Decades ago, before we were married, my then-boyfriend would get hit wth an overdraft at least once a month. AFTER we got married, he bounced three checks and I put my foot down (three strikes and you’re out, sweetheart!) and we opened a joint savings account with no ATM cards tied to it. Just having the bank account be mostly in-only and tightening up on the spending - since we had to go to the bank and make a withdrawal if we wanted money for shopping - got through to him once we went a year with no debt and no fees. If we didn’t have the cash on-hand, we went without. 35 years later, it’s second nature to not be spending money… At least 3 days a week we both go without a single purchase of anything. Not even a cup of coffee.
Good on ya!
I used to be like that too. My SO helped me get over that habit. I really wish we were taught the basics of this kinda stuff in school…
Americans used to be taught it…
I had to take Home Economics in 7th grade (this was in 1977-78) and we would learn how to plan meals and cook them, food safety, how to iron a shirt and sew a button back on, how to balance a checkbook and budget monthly household expenses and also there was a smattering of sex ed topics.
I was blase on it at the time, but it did stick and now I wish it was still taught with the emphasis on budgeting and money like it used to be.
I guess that Americans aren’t supposed to know how to avoid debt.
I guess that Americans aren’t supposed to know how to avoid debt.
Of course not, that’s kinda the point of our financial system.
I had half a semester of ‘home econ’ in my seinor year of High School ~2000. We didn’t really cover much that was useful for actually balancing a checkbook. The class was clearly a checkbox that they didn’t actually expect us to do anything in.
Why do you all still bank with these low lives? I haven’t had an overdraft fee in like 20 years. There are banks all over the place with no minimum balance and no overdraft fees.
There was a recent AI post about creating an AI that would rob banks automatically. You’re not to blame, you just created it. It alone robbed the banks. It just so happened that you knew where it kept the money. And sorry if It was your money before. Finders keepers I guess.
Tbf, overdrafting is spending money you dont have. If you overdraft and the bank lets you spend money you dont have, do you think theyre just gonna do you a solid there? They let you spend money you didnt actually have. Thats a service, like credit, and one that tends to come at a cost even though some banks dont charge for it.
To call a bank charging for an offered service “robbing you” is pretty ridiculous. There are banks that dont charge a fee. Bank with them. There are banks that wont let you overdraft at all. Bank with them. No one is robbing anyone by covering for them when they spend money they dont have. They told you what it costs to do so. You still did it. Thats not remotely similar to ripping people off in any way
Do you realize how incredibly easy it is to overdraft? Most people don’t want to overdraft, they would rather have the card decline. But banks don’t make easy money that way, so you have to opt out of automatic overdraft. If regulators made it so that transactions must be automatically declined if there aren’t sufficient funds and someone needs to opt in to being able to overdraft, overdraft fees would go way down.
