Posted on 09/15/2007 4:58:44 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
Somebody arrest the CEO of Bank of America. The knave is forcing poor Amy Robach to use his bank's ATM machines. At least, so it would seem from Amy's statement on this morning's "Today."
"Today" ran a segment this morning about the fact that BoA has raised its ATM fees for non-customers to $3. When things were kicked back to co-anchor Robach in the studio, she unloaded.
View video here.
AMY ROBACH: It is an outrage! Three dollars, to take out twenty or forty bucks?Co-anchor Lester Holt sympathized.
LESTER HOLT: And I get it, it's for non-customers. But for example, here in New York I use my home bank ATMs, but you travel, and you go to some place, and you have to use another bank. Three dollars seems a little excessive to get your money.
Great points, Amy and Lester. An outrage! Excessive! Why doesn't Hillary propose some kind of government commission to determine what a fair price would be?
But why stop with ATM fees? Amy, on next week's show, why not categorize all your expenses from the past year? If a $3 ATM fee is an outrage, why, $299 for a pair of shoes sounds like nothing short of a felony to me!
Free market ping to Today show list.
Use an ATM machine from a bank that doesn’t need the cash flow to subsidize credit cards for illegal aliens. Duh.
Talk about not seeing the obvious! BoA gives illegals whatever services they need. BoA NEEDS that $3 a pop from LEGAL Americans to support their ILLEGAL customer base, Amy!
Get a clue. You’re not being a very good little Socialist today are you, Amy? ;)
Hey! We need to call the show “Socialists Today!” LOL!
Just another loony left fabricated/well rehearsed/phony/I care for the little people/artificial outrage of the day.
It’s ok for Gov’t add a surcharge to go to the dump when you already pay for it. It’s ok for GE to raise the price on something, but banks. Whatever?
The Media loves those government imposed taxes though, don’t they?
Why don’t you not go to their banks and they’ll not watch your insipid show? A win-win.
Hey lady. How about taking out your cash $100 at a time instead of $20? Right there would save you $12 in fees if you must use BOA. $20 is a waste of a trip to the bank.
The reduction in labor was supposed to cover the cost of the ATM's and more.
You know if they would do a little research into their own bank they might find out that if you mail in your ATM receipts to them they will refund any fees that another bank has charged. Mine does this, it’s just a matter of taking the time to mail it in and saving the receipts. Also, you have to mail it in before 3 months time.
Actually, it is ok for GE or the bank to raise prices. If you are stupid enough to patronize a business that raises your fees to subsidize illegal aliens, more power to you. I’ll just do my business elsewhere.
I wonder if it even occurred to the newsboobs...er, newsbabe...why Bank of Amigo’s fees were so high....
A “stab” at the consumer? You’re “addicted” to ATMs? Did you mistakenly wander over from Daily Kos? No one forces anyone to use an ATM or pay a fee. If the fee is “excessive” it creates a market opportunity for other banks.
Why don’t you take my suggestion: post all your expenditures from last year so we can determine what prices were excessive or outrageous. And be sure to write Hillary demanding that she create a Fair Price Commission as soon as she’s inaugurated.
I will make the wager that Amy spent $4.00 on a cup of Starbucks Coffee before going to work this morning at the Today Show.
Funny you should say that: during the same segment, one outraged consumer said that for $3 you could get a Starbucks! He thought he was proving that the ATM fee was excessive. I take it as proof that consumers can choose what to spend their money on!
Supposing you’re right, which you’re not, the solution is ....tada...do the following...
...almost everywhere one can make a purchase and get cash back. All grocery stores, at least near me, will refund extra cash if one uses a debit card.
Fill all your cash needs via that method. The pet store, the liquor store, many retail merchants, they’ll all give you cash beyond the amount of the sale.
And it doesn’t cost a penny.
BOA bought one of my credit card accounts a few months ago. Last week I got a cheery 8-1/2X14 legal sized letter, about new rates and charges and fees and fines and universal default rates.
I cheated at the game by reading the entire thing.
Their "Take your rates and stuff them" phone number was VERY busy.
another campaign issue for hillary: free health care, free housing, free atm machines, etc. etc....
