National "Dump Your Bank" Day
 

I think something actually worth participating in finally precipitated out of the Occupy Wall Street protests...

Bank dumping day begins - Nov. 4, 2011

National "Dump Your Bank Day"? Pretty much solidifies the leverage against big banks that people have been searching for.

I know my bank doesn't charge fees yet, but they will, and I'm considering proactively divesting. Anyone else optimistic about this?

I dumped my bank in '08. They still claim I owe them 800 dollars in overdraft fees. I honestly don't. Bank of America can eat my poop. That place is money hungry. They try to take advantage of everyone. They're not a people's bank, that's for sure. I'm glad I stopped banking. I don't even miss having one. Nothing changed, I just have all my cash in hand.

^^^ erm, instead of just saying, "no I don't", you should get that resolved. Aside from that being a tremendous black cloud over your credit score, it could (well, likely will) prevent you from opening an account with any other bank/credit union. I don't know the specifics of how this would affect your ability to get loans.... but I can't imagine it would help at all.

Anyways, I don't see why this needs to be politically motivated. It's just good financial sense to work with a Credit Union.

I wanted to start with the second half here. I don't mind the black cloud. I'm assuming I have 0 credit and working under that. I've never thought about taking out a loan and I probably won't. I'm 24. It's not even on my radar. What is that, for buying a house, or a car, or starting a business? I don't see that happening. I've worked 7 years as a cashier at minimum wage, I'm used to having nothing and wanting nothing and doing nothing. I have no plans on opening up at a credit union, though I admit you're right that they're better than major banks. I do respect youropinion and acknowledge I might be acting rash but I assure you it made sense for me.

I've always had access to a credit union so I don't use any banks. If I did I would dump them.

My checking account is free and my savings account earns me interest.
So no.


Maybe the movement could be reorganized into "National make better banking choices day".

It should be 'National Rob dumb white hippies because they're probably loaded today" day.

You mean like what banks do?

Without gaining interest in the bank, all that happens to the worth of the money in your mattress is decrease due to inflation. Plus, sounds like it could be riskier if f.ex your house burns down.

You make it sound as if there are only two choices for where to keep your money: 1) a commercial bank and 2) under your mattress.
The point is we don't need banks to keep our money safe. We have other options that many aren't aware of (i.e. credit unions).

I know the majority of Americans probably don't care whether other Americans are "too stupid to read the fine print" but a lot of people apparently think that even the stupid and the stoned don't deserve to be robbed by bankers.

What about wanting too make Internet purchases?

What about them?

misread your reply, apologies.

Yes, I was a bit quick on the 'submit reply' button. Of course, any kind of investment can give you interest (if that's what you call it when it's not coming from the bank).

The point I should've made is that you should still do something with your money. The more you have, the more important it is.

That's part of my thing Tore. I've been working minimum wage jobs and similar (never made more than 10 dollars/hr.) for 8 years straight, paycheck to paycheck my whole life. I never have more than 500 dollars and it usually goes straight to rent, bills, food. Having an account at a bank or credit union doesn't help me.

I think it's nice to point people in the direction of credit unions. I wish everyone would pull out of all their banks so that the bankers would cry, though.

Credit Unions aren't just for checking accounts, home & car loans; they generally offer everything from CDs, Bonds, etc. They're wonderful places to invest your money because they've (usually) no incentive to deceive their customers.

Really, if you want an

A good credit score helps with everything from securing employment to getting student loans. But, it is your life, and I trust you've the ability to manage it yourself.

I believe after 7 years, it'll drop off my record. I'm over halfway there if that's true. I have a new phone and address so they haven't been able to contact me about it which is nice. I don't have a creditor problem luckily and nobody's gone for my wages. If it doesn't clear off my record, I should have enough to pay them their 800 in a few years either way, but I'm pretty sure I don't owe them but can't prove it.

If you have negative marks from an unsettled account on your credit report that you're not responsible for, you can contest it and get it taken off.
If you are responsible for it, you can wait the seven years, but be very careful, because if there's any activity on the account within those seven years, the timer will restart from the date of new activity, and you'll either want to pay it off, or wait another seven.

Paying the account off is considered activity, and you'll still have the negative marks for 7 years. So, I'd just leave it alone if you're gonna wait.

Also, beware of debt collectors tricking you. Sometimes they'll call and try to get you to admit the debt is yours, and get you to infer that you're planning on paying it off. On that basis, they can update the account and run you past the seven years, starting a whole new statute of limitations in the process (which they can then sue you for the debt).

