Debit cards are hidden financial infrastructure

Post by whimsicalism » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 4:03 PM UTC

chondl wrote: post #282

whimsicalism wrote: post #67

> the industry generally estimates approximately $350 a year in costs to maintain a checking account, of which approximately $120 is direct marginal cost Does this not seem ridiculously high to anyone else?

This seems most likely to be an error in the document: "median checking account balances at account creation are only around $3,000 ... At a 4% net interest margin, this account would only contribute about $120 in margin during its first year...." 4% of $3,000 is $12. I suspect both $350 and $120 are 10x too big. Alternatively the average checking account is 10x the median which seems unlikely.

Post by drdec » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 4:08 PM UTC

simonbarker87 wrote: post #278

GordonS wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what I do as well. Monthly bills are all direct debit, but almost all other spending goes on my credit card, and, without exception, I paying it off completely at the end of the month. I've done this for decades, and never paid a penny in interest - the key is to not spend money you don't have. I get some small amount of Amazon vouchers every month for doing this (£10/m or something like that), but really I d…

Glad it works for you, we are very good at budgeting but i find u less you put 100% of the “cash” like spending on the credit card it falls apart as you can double spend without realising and when we tried it for a few months I hated paying for August’s groceries in mid October - it just felt weird to me, far easier just to have a set XX amount in a current account each month and spend it down to 0 through the month…

Post by ironmagma » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 4:09 PM UTC

mattcwilson wrote: post #258

ironmagma wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s a certain point where neglect becomes malice. The bystander effect has a name for a reason; it’s not the obvious way humans should behave.

Neither is compelling others to behave in a way that you, particularly, think is morally justified, and trying to lobby to have them forced to comply. Working for a business that doesn’t also happen to be charity isn’t neglecting the needy. Charging rates that fairly reflect the value of your work isn’t malice to those who can’t or don’t want to pay your rates.

Post by pinkfairy10 » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 4:19 PM UTC

roystonvassey wrote: post #292

numair wrote: post #43

The beginning of this article is a fairy tale that ignores what used to be one of the biggest drivers of revenue for banks: overdraft fees. Maybe the HN crowd has never been in a situation where they were auto-billed into a negative balance, which then caused an overdraft fee that then further drove their balance into negative territory, but this was a weekly/monthly fiasco for millions of Americans. I was once in a…

Long back when I worked in my first job at a large private bank, I remember being in a meeting where they spoke about overdraft fees + late fees + interest on these + god knows what else and the lady, our systems counterpart, looked at all of us and said 'We better plan a trip to Ganges to atone for all this and we might need to go ever year' (it's a common saying in India, as Ganges is supposed to wash away one's si…

Post by tacocataco » Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 4:26 PM UTC

laurent92 wrote: post #185

Foobar8568 wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a French bank, I have credit transactions first then debit ones, in a Swiss bank, the contrary, I was shocked, especially that day, I did check my bank account to verify if I could proceed with a wire transfer, the following day, it shown a temporary minus amount but I didn't get an overdraft. So yes, fuck banks.

In Australia in 2010 I got a debit card for the first time in my life. The card would simply reject transactions. “As should be”, I thought. It was a revolution for me.