Sunday 15 September 2013

Keep checking your bank account balance regularly

Birthday pressie

I'm not going to mention who, which bank, or which country, but as this is something that could happen pretty much anywhere, I thought I'd blog about this..

A friend opened a bank account, about ten years ago. There were no fees, but a minimum balance of §X00 (using the Simoleon symbol, for "neutral currency") was required. The account owner lodged §X000 (over 13 times the required amount), thinking it would be a nice amount for a rainy day, and never touched the account since.

Well.. They have now received an overdraft notice from the bank.

After the account hadn't been touched in a year - so, around nine years ago - the bank had started charging a monthly service fee of §X0, for an inactive account. They never notified the account owner about the fees, there were no balance updates (giving the impression that they didn't actually even want the account owner to notice, until they'd had a chance to milk the account dry..), but once there was no money left to continue paying the outrageous monthly fees, THEN they didn't hesitate to contact the account owner, expecting them to pay for the overdraft!

NEVER TRUST A BANK!!!

Even if you have an account that you're not using, and therefore have no actual reason to keep checking the balance, it's still a good idea to keep checking the balance regularly. At least it comes up as some activity, and if your bank is into quietly milking your account, at least you'll notice it before they've stolen ALL your money!

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