You Should Keep Your Money In A Mattress

[trex]

Banks aren't your friends. They will nickel and dime you to death with fees. There was a time that a bank was a place where they borrowed your money and paid you for that privilege with interest. They have somehow convinced people that it is OK to charge them for getting access to their own money. It's your money. If a bank is charging you to get your own money through ATM and other fees, find one that doesn't. If you can't, put it in your mattress. You'll come out ahead.

[momof1in150]

Interesting because my bank hasn't charged me a fee ever. I get ATM fees reimbursed and have no fees attached to my savings, checking or credit cards. The only time I paid a fee was to have money wire transferred when we were buying a home.

Get your facts straight. You made these broad statements that aren't all true.

[aevans1206]

Banks aren't your friends. They will nickel and dime you to death with fees. There was a time that a bank was a place where they borrowed your money and paid you for that privilege with interest. They have somehow convinced people that it is OK to charge them for getting access to their own money. It's your money. If a bank is charging you to get your own money through ATM and other fees, find one that doesn't. If you can't, put it in your mattress. You'll come out ahead.

This just makes no sense. No, they're not your friend, but neither is the CEO of the local grocery store or Bill Gates for that matter. You still do business with them. Plenty of banks are offering much better options for checking accounts, etc. I never pay banking fees. Even Washington Mutual now offers free checks!

[simpleyme]

;-) ;-) .

[disneysteve]

They will nickel and dime you to death with fees.

Where do you come up with this stuff?

I have NEVER paid a penny in fees to my bank for anything. I have free checking. I use the ATM regularly. I get paper statements mailed to me each month. I have free online banking and bill paying service.

If I were to screw up and bounce a check or overdraw my account there would certainly be fees, but that would be my fault, not the bank's. If you want to keep your money in a mattress, go right ahead. Mine will be safe and secure in the bank.

[marla]

I am a bit ashamed to say it, but I was once like the person he describes. For awhile, I was at a bank that charged a fee for you to see the teller to deposit your money, if you can believe that. This was not at one of my brighter moments in life. So these banks do exist.

I do ebay and even the bank I use now that is much better has charged me when checks have been returned. How is that my fault? There are times a bank charges fees that are ridiculous in my opinion.

Keeping money in a mattress in not the solution, and the title is a bit provocative, but banks make a huge amount of money off of and banking fees and that means everyday people are paying them.

Bank fees are more outrageous than ever - MSN Money

[mom-from-missouri]

Having lived through loosing about everything in a house fire, I would NEVER keep money in a mattress. Insurance only reimburses up to a certain amount of lost cash during a robbery or fire in a home.

[disneysteve]

I'm starting to think that we are the subject of some sort of bizarre psychological experiment. the OP makes these outlandish statements and watches how we react to them. He or she may have even hypothesized as to how long we would get tired of trying to reason with his or her statements before calling them on it. That's it, isn't it trex?

What scares me even more is the thought that there may actually be people out there who believe all the things he has posted.

[project15]

My mattress charges fees, so I keep my money in the bank.

[trex]

Get your facts straight. You made these broad statements that aren't all true.

Let's look at the statements I made.

Banks aren't your friends. They will nickel and dime you to death with fees. There was a time that a bank was a place where they borrowed your money and paid you for that privilege with interest. They have somehow convinced people that it is OK to charge them for getting access to their own money. It's your money. If a bank is charging you to get your own money through ATM and other fees, find one that doesn't. If you can't, put it in your mattress. You'll come out ahead.

1) Banks have lots of fees

2) The money you earn is your money, not the bank's

3) If you are getting charged lots of fees, find a new bank that doesn't charge them

4) If you can't find one that doesn't charge fees, keep your money at home

All these broad statements aren't true? If so, please tell me how they are not.

[trex]

This just makes no sense. No, they're not your friend, but neither is the CEO of the local grocery store or Bill Gates for that matter. You still do business with them. Plenty of banks are offering much better options for checking accounts, etc. I never pay banking fees. Even Washington Mutual now offers free checks!

Where do you come up with this stuff?

I have NEVER paid a penny in fees to my bank for anything. I have free checking. I use the ATM regularly. I get paper statements mailed to me each month. I have free online banking and bill paying service.

If I were to screw up and bounce a check or overdraw my account there would certainly be fees, but that would be my fault, not the bank's. If you want to keep your money in a mattress, go right ahead. Mine will be safe and secure in the bank.

Please refer above. I was talking about people that do pay bank fees. If you don't, then I was not talking to you.

[trex]

Having lived through loosing about everything in a house fire, I would NEVER keep money in a mattress. Insurance only reimburses up to a certain amount of lost cash during a robbery or fire in a home.

There are such things as fireproof safes where many people keep valuables.

[disneysteve]

I know that my posts are not safe or standard and many may be politically incorrect. Does that mean they are not worth discussing? I believe they are.

trex, and everyone, I happen to agree. As much as I've disagreed with almost everything you've posted, I think those posts have resulted in interesting discussions. I don't know if you actually believe everything you've said or if you've just posted some of those things to spur discussion. Hopefully, you don't believe it all because you've said some outrageous stuff, but in either case, I'm always open to civil debate as long as it remains free of personal attacks and inappropriate comments. If I can't support and defend my own opinions, they must not be very good.

What I do think is a bit annoying, trex, is the confrontational way in which you are posting things as fact, rather than as your personal opinion. For example, in this thread you stated, "Banks aren't your friends. They will nickel and dime you to death with fees." That is very different than posting something like, "I've realized that my bank is really nickel and diming me with fees. Has anyone else had the same problem? Do any of you have a bank that you're really happy with that doesn't do this?"

This is generally a very friendly board where everyone is civil to one another. That doesn't mean we don't get into some heated debates. There are definitely folks here who disagree on any number of topics, but we don't get in each other's faces about it.

[LuxLiving]

Trex, Motley Fool agrees that you could conceivably win big...

Keep your money in your mattress and become a millionaire,
read the relevant article here that tells you how many dollars
a day you need to stuff in there and how many years it will take.

Become a Millionaire on $20 a Day

[jodi]

Although I personally disagree with a lot of Trex's points, I have to agree with Disney Steve that these posts can be great jumping off points for discussion - however, that being said, I do find the "all or nothing" blanket statements to be a bit tiring. Trex, I think you may have an interesting perspective to offer, but I also think you are going to be ignored with this approach. Disney Steve offers some great pointers on how to start a civilized discussion without immediately alienating those who are likely to join the discussion. If you are at all interested in having a long-term presence on this board, you might want to tone it down a bit - just my humble opinion.

Yes, I also had a bank that nickel and dimed me to death, but I learned how to work their system to avoid fees until I switched to a credit union, which was great. When I moved, I switched again to BOA and have never had any fees, except the one time I unknowingly let me savings account fall below the minimum balance (my fault, but I asked them about it and they removed the fee). It's just a matter of knowing the rules and playing by them. I would never opt to keep my money in my house where it's earning nothing for me. I keep a minimum in my savings and checking account, and the rest in investments and a high-interest account (EF).