Bank of America has been all over the news since McMillan Firearms posted about a meeting they had on their Facebook Page. The bottom line of the meeting, after 12 years of working together B of A no longer wanted McMillan’s business since they were now making firearms instead of just accessories. There are conspiracy theories running wild, from full on tin hat people to take over the government people. They are kind of funny. I’ve got a lot of respect for Kelly McMillan who just keeps say this is what happened. He won’t speculate or bad moth B of A except to say that they won’t be doing business with them anymore. I heard rumors that McMillan was going to stop excepting B of A credit cards and bank cards for transactions. I hope that is true.
Here’s my take on the situation and why you should care. B of A is making an excuse to get rid of McMillan as a customer. B of A wants customers that are not in good with money. Major banks have been getting more and more money from fees in the last couple years. If a customer pays off his or her credit card balance every month the bank doesn’t get any interest (banks call these people dead beats behind your back). If you keep your free checking account balanced then they can’t fee you for overdraft. According to other sources McMillan actually keeps up with its finances and keeps its revolving debt down. Translation, B of A is unable to charge McMillan more for the accounts and McMillan was locking up money that B of A could loan to someone else that they could charge more.
I think B of A made a financial analysis of the McMillan accounts and determined that the money McMillan was using could be given to another customer that would yield the bank more profit. All the bank needed was a reason for McMillan to close its accounts. If you don’t think the major banks in America would do this, I ask you why not? Currently there is no recourse to them. If they blow it and lose all their money our Government will just give them any money they need.
So why should you care? B of A sets policy for most banks. Where B of A goes most other banks follow. You have to watch your accounts with the attitude that the bank is trying to steal money from you (because they are trying to do it in the ways of interest and fees). If you are getting charged for having an account, move your accounts. Every bank will take your money initially. If that bank doesn’t behave, move to another one. The days of our grandparents having money in the same bank for 30 years is over. Banks see you as a way to make money. They do figures like profit per costumer to see how much money they can get from you. Banks can make plenty of money off you the traditional ways and now in the digital age they can make more profit then in the past.
The banks will try to slip a $1 charge for something in, or a $5 per month charge to every customer. The most common times for bans to change their terms of service is at the beginning of summer and at Christmas time. They have found that people pay attention the least during these periods.
The bottom line is that you need to be prepared to move your account every two or three years. Most smaller banks will help you change all your electronic debts and deposits. It seems like a daunting task, but you can do it online in less then an hour. The last time I changed banks it took me about 3 hours to complete everything because I went down and opened the account in person. I’ll be changing banks again next month because mine has a horrible online bill pay and it doesn’t always work right.
Top three reasons to change banks (all from personal experience); 3 You feel like you work for the bank, 2 You spend more time dealing with them then you would at a part time job, and the number 1 reason, you start paying them to have the privilege of giving them money.
Keep your money yours and pay attention to what the banksters are doing.
Stay Safe,
Ben