I had a credit card that went into collections like 9 years ago, and the info is now off my report, but the collectors keep selling the account to other collectors, and I still get calls to this day. They even send me letters saying they'll settle the debt for 99 dollars (was originally like 3,000), but that would be a dumb move because the statute of limitations is wayyy over, so they can't sue, and paying would put it right back on my credit report if they sent the account status to the reporting agency. So... best move for me is just ignore them.

Any time my phone shows an 800 number, I know it's them. lol.

Thanks for the assurance, yeah, that's pretty much what I knew about it. I haven't talked to them in 3-4 years. New number, new address. Feeling pretty safe. Yeah, just planning on avoiding them forever.

"If you have negative marks from an unsettled account on your credit report that you're not responsible for, you can contest it and get it taken off."

I never knew that, but I've never looked at my credit report. Maybe I'll keep that in mind.

It's a good idea to check your credit report at least once a year. In the US, you can get a free credit report annually, from Experian and Equifax. (Or you can do it every 6 months by getting one from one company, and another from the other 6 months later)

Just google free annual credit report. All is done over the net.

Most people probably don't see the point in checking their credit report, especially when they don't have any lines of credit, but that doesn't mean they're invulnerable to identity theft. If you have a social security number and are old enough to get a credit card, you're vulnerable. And checking to make sure you don't have any accounts on your credit report that weren't started by you is how you make sure someone isn't rubbing your good name in the mud and stealing with it.

I dumped my bank a few years ago, because they kept fining me anytime my balance dipped below $20 for more than three days - which, let's face it, was always going to happen since I was living paycheck to paycheck.

I also overdrafted ONE TIME, for $1.67, and they charged me a $200 OVERDRAFT FEE. I just went ahead and paid that off with my next paycheck, which sucked balls because I had to go two weeks pretty much broke...because I paid yet another fine to withdraw from the bank.

Lovely establishments, banks.

Wow, your banks are pretty harsh. If that happened to me, I would definetly consider switching banks. The one I use I never had any problems with of any kind, even if my account went into the negative by perhaps a 100 dollars

Oh, man, you're lucky! For a while, I thought it was just me that the banks had singled out to be douches to, because I'd never heard anyone complain - and I mean, that was something worthy of complaining about!

Then, I finally heard someone else bitching about it. It turns out, this particular bank had an option for a "gold" package, which apparently was a nominal fee of $10/month or something I had opted out of - BUT this package was the only way to avoid "overdraft fees on overdrafts of less than $100." Or it may have been $75. Something ridiculous.

Which is kind of sketch in the first place. But they absolutely do NOT even tell you about that when you're signing up for the bank. I signed up for it out of convenience, because it was literally right next door to work, and that bank had the most ATM machines across town so I could avoid ATM fees.

Fat lot of good that did me.

That stinks!
Yeah I wasn't going to go hungry or broke for any bank. I checked my balance online at the library and it said 20 dollars left, nothing pending. I had 6 days until payday, so I had to ration. I was spending like 2 bucks here, 1 here, 3 here, and I got back to the computer on Thursday to see if I could squeeze another dollar out, and I was 800 in the red. Apparently, I didn't have the 20 bucks in there. It was already used, and hadn't reflected online yet. So I got some 7 or 8 exponentially worse overdrafts in a row. I went to talk to the bank, even the manager and she just told me tough luck. Cut my card up that day. 20 dollars in food stuff came to 800 something dollars. That's about a months worth of pay! Makes me angry still.

I thought I remembered hearing before to that checking your credit often can actually affect the score.

Eh? No.

If it's your own credit report, no.
If you have a lot of inquiries about your credit rating from other people, like creditors, etc., then yes.

F**k em!!!
 

Good move, did the same recently. Why leave hard earned bucks in the bank to earn a 1.10% rate (and thats being fair here) while they charge 23.99% rate. It kind of cancels out what ever you earned because you pay it back, not just to the bank, but to all the hidden fees and surcharges from all the corporations and conglomerates (Con Ed, CableVision, Sprint, etc.)

It's tough to go through life without a bank. Few employers will pay you in cash. But, yeah, banks are evil. They make money from thin air, sell it to the government, who then have to rob us to pay it back:

credit cards = debts.

It ain't just credit cards. As the video explains no money can enter the world without creating debt. Money is debt.