[Oberon]

When I was a kid, people used cash for almost every in-person transaction. I remember going to the bank with my Dad, who would deposit his paycheck and withdraw an astronomical sum... usually around two hundred dollars... to cover gas and groceries for two weeks. The local bank was the local bank, and it made its money by lending out Dad's money while it was on deposit. This worked out well for all concerned; our mortgage was at that same bank. We qualified for the mortgage the old-fashioned way, with a twenty-percent down payment and enough documented income to cover the mortgage comfortably.

I would like to see a return to those days. I do not understand why today, when transactions are handled electronically at a tiny fraction of the cost of using a human teller, the multinational corporations that have replaced the local banks have to charge a fee to me every time I want to use my money, in order to have a business model that provides enough cash flow to keep them afloat.

Ideally, I'd like to see Glass-Steagall reinstated, and once more draw that hard regulatory dividing line between investment banks and service banks, and a small community bank can provide for me the service I need in return for the privilege of holding my money. Until that day, my local credit union is a reasonable facsimile of that community bank.

I regret that I was unable to participate in Bank Transfer Day. This was impossible for me because I'd already transferred our accounts to the local credit union away from RBC/Centura back in May. I was tired of the poor customer service and endless fees.

Should the local credit union not work out to my satisfaction, we'll go back to using cash for all in-person transactions. Heck, stuffing it in the mattress may not be secure, but at least the mattress won't charge you a few dollars every time you take cash out of it. No, the mattress doesn't pay interest, but then again neither do the banks just lately either.

[Clay Moore]

There was some big down sides to using community banks which is all there were until what, the late 70’s?

Remember when no-one would accept a check when you were more that about 50 miles from home?

Remember when you were broke down 1200 miles from home and basically had no way to get it fixed except cash? Did you have enough cash in your back pocket to replace the transmission?