So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[MisterCairo]

Service costs money.

What kind of "service" results in a "savings account" decreasing in value owing to charges?!

 

[ChrisB]

What kind of "service" results in a "savings account" decreasing in value owing to charges?!

The kind that is self serving.

 

[Stearmen]

What kind of "service" results in a "savings account" decreasing in value owing to charges?!

I found that out on one of my Mothers bank accounts after she passed away. I wasn't paying much attention to it, since it only had a small amount of money in it, she was only keeping it open in case interest rates shot back up. They had never charged before! Long story short, by the time I caught it, it was to late, the service fee for total withdrawal would have been more then the twenty or so dollars left, so I just let it die on the vine!

 

[LizzieMaine]

The days of six-per-cent interest passbook savings accounts are long, long gone. Banks screw you over because, you know, they can. My paranoid uncle was right -- sew your money up in a mattress.

 

[Stearmen]

When you do a good deed, and some jerk takes advantage of you! I was in the right turn lane, there is a Kum & Go there, so I held up short so people could get in. Finally, the big rig in front of me moved, so I went to move forward, when a lady to the left and slightly behind me accelerated and cut in front of me so she could turn.

 

[Zombie_61]

^ No good deed goes unpunished.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

the same bank that my above comment was about also liked to make all your withdrawals before putting any deposits through. So If you had $100 in your account, you deposited $500 and then had $550 worth of items clear, you are now overdrawn. Add on top of that the overdraft charges and you are going to be in the hole until you next deposit, if not longer. There ended up being a class-action lawsuit against this bank & although I had left it by then, I received a check for over $700 from them. My current back bills itself as family owned and "not for sale."

 

[LizzieMaine]

My bank does the same thing, but when I go over and express my firm views on the matter they'll cancel the overdraft charges.

 

[tonyb]

I will never abide the practice of most banks of charging (usually five bucks) to cash checks drawn on that bank.

This charge is levied against people who don't have accounts with the particular bank. I see day laborers and others who work on an ad hoc basis (the Spanish speaking fellows who do most of the rooftop work around here, for instance) line up at the local branch bank and lose five dollars for each check they negotiate. These are the people who can least afford the fee.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

I will never abide the practice of most banks of charging (usually five bucks) to cash checks drawn on that bank.

This charge is levied against people who don't have accounts with the particular bank. I see day laborers and others who work on an ad hoc basis (the Spanish speaking fellows who do most of the rooftop work around here, for instance) line up at the local branch bank and lose five dollars for each check they negotiate. These are the people who can least afford the fee.

In the early 60s my father started paying our cleaning lady with cash when he learned she was charged .25 cents to cash a check. That's several dollars in 2016 money. He used a saying he knew well from his childhood: "They have their hands in the pockets of the poor."

 

[tonyb]

In the early 60s my father started paying our cleaning lady with cash when he learned she was charged .25 cents to cash a check. That's several dollars in 2016 money. He used a saying he knew well from his childhood: "They have their hands in the pockets of the poor."

Yeah. The bank's motive, other than the easy money, is to get these people to open accounts. But many of these folks are itinerant. And they can't (or would rather not) pay the monthly maintenance fees.

A bank officer once told me that they didn't wish to become a check-cashing/payday loan joint. (My understanding is that major banks own most if not all the interest in those places.) I'd be more accepting of the practice if not that the checks are drawn on that bank.

 

[Ticklishchap]

A few years ago I started a thread about how much I disliked the 'Regards' signature, a relic of the 1950s which had at that time suddenly returned to work-related letters and especially emails here in the UK. Unfortunately I upset a Midwesterner who was certain that Regards was the only valid signature in his region of the US (and by extension the planet!). My view of this signature is that it is clipped, robotic and emotionally cold.

It now seems that Regards-ism (as a mentality as well as a signature) has seeped into the personal arena. I received a Christmas card from a business client whom I also know personally, signed 'Warmest Regards'. Somehow that's even worse - however warm, hot, sizzling, re-heated or even slow-cooked they are, they are still mere Regards. The superlative 'Warmest' does not soften the austerity of the 'Regards', but only reinforces it. Why not just say 'Best Wishes'.

I have to confess that, this being England, it has a class connotation. I was always taught that 'Regards' is a bit common. But in Brexitland, commonness is perhaps now de rigeur.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Why not just say 'Best Wishes'..

I see no problem in using, regards, best regards or even fondest regards on emails....I find it less formal than the alternatives. But any phrase you end a message or letter with is just a formula anyway.

ATB

 

[LizzieMaine]

Sometimes I use "Best," leaving best "what" to the reader to decide, but usually I end emails and letters-- whether for work or for personal -- with a simple "Thanx." If it's an ultra-formal letter I close with "Thanks." If it's a letter to a collection agency I don't use any complimentary closing at all.

I'm about as common as it gets, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[GHT]

I received a Christmas card from a business client whom I also know personally, signed 'Warmest Regards'. Somehow that's even worse - however warm, hot, sizzling, re-heated or even slow-cooked they are, they are still mere Regards. The superlative 'Warmest' does not soften the austerity of the 'Regards', but only reinforces it. Why not just say 'Best Wishes'.

I have to confess that, this being England, it has a class connotation. I was always taught that 'Regards' is a bit common. But in Brexitland, commonness is perhaps now de rigeur.

From as far back as I can remember, all my correspondence has been signed off with the formal: Yours faihfully, or the informal: Yours sincerely. To family and those of cherished friendship: Love from. Anyone in between, Yours truly. But for official documents, where I'm complaining, or trying to get an immovable bureaucrat to give an inch: I remain Sir, your obedient servant. The use of the word Ma'am, I have found can open doors. If I know the recipient is a lady then she will entitled to the ending: I remain Ma'am, rather than Madam, the ladies just seem to prefer it.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

I use "Yr Mst Hmble & Obdnt Srvnt." The last word should be pronounced "Sarvant."

 

[GHT]

I use "Yr Mst Hmble & Obdnt Srvnt." The last word should be pronounced "Sarvant."

Almost, but when spoken, you need to drop the aitch. Yr Mst 'Umble & Obdnt Srvnt.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And then sign it "Uriah 'Eep."

 

[Stearmen]

And then sign it "Uriah 'Eep."

Sounds like the old comic page caricature Bill The Cat! Oop! Ack!

 

[Zombie_61]

I use "Yr Mst Hmble & Obdnt Srvnt." The last word should be pronounced "Sarvant."

I'd like to buy a vowel, Pat.