I have to close an account, the one for emergency expenses that don't fit in my monthly budget. The local bank where it is, besides having an interest rate of near-zero, now is charging fees to anyone whose total at the bank isn't at least $25,000!! For a majority of the population, that's even worse than negative interest, because the fee stays the same even for small accounts. How will anyone ever start saving if the bank takes a chunk of their money each month? Might be better to have some cash and metals well concealed and nearby.
Last I knew, the head honchos at the bank were still making fortunes and they were still financing unnecessary construction projects for established large-contractor buddies. Given all that, I'm wondering if a part of the economy is going underground.
Well, I’m only $24,997 short on that. Fortunately, my accounts are grandfathered but I MUST use an ATM. Using a teller invokes a fee. The closest branch has removed ALL drive-up tellers (not that I used them), dropped the blinds, and removed about 6 drive-up machines to move the money back and forth. IOW, the change is permanent.