“Their ‘Take your rates and stuff them’ phone number was VERY busy.”
Which is exactly how free markets react to prices that are out of line. BoA won’t be able to make its $3 fee stick unless consumers, exercising free will, decide to pay it.
If you are addicted to ATM’s then banks are not your problem.
I don’t object to ATM charges.
However, I recently was out of town, had an expense check from my employer drawn on Wachovia for $180, and couldn’t quickly locate a branch of my own bank to cash it.
I went to the Wachovia branch, and since I wasn’t a customer they charged me $5 to cash a check drawn on their bank!
I find this marginally legal. The check was a legal instrument instructing the bank to pay the sum of $180, not $175. Why not $10 or $20? Or 10% or 20%, for that matter?
I think he was proving that Americans have more money than is good for them. We may need an economic meltdown to get this country back to financial reality.
.
A bank, like any other business, should be free to set its prices. It is not a charity. It has to pay for the space it owns or rents, the salaries of its tellers, etc. It can charge 99% of a check’s worth to cash it, for all I care. If its fees are “excessive” all it’s doing is creating market opportunities for competitors.
Why did you pay the $5, if other, cheaper options were conveniently available? You apparently made the decision that the price was, under all the circumstances, an acceptable deal for you.
I dont understand why you have already been attacked by freepers. You just provided information.
I agree with what you said and I have not used a atm machine in about 15 years.
You can't be serious... "addicted" to ATMs? These evil banks have obviously put some sort of mind altering drug on the surface of your ATM card, or maybe your PIN has hypnotized you, forcing you to use an ATM? This may be one of the dumber things I've seen posted on FR in a very long time. Get over it. If you don't want to pay a fee for using an ATM, go to one of your bank's ATMs. Or wait in line for a teller. Jeez!
Mark
I went to the Wachovia branch, and since I wasn’t a customer they charged me $5 to cash a check drawn on their bank!
I find this marginally legal. The check was a legal instrument instructing the bank to pay the sum of $180, not $175. Why not $10 or $20? Or 10% or 20%, for that matter?
It seems that many "major" banks like BoA are doing this these days. I guess they figure that since they can do it, they might as well.
Mark
Dear Amy,if this causes a reduction in the usage by(non-customers)of BofA Atms,the fee will be reduced.It’s called ECONOMICS!
I paid the price because of a time conflict. I had to catch a plane.
You are entirely correct. A bank should be free to set its prices. However:
1. The bank’s customer is my boss, not me. The bank has already charged him the fees they feel are appropriate. Their agreement with him requires them to pay the face amount of the instrument in cash to whomever he writes a check to.
2. This was not a check-cashing place. There was nothing posted to let a customer know of this policy until after standing in line for 15 minutes, after which I didn’t have time to choose another option.
“I have not used a atm machine in about 15 years.”
That’s the point. People who find the fees excessive aren’t forced to use the machines. Neither BoA nor any other bank can force people to use them. That’s why the $3 is not a “stab.” It’s a price. People can take it, or, as in your case, leave it. That’s how free markets and free people work. Would you want to change it?
I agree. The parasites in DC have seen to it that the Country as we know it will cease to exist when the meltdown happens.
It will be anarchy.
Bottom line: you decided that under all the circumstances, it was worth it. You decided your time was worth the money. Sounds like a rational decision to me. In any case, it was your decision: no one forced you to make it. That’s how free markets work.
Indeed. They strain at gnats while swallowing camels.
You’re missing the point.
The bank had an agreement with party A to pay the face amount of a financial instrument to party B.
The bank violated that agreement by deducting $5 from the face amount before making the payment to party B.
You seem to think that a bank should be free to break the terms of its contract with a customer whenever it feels like it.
BTW, I would have had no trouble at all with the charge, or even a higher one, had I been cashing a check from my bank or from a third-party bank.
You’re right: I had overlooked the fact that this was a Wachovia check being cashed at a Wachovia branch. You might want to bring this to your employer’s attention. Does its agreement with Wachovia provide that all branches will cash checks free of charge? If so, then you and your employer have a legit beef. Sorry for not having read your original post more carefully.
