Absurdity
No, I'm not talking about George W. Bush, though I easily could be. I just got off the phone with my bank, PNC Bank, complaining of a $20.00 service charge that appeared for no apparent reason in one of four checking accounts I maintain with the bank. This account is a joint account with my wife which was opened for one reason and one reason only. Occasionally, we will get tax refund and other checks in both our names. When my wife was out of town, I was unable to deposit these checks to my own account, but would have been able to deposit them to a joint account. Hence the need for a joint account. We maintain a balance in this account of about $5,000.
After talking with the bank today, I learned that the reason for the $20.00 service charge was because there had been no transactions (apart from interest accruals) in the account during the month. The agent told me that if I simply deposited or withdrew $1.00 each month, I could avoid the fee. So, I'm off to the bank to cash a $1.00 check and re-deposit the $1.00 to the same account.
Obviously, transactions cost the bank money because someone (or something) has to process them -- in my case, I'm going to tie up the teller as long as possible today and every time I do this. There is no earthly reason why a bank should try to encourage transactions like this. It's the ultimate absurdity.
After talking with the bank today, I learned that the reason for the $20.00 service charge was because there had been no transactions (apart from interest accruals) in the account during the month. The agent told me that if I simply deposited or withdrew $1.00 each month, I could avoid the fee. So, I'm off to the bank to cash a $1.00 check and re-deposit the $1.00 to the same account.
Obviously, transactions cost the bank money because someone (or something) has to process them -- in my case, I'm going to tie up the teller as long as possible today and every time I do this. There is no earthly reason why a bank should try to encourage transactions like this. It's the ultimate absurdity.
posted by walldon | 1:04 PM
2 Comments:
If you have it online with other accounts, just schedule money to be moved in and out of it with the other account a couple of times a month.
I don't bank online and I don't bank at ATM's. I wrote a check today for $1.00, cashed it at the teller, took the $1.00 bill and handed it back to the teller with a deposit slip, and deposited it in the same account. It was very satisfying. Unfortunately, there weren't twenty or thirty people standing behind me while I did it. That would have been even more satisfying.
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