Savings Account losing money

[carsensejoe]

my wife had a savings account with wachovia. She had a little over $200 dollars in there. one month i check her statement and she was gaining .06 cents per month in interest, but paying $4 per month in service fees. I was stupified and had her cancel it.

be aware when u open an account what excactly the stips are so u dont wind up getting beat up

[kimiko]

Most saving accounts from brick and mortar banks require a minimum of $300 to waive the monthly service fee. They usually tell you about it when you sign up as well as providing documents of their fees.

[carsensejoe]

women... cant live with em cant live without em

[poundwise]

A brick-n-mortar bank is about the worst place to keep savings. It ranks somewhere between a mattress and a jar buried in the yard. Honestly, I don't even know why most of them still offer savings accounts. The interest is laughable and the fees are absurd.

[disneysteve]

Honestly, I don't even know why most of them still offer savings accounts. The interest is laughable and the fees are absurd.

That's exactly why they still offer them. It makes them a fortune. What better business can you think of but to have people give you money to hold, you get to charge them for holding it and meanwhile get to lend it to others and collect interest. What a great deal... for the bank.

[Aleta]

Oh Poundwise: You made me LOL with that statement about the brick and mortar banks. I honestly think that many people are afraid of internet banking. I know I was, but I finally took the leap and glad that I did. The only reason I go to the bank now is to deposit checks or to cash one. It has been a saving in so many areas. No gas, no stamps, not as many checks to buy. My car insurance has to be by a check so if I'm in the area, I'll take it in person. Also, no wear and tear on my car, quick access to your accounts to see what is going on. Frankly I love it!

[MonkeyMama]

women... cant live with em cant live without em

Funny thing is this is something my husband would do, not I.

But seriously, yeah I See this ALL the time with my accounting clients. With some banks, all you have to do is call and ask to have the fee removed and they will. They get rich off people not noticing and not caring. I think Bank of The West or something is one where I see this all the time for coporate accounts, and each time a simple phone call took care of it.

But yeah, check your statements. Read the fine print. That is key.

ANother thing to watch out for with places like Wachovia: If you have an investment account, and no cash, they will borrow cash to pay fees, etc., rather than sell securities to pay for them. You don't know how often I See people with little investment accounts paying margin interest to the tune of 10-20% because the brokerage lent them CASH to pay their annual/quarterly broker fees, and no one noticed. Oy vey! Actually I had a client who had millions of dollars in an investment account who was being charged margin intrest too. I have no idea why you would even mess with a larger client like that (in risk of losing them) except in the hopes that they won't notice. Which they never do until we come along and say WHOA!

[Ima saver]

Well I do all my banking in a real bank because I am not good with computers. But, in all my life, I have never been charged a fee. I also get 5.25% interest or better on all of my accounts.

[Scanner]

The only thing I use a bank money market for is holding my escrowed personal taxes.

I do it because it's easily linked to my business checking account. . .I withdraw it, hold in there, and then every June 15th, Sept. 15th, Jan 15th, and April 15th transfer it back into my checking.

That's about all I think they are good for.

[simpleyme]

I opened an account with sterling silver for my children and every month they made a few cents in interest and were charge a 3 dollar fee ,every month i would call and they would apologize for the mistake after months of this i closed the account

i opened an account at local credit union and every month they would charge me a unknown address fee, in a statement sent to my address

[carsensejoe]

thank you 4 all of your replies

[carsensejoe]

Funny thing is this is something my husband would do, not I.

LOL

They get rich off people not noticing

Companies are doing this everywhere just giving miscellaneous charges. There was a news report on erroneous credit card charges where the credit card company charged everybody a $75 miscellaneous fee..if you called and complained they took it off but most people did not call and where charged

[poundwise]

Well I do all my banking in a real bank because I am not good with computers. But, in all my life, I have never been charged a fee. I also get 5.25% interest or better on all of my accounts.

I've seen you mention your institution before Ima. It is clearly a good place. Is it a credit union or bank? If the latter, I expect that it is a smaller, local bank; would that be correct?

[HeartCarved]

I work at a bank and can't imagine using a standard 'statement savings' account. Why would I leave my savings in my bank where they're currently paying a whopping 0.25% when I can put it in my ING Direct account for 4.5?

[disneysteve]

Companies are doing this everywhere just giving miscellaneous charges.

Very true. My mom just told me she was reviewing her phone bill and noticed a $1 monthly fee. She called to find out what it was for and they said it was a flat fee to cover "local long distance" calls. Years ago, they used to do what was called "message units" that charged by the minute for those types of calls. Now they are still charging by the minute but also added the $1 fee. If you paid the $1/month, the per minute charge was lower. You could skip the $1 charge and just pay a higher per minute rate for those calls.

Since Mom has a cell phone that she uses for anything out of the area, she had no need to keep paying the $1 (plus taxes) so she had them remove it and refund it for the past 6 months.