Thanks. I was assuming you had read the post carefully and were defending what I consider an indefensible practice. Some on FR reflexively defend any conceivable business practice as being the free market in action. An understandable overreaction to collectivist assaults, but still.
My boss is even more p*ssed about it than I am and is pursuing the situation.
Thanks, and glad to hear your boss is following up. I’d be surprised if Wachovia, wanting to keep your firm’s biz, doesn’t refund the fee and issue a bulletin to all branches not to charge it in the future.
BTW, I attempted to protest this, but there did not seem to be anybody working there who was both over 20 and with half a brain. They could only parrot “company policy.”
If I were to go to another bank's ATM, they'll either have to make money from its usage from:
1. Charging its own customers higher fees and interest to pay for my use of their ATM. That's not fair to that bank's customers.
2. Charging my bank for me to use it. That's not fair to the other customers if I use other ATMs a lot and they don't.
3. Charge each person using it in proportion to their usage. To me that seems the fairest way of doing it. Just so long as they are up front on what their charges are, I don't have any problem with it. But then I use another bank's ATM less than once a year.
Try getting some cash from an ATM in a casino or strip club some time.
You have become very "knee-jerk" lately. I used to agree with your posts but now I find myself wondering if you see everything on television news with a jaundiced eye? I don't even watch news on tv.
You conveniently ignored almost all of my post so you could attack me and you accuse me of coming from Kos.
Remember what banks told us about ATM's? They were to save us money by reducing labor costs. They were to provide convenience. They were also free, at first. Then when we became addicted to them coupled with the fact that banks have reduced tellers to almost non-existant they felt they "had us". And, they do. The reduction in labor was supposed to cover the cost of the ATM's and more.
That was the original design of the ATM. To save them money and provide convenience. And yes, there are may people "addicted" to ATM's because banks have reduced their lobby hours and manpower. People who want to take money out of a bank have to use an ATM. Some banks even charge their customers for counter service.
Since you chose to attack me it's clear that you have been influenced by the left wing media you watch so much.
I only use them in emergent situations. As for the attacks, it's funny. FReepers used to be open to discussion. Now it's "My way or the highway".
Oh, please. I haven’t used an ATM machine in over 8 years. Nobody is forcing her to do so.
“While it may not be an outrage it’s another stab at the American consumer. Remember what banks told us about ATM’s? They were to save us money by reducing labor costs. They were to provide convenience. They were also free, at first. Then when we became addicted to them coupled with the fact that banks have reduced tellers to almost non-existant they felt they “had us”. And, they do.
The reduction in labor was supposed to cover the cost of the ATM’s and more.”
I don’t want to pile on, but ATMs are hardly a necessity like gasoline or water. I often pay $1.50 to use a non-member ATM rather than taking ten minutes and driving six miles to get to my “free” credit union ATM. It’s well worth it.
Use your debit card at the store. I can’t think of a single place I do business that doesn’t accept debit cards. Restraunts, fast food, department and grocery stores, gas stations, movie theaters, museums, state parks... Unless you need bills to stuff in a stripper’s G-string, I don’t know that anyone needs cash for anything now. Write a check. Drive a little extra to your bank’s ATM (or change banks... free market you know). Go to the bank teller and get enough cash for the month.
You have no constitutional right to convenience at someone else’s cost.
I noticed everyone who attacked you is a long time freeper.
Everything you said is true but they didnt like the message.
It must be the “free” market thing that people keep propping up as a excuse to gut America in the name of globalism and cheap trinkets.
Where did I ever say I did? What the frell is wrong with you people today?
One Saturday, my bank was closed, but a branch of the bank that was on the check was two blocks away, and open. I went there. They refused to even cash the check. Well my Grandfather was on the board of that bank from the day it first opened twenty years earlier. And I’m named after him! I raised a major, and very loud stink! They finally cashed the check. But they had the bank guard following me closely, and escorted me out the door!
Most major retailers will let you get “cash back” on your debit card.
Why pay $3 when you can do it for free?
The hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars that networks charge for ad time seems even more outrageous to me. And the millions of dollars that TV personalities receives is dispicable.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.