS) between the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers kicks off tonight on FOX.
Updated – Game 1 – Loss (2-3)
Updated – Game 2 – Loss (3-7)
Updated – Game 3 – WIN (5-2)
Updated – Game 4 – Loss (3-7)
Updated – Game 5 – WIN (7-5)
Updated – Game 6 – Loss (15-5)
Thanks for the great season! We’ll get ’em next year!
Stop banks from raiding your piggy bank
Apparently, Citigroup wasn’t satisfied with its first round of fees.
In addition to the $10 checking account fees I covered last month (here), Citi customers will be charged $20 a month for monthly balances less than $15,000 in “combined” accounts. This is more than double the previous requirement of $6,000.
But wait, there’s more!
Customers with the “EZ Checking account” will have to pay $15 a month for balances below $6,000. If you don’t have the EZ account, do not fear; you can still pay fees. Citi will no longer offer the EZ account, and instead offer you two choices: the Citibank Account or its Basic Banking account (both carry fees).
Sources:
Citi hikes fees on checking accounts
CNN Money | October 5, 2011
http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/04/pf/citi_fee/index.htm
Bank of America Customers – Time to Move Your Money!
Invest-Safely| September 19, 2011
Banks Charge for Deposits – Part 2
Invest-Safely| September 19, 2011
Banks Charge for Deposits
Invest-Safely| August 20, 2011
Per the first sentence on the Invest-Safely homepage: Learning the real secret to safe investing does not require a degree in finance or an MBA. Want proof you don’t need an MBA to invest, check out Dilbert:
Hat Tip: BR
Related Links:
Investing in Stocks
Invest-Safely.com
http://www.invest-safely.com/investing-in-stocks.html
Gold Investment
Invest-Safely.com
http://www.invest-safely.com/gold-investment.html
Time to move that piggy bank
There was a mass of headlines today concerning Bank of America’s (BAC) plans to charge you $5/month for using a debit card starting in 2012.
If you use your BAC debit card at a store to make a purchase, you’ll get charged $5 for that month. You can still use your debit card fee-free at an ATM to make withdrawals.
My August post also mentioned that SunTrust (in Atlanta) began charging customers $5 this summer, and Regions Financial (in Birmingham, AL), would begin charging $4 this fall (next month actually).
Seriously, how long before every bank transaction is “taxed”? A study by published by Bankrate.com (Bankrate Checking Study) revealed that 45% of non-interest checking accounts are free of maintenance charges, down from 65% in 2010. And the 2010 figure was down from 76% in 2009!
And the fee’s usually apply to basic checking accounts. Basic accounts are the ones with low minimum balance requirements (which usually also have monthly fees – some accounts charge as much as $12 per month if your average balance is below $1500). So the people who can least afford are the ones impacted the most.
What a joke.
Why is this happening?
These actions are the latest responses to a new set of regulations set to impact the banking industry on October 1 2011.
One aspect of these regulations puts a limit on the fees banks collect from merchants debit card transactions. After October 1, banks can either collect those fees from you (the consumer), or give you an incentive to use your credit card (such as charging you to use your debit card).
And guess what? There is no limit to the amount of merchant fees banks can collect when customers use a credit card. But here’s the real kicker; with no limit on the merchant fees for using credit cards, large banks stand to benefit the most…banks like Bank of America.
At this point in my financial journey, I don’t have a debit card. Instead, I use cash-back credit cards and pay them off every month. But I still thought these fees were ridiculous, so I moved money out of BAC’s hands.
You should consider doing the same. Two safe investing principles are directly related to costs (#2 – Always protect against loss and #7 – Constantly pursue ways to reduce costs).
Head over to Mint.com and look for local banks and credit unions that offer fee-free access to your money. Hitting big banks in the financial statement seems to be the only thing that gets noticed these days!
Sources:
Banks Charge for Deposits
https://blog.invest-safely.com/2011/08/20/banks-charge-for-deposits/
More bad news for bank customers: Debit card fees
Candice Choi | September 29, 2011
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Bank-of-America-to-charge-5-apf-1381425092.html
Look out below! Major US Indexes down over 2% ahead of the opening bell.
Stop banks from raiding your piggy bank
Back in August, we discussed the fact that some banks were beginning to charge fees on your hard earned cash.
Now, Citigroup is getting in on the act, and it isn’t just for the big boys.
It seems that the taxpayer bailout wasn’t enough, so you and I need to fork over a little more in the way of account fees.
It is worth repeating…avoid fees like the plague. You’re already bearing the burden of the bank sectors past mistakes via extremely low interest rates. According to MSN Money, only US Bank and Capital One are fee free. Move your money somewhere that doesn’t charge a fee. Most local credit unions are a great place to start looking.
Sources:
Banks Charge for Deposits
Invest-Safely| August 20, 2011
As if this ride hasn’t been wild enough already…could be an even wilder week.
Two large coupon payments are due on some Greek bonds (2037 @ 4.5% and the 4.6% of 2040 @ 4.6%) for a total payment of 769 Million Euro).
–> Read the Zero Hedge Article here.
And we have the super-duper fed meeting.The last time we had an “extended” meeting of the Fed, we got QE1!
“…these are not “normal” times. The coming week brings us the September FOMC meeting…” Read more here – September Option Investing – Commentary.
The US markets are down ~2% at the open…
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