Interest Rate Change?

[rob62521]

The other night on the news, Ben Bernanke said with the slowing economy, there are going to be some changes. DH and I think it means lowering interest rates to zero and possibly having banks charge us for savings account if things don't approve. What do you think?

[disneysteve]

The other night on the news, Ben Bernanke said with the slowing economy, there are going to be some changes. DH and I think it means lowering interest rates to zero and possibly having banks charge us for savings account if things don't approve. What do you think?

I don't think banks are ever going to charge customers for having a savings account. The banks still make plenty of money paying next to nothing in savings interest, nothing at all on checking accounts and lending money through car, auto and home loans and especially their credit card operations where they take in as much as 30% interest. They would lose far too many customers if they started charging to hold your money.

[bjl584]

The other night on the news, Ben Bernanke said with the slowing economy, there are going to be some changes. DH and I think it means lowering interest rates to zero and possibly having banks charge us for savings account if things don't approve. What do you think?

Unlikely. Although, I've been considering to switching everything over from my bank to my credit union. They have better rates and better customer service. I have a few hundred dollars in an account that I maintain there, but I don't use it as my primary checking/savings.

[rob62521]

I certainly hope banks don't start charging, but anymore, nothing surprises me. We did move a bunch of money from our bank's money market account to the credit union where we had a small account because they were paying double the interest on $25K or more. The bank said it didn't make any difference how much money we had in their money market, it was all the same interest. When we told them about the credit union offer, they suggested we move it to one of their investments.

[disneysteve]

Actually, in a way, banks already charge people to hold their money, but only if you let them. We have free checking, but it we use an ATM at another bank, we pay. If we overdraw our account, we pay. If we do various other things, we pay. Of course, we don't personally ever do any of those things so we never pay a penny, but lots of people pay tons of money in fees month after month, all while earning very little to no interest. Just look how many people pay a couple of dollars to take $20 or $40 out of the ATM every few days.

[chrisburke21]

It is not likely that banks will charge for having money in savings account. If this were to happen people would be better off stashing their savings under their mattresses. Also, the banks make quite a profit by investing the balances of peoples savings or using them to finance loans through their institution. It this were to dry up for them then they would be worse off. So even if it drops to zero they will continue to pay a nominal interest rate to incentivize the use of these accounts.