Fire Your Bank: OMG Edition

Some time ago I fired my bank, Wells Fargo. The reason was twofold:

1) TARP - Instead of complaining about cronyism and the moral hazard of FDIC and bailouts, I decided to put my money in a bank that did not need a bailout.

2)The Fee Dance - I managed to avoid (most) fees by carefully paying attention to account types, minimums and add-ons. My father, who lives in Canada, decided to open a U.S. account to link to Paypal and did not pay attention to these details. They charged fees for "services" that cleaned out his initial 150 dollar deposit in less than 6 months, before he even had a chance to look at the account balance. Instead of whining about fees and carefully maintaining balances and watching for fee hikes, I just went to a bank with no fees on an interest bearing checking account, oddly enough there are plenty of these around.

When I see this story, the part that makes me sick is not the fact that he said they have a "right to make a profit". It's the part about "populist rage". The solution to this fee problem is easy: take your business elsewhere!

Stop being a doorstop for giant banks that assume you're too lazy to fire them. Search for "fire your bank" for more info and to get started on finding a better bank near you.