Did Your Bank Make a Mistake or Are They Trying to Increase Their Profits?
Many of you are aware that I love to shop and also love to do research and make #buyers aware of great deals -- we have to look out for each other right? 
Now, I'd like to make you aware of something else you may not know about.
Recently, one of the #banks that I use was sued by the government for unfair practices towards its customers. I choose not to name this bank because for the most part they have been a decent bank, or at least I thought they were. At this point, I will not name them even in the comment section of this post. In any case, they were slapped with quite a fee, even though there is no mention of this case on their website. Here's what you need to know...
You Need to Keep Up With Your Financial Accounts Daily!
You need to check your bank account ledger almost every day, if not daily. Sign up for an online account so that you can do this and keep up with your own personal finances. Don't leave it all to third parties and strangers whom you don't know.
About a week ago, I was slapped with a couple of late fees from said bank supposedly from payments that were paid over A YEAR AGO! Maybe this bank is not so good after all. I keep pretty scrupulous records on all of my expenditures and have a tendency to read the fine print -- Moon in Virgo, you know. I had all of my account statements for said loan and knew exactly how much I had been billed, what I had paid and when.
The charges were unjust, and IN MY OPINION were a way to increase revenue to pay this fine that the Commission had slapped on them. Imagine having 32 million customers and charging a $1 fee on each account -- there you go.
While I don't blame them for scraping pennies to build up a reserve to help pay their fines, they should have put up a limit of how far back this audit would go. In any case they did not do such a good job of it. I called them and they reversed the charges -- actually that is how this blog got started! I want to help my blog followers and fellow shoppers by providing advise about how not to get taken.
There are Legal Limits to Prevent #You from Being Over-Charged for Banking Fees
When I discovered this mistake I was not happy, which I am sure you can understand. First of all, I had to take my precious time to contact the bank and get this corrected. Secondly this is a bank who handles OPM (other people's money), which means you have to be EXTREMELY careful because people use banks for major purchases and if a bank has 500,000 customers, and slips in a small $12 fee on all of them, they have just banked a whopping $6,000,000. This is not chump change. Check www.consumerfinance.gov and other .gov websites to determine the legal limits you can be charged for loans, credit cards, overdraft fees, mortgage insurance, etc.Many of you are aware that the #government, namely the #Consumer #Financial #Protection #Bureau has really cracked down on banks in recent years, possibly as a result of the past mortgage bubble and #unfair #banking #practices we recently experienced. Banks have to recover money to pay these fines and are not trying to lose one dime in the process. Here's how #you can #protect your #money.
Take the Time to Read the Fine Print in Contracts and Agreements, to include Car #Lease Agreements and #Mortgage Closing Papers and Don't be Afraid to Request Edits!
When I purchased my 2nd home, I sat at the table and took my sweet time reading every line while the lawyers huffed and puffed, checked their watches and waited impatiently, eventually taking bathroom breaks. I was single and did not have anyone to help me pay my bills so I had to make sure I was signing something I could afford. I was concerned about balloon payments and wanted to make sure they had not snuck a line in somewhere on the contract. I requested a total of two edits to the contract so they had to wait even longer for the secretary to print out the new contracts before I would sign them. Oh well.Sometimes salesmen automatically assume that they can get you to do whatever they want you to do, and unfortunately, sometimes, they are correct. Because of this negative assumption, you have to insist on getting the prices that were advertised for large ticket items like cars or homes, especially after the lenders and sellers find out how much you are capable of paying.
If you have a tendency to be a little soft or to cower when speaking with strong, persuasive personality types, bring a #firm person along with you to help read documents and #negotiate contracts and #prices. These helpers (dad, mom, girlfriend, uncle, best friend) will insist that you be charged advertised interest rates and that stores keep their end of the bargain with regard to advertised merchandise.
Also, take your time and read the fine print, specifically with regard to any rights you may be giving up by accepting a specific item or sales price.
Keep Up with Your Expenses, Household Budgets and Bank Accounts
Utilize autopay when it makes since to do so, specifically with creditors that are charging the highest rates in late fees. If you are anything like me, you want your money to stay in your account for as long as possible and you just may not feel up to bill-paying on the day when you are suppose to do it.I find that in addition to using auto-pay, you can benefit from using automated check registers, spreadsheets and programs for keeping up with expenditures(AD)
and exactly how much money you actually have, specifically when there is a delay in posting bank and credit card charges. You cannot depend on your bank statement. You can easily plug expenses into a simple program and do a quick check just before heading out on a shopping spree so that you know exactly how much money you can spend.Hope this helps you to become successful in managing your personal finances.