The other day I caught a news segment on the newest outrage facing American [and many International] consumers: banking institutions\u2019 plans to increadse service fees (some of which have been free services until now\u2026).\u00a0 This includes, but is not limited to: elimination of \u201cfree\u201d checking accounts, increased fees for overdrafting, bad checks, increased ATM fees, and even requirements to maintain a minimum balance in checking accounts that many people simply cannot afford today.<\/p>\n
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Word of a new wave of fee hikes for checking accounts seems to be the last straw for many already dissatisfied customers. Despite being recanted by many bank reps as only \u201ctalk,\u201d\u00a0 this seems to be the \u201cstraw\u201d that broke the consumer\u2019s back, but more importantly\u2026this seems to be serving as the impetus for action.\u00a0 And my guess is that banks may have underestimated the power of customer perception and the reality that a paradigm shift (even if shifted identically across competing banks and done so for good reason) might be met with more than grumbles and hateful letters from bank patrons.<\/p>\n
For decades, the question has not been whether or not consumers will choose to employ the services of conventional banks\u2026instead, the only question has been which bank to choose.\u00a0 But today we are panicking, and all that\u2019s necessary for a very different kind of paradigm shift is present\u2013 but this shift is made up of consumers; and all this could take is for a few members of the herd to break away\u2026and BOOM \u2013 Mass Exodus!<\/p>\n
Although there are probably a lot of people keeping money under their mattresses, in shoe boxes, or buried in the backyard\u2026the Mass Exodus that I\u2019m referring to (and that I saw in the news a few days ago) is the reallocation of many of America\u2019s Working\/Middle Class personal funds to credit unions and other, similar nonprofit financial institutions.<\/p>\n
The choice to move from banks to credit unions will yield even lower interest rates on savings and deposit accounts, and the services offered by these institutions will be greatly reduced.\u00a0 Honestly, I think the trend will continue, but the reason seems to be less in anticipation of accruing (or maintaining) greater wealth, than it is just a means to \u201cstick it\u201d to Big Finance that we feel so betrayed by.\u00a0 I have no clue what is the overall best decision, but I just hope that we employ more reason than emotion in our future financial decisions.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t help but think of the National Geographic video of the wildebeest crossing that crocodile infested river in their seasonal migration.\u00a0 They line the river banks (irony\u2026), sensing eminent danger, but pressed by starvation they wait for one member of the herd to jump in the muddy water, and then GREEN LIGHT.\u00a0 Crossing means risking a grisly death, but by staying on the side that they\u2019ve already pillaged, they are ensured death. So they take the plunge. \u00a0The Water’s Warm…<\/a><\/p>\n