Consumers are Not that Bright in NYC (Especially the Bankster Bees)

Says Keith Snyder in an email:


 For many years before the big NYC banks (Citi, Chase, etc) had no fee banking offers I was always astounded that anyone in the “simple checking account” market would actually use their services. I moved here from Texas in 1996. I have never in my life paid a monthly service fee for a checking account and was not about to do so at Citi or another behemoth mess when I moved to NY. I still have yet to pay a single dollar in monthly fees while I have listened to friends in similar financial situations (hand to mouth, never more that $1000 in any account at any given time) tell me they paid anyhwere from $3-$12/month just to write checks. They were attracted to the name or brand? In light of where the big banks are today that is rather funny. I’ve been offered up to $150 to open a checking account (all that was required was a direct deposit of a payroll check) at Chase. That indicated a bit of desperation which I still do not fully comprehend although maybe it is all related to the last few years of financial mess. NYC consumers aren’t the brightest bunch.

In another instance I had a friend who had $202,000 sitting in her CHECKING account while paying monthly HELOC bills on a loan of less than $80,000. It was near 7% if I remember correctly. But then again she worked IN FINANCE at  Morgan Stanley (will they be the next bigggie to blow up?) so what could I really expect.

I try to read your page as often as possible. It’s always worth my time. I appreciate all the external links.

Peace,

Keith Snyder
The People’s Republik of New York