Saturday, November 17, 2007
Irony You Can Bank On?
So, 201k was considering a checking account at a bank in our neighborhood that will go nameless (Brookline Savings Bank) and went online to check their rates and fees.
My goodness.
To get interest-bearing free checking and pay no fees, you have to keep an average daily balance of $20,000. This is a personal checking account, mind you. For this the bank will pay 0.2% interest. That's 0.2%.
They keep $20,000 of your money, and pay 0.2%. So after a year you'll have $20,040 in your checking account. If your balance drops below $20,000 the fee is $15 a month.
Maybe there are people out there who need that kind of money in their personal checking account -- who knows. But it seems to us that you'd get a better return on your money buying $20,000 in lottery tickets, and the hell with the free checks.
But here's the thing: while we were reading about these enticing banking terms the story broke that another bank in our city had been robbed.
And well, it just sort of struck as ironic that this guy is risking 20 years in prison to steal, what, $1000 from a bank -- while across town a bank is legally robbing people blind.
My goodness.
To get interest-bearing free checking and pay no fees, you have to keep an average daily balance of $20,000. This is a personal checking account, mind you. For this the bank will pay 0.2% interest. That's 0.2%.
They keep $20,000 of your money, and pay 0.2%. So after a year you'll have $20,040 in your checking account. If your balance drops below $20,000 the fee is $15 a month.
Maybe there are people out there who need that kind of money in their personal checking account -- who knows. But it seems to us that you'd get a better return on your money buying $20,000 in lottery tickets, and the hell with the free checks.
But here's the thing: while we were reading about these enticing banking terms the story broke that another bank in our city had been robbed.
And well, it just sort of struck as ironic that this guy is risking 20 years in prison to steal, what, $1000 from a bank -- while across town a bank is legally robbing people blind.
