No kidding! Way back in the 80s I had a US Bank account called “The Only Account”. It was a checking and savings account where checking always had a balance of zero. When I wrote a check or withdrew money from an ATM, they automatically transferred money from savings to checking to cover it, and then the checking balance immediately went back to zero and that was that. No overdrafts. Ever. There was an annual fee of I think $20/year.
I don’t know where that idea went, but banks and even credit unions now act like they never heard of such wacky nonsense. “Overdraft protection” consists of loaning you the money, no matter how much you have right there in your savings acct, and they charge a fee each time and of course also charge interest on the loan. Ridiculous.
If you flat out had no money I believe the check would bounce. At least I don’t remember ever hearing of the automatic loan scheme until I moved to Seattle and merged into my wife’s credit union. If your CU has an only-account type feature you should check your statement to make sure money that moves out of savings is to cover checks or debit transactions that would have come out of the checking account.
“Overdraft protection” consists of loaning you the money, no matter how much you have right there in your savings acct
That is not universal, many financial institutions let you set it up so that your savings automatically covers overdrafts.
I’ve had that be the case in my Ally accounts since like 2010 at least, for no fee. Hell, Ally doesn’t even charge overdraft fees at all anymore, apparently.
Srsly? When I had the Only Account it was in Oregon, then I moved to Seattle and couldn’t find a bank with that feature. Even US Bank, where I had the account in Portland, didn’t have it in Seattle. The clerk gave me a kindergarten explanation of how it’s not one company, it’s more like a family with lots of cousins all over. I LOL’d mentally because I knew it for a fact was and is one company (I had even traded their stock in the past, symbol USB). But anyway apparently their accounts and features varied by state and Washington state didn’t offer thar type of account. I will have to look around again now, thanks!
You say that like it’s an option chosen by idiots, but we literally must consume, as in people have to fucking eat, and we don’t have the option to just nope out of capitalism and grow your own food on your own land unless you have a stupid amount of capital.
Only my experience, but I’ve worked both as a teller and as back office in financial institutions for over a decade. Out of all of the people who were chronically overdrawing their accounts, I honestly can’t remember a single one who was doing so off of buying essentials, it was always frivolous luxuries.
Hell, over the years I’ve even heard a coworker talk about how they have no money until their next paycheck at the end of that week, and then later that same day, talk about what designer sneakers they want to buy when they get their tax return.
There are definitely people who struggle to make ends meet, but the fact is, the majority of the times ends aren’t met, it’s deliberate. People in the US are more likely to have a problem with overspending than underearning, on average.
The real death of America is everyone drowning to death in made up fees.
No kidding! Way back in the 80s I had a US Bank account called “The Only Account”. It was a checking and savings account where checking always had a balance of zero. When I wrote a check or withdrew money from an ATM, they automatically transferred money from savings to checking to cover it, and then the checking balance immediately went back to zero and that was that. No overdrafts. Ever. There was an annual fee of I think $20/year.
I don’t know where that idea went, but banks and even credit unions now act like they never heard of such wacky nonsense. “Overdraft protection” consists of loaning you the money, no matter how much you have right there in your savings acct, and they charge a fee each time and of course also charge interest on the loan. Ridiculous.
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My credit union has this. That feature has kicked in for me a few times for me just this year.
You didn’t explain what would happen if your checking account had a $0.00 balance and your savings account had a $0.00 balance.
Seriously can someone tell me what happens? Because money keeps coming out of my savings…
If you flat out had no money I believe the check would bounce. At least I don’t remember ever hearing of the automatic loan scheme until I moved to Seattle and merged into my wife’s credit union. If your CU has an only-account type feature you should check your statement to make sure money that moves out of savings is to cover checks or debit transactions that would have come out of the checking account.
That is not universal, many financial institutions let you set it up so that your savings automatically covers overdrafts.
I’ve had that be the case in my Ally accounts since like 2010 at least, for no fee. Hell, Ally doesn’t even charge overdraft fees at all anymore, apparently.
Srsly? When I had the Only Account it was in Oregon, then I moved to Seattle and couldn’t find a bank with that feature. Even US Bank, where I had the account in Portland, didn’t have it in Seattle. The clerk gave me a kindergarten explanation of how it’s not one company, it’s more like a family with lots of cousins all over. I LOL’d mentally because I knew it for a fact was and is one company (I had even traded their stock in the past, symbol USB). But anyway apparently their accounts and features varied by state and Washington state didn’t offer thar type of account. I will have to look around again now, thanks!
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You say that like it’s an option chosen by idiots, but we literally must consume, as in people have to fucking eat, and we don’t have the option to just nope out of capitalism and grow your own food on your own land unless you have a stupid amount of capital.
Only my experience, but I’ve worked both as a teller and as back office in financial institutions for over a decade. Out of all of the people who were chronically overdrawing their accounts, I honestly can’t remember a single one who was doing so off of buying essentials, it was always frivolous luxuries.
Hell, over the years I’ve even heard a coworker talk about how they have no money until their next paycheck at the end of that week, and then later that same day, talk about what designer sneakers they want to buy when they get their tax return.
There are definitely people who struggle to make ends meet, but the fact is, the majority of the times ends aren’t met, it’s deliberate. People in the US are more likely to have a problem with overspending than underearning, on average.
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Maybe don’t condescendingly blame people living under capitalism for the cruelty inflicted by the ownership class, you fucking pleb.
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Refer to my previous comment.
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All sound and fury, signifying nothing.