It’s the big question at the moment isn’t it? Not just is banking free but how expensive will it get?
Banks have been making a fortune out of us, then all of a sudden they find themselves in trouble, we fight back and want all our incredibly high bank charges refunded, the case goes to court and all of a sudden the banks are crying out that they are short of money, well what a surprise and what’s more, the Government seems to be helping out, I ask myself why, but then that’s another debate.
The question of free banking, is it free or isn’t it?
No, of course it isn’t free, banks are in business to make money not give it away, and how many of us can say we have never had a bank charge added to our account, no matter how small it may seem.
For simplicities sake let’s use a simple sum of one hundred pounds, this money is yours, you worked hard for it you earned it and now you put it in the bank.
The bank are really very generous and they give you (again keeping it simple) 5% interest on your 100 every year you keep it there.
So at the end of year 1 you now have 105 aren’t you lucky?
Now at the same time as you putting your 100 in the bank so did another 9 people, so now the bank have 1000 given to them and at the end of the year will pay out 1050 including the interest, haven’t you all done well?
This 1000 the bank has of yours and the other 9 people, it lends to another of it’s customers at a very low rate of (again for ease of calculating and example) 25% and at the end of the year it receives the money back the total paid back is 1250. After giving you your money back it has made a profit of 200. That’s 20% profit using your money!
This tiny example of the bank using your money- NOT IT’S OWN is just one reason why the bank should not charge you, it is already making money out of you, why should it charge you again.
Now multiply that little sum by the Billions of people who deposit money in the banks and you may just understand how they come out with billions of profit.
Unfortunately banks got greedy didn’t they and thought ah ha we could charge customers for going overdrawn couldn’t we and so they did, and now they are even richer, cause now they are charging you that little bit extra and hey no-one noticed did they, everyone let them get away with it.
Did you remember to charge them when they didn’t have their bank open to give you your money bank when you wanted it, after all it’s your money if you want it back why shouldn’t you have the right to get it.
Ever deposited some cash in the bank then been told it takes 3 days to clear it- I just don’t get it, am I thick or what? How can it take 3 days to clear cash, do they really employ people who take that long to decide that 25 is 25 .
Ever had a standing order, when the payment they were supposed to make didn’t reach the destination on time, it’s just the same if you think about it, did you charge them?
I could go on and on but then I am one against a huge organization, or am I?
I say hooray to the young man who set up www.penaltycharges.com and who stood up to his bank when they charged him for going overdrawn, take a look at his website when you get the chance, you might be presently surprised, at last people are getting their money back from these over zealous banks.
Free banking- they should be paying us and not just a measly 5% or 6% and I know one thing, if we all stopped paying by standing order and direct debit and paid cash like we used to, then the banks wouldn’t have this hold over us anymore.
Then suddenly, the poor banks found they were in a mess, credit crunch hits all!
Well the government have stepped in and helped these poor banks with their demise in the credit crunch era, did they help you when you had problems, and where is the government going to get the money back to pay for all the help it is giving the banks.
You – the tax payer – you are the ones who will pay to finance the banks error in their ways.
Is banking really free – I say NO, it is getting extrememly expensive, seems like even without a bank account you could now be financing the banks – simply by working and paying your taxes.