Thursday, October 02, 2008

Economic Bullshit

I'm getting really sick of having to worry about small amounts of money.

15 cents. The amount I went overlimit on my MasterCard, pulling out money for an emergency. The bank then proceeded to charge me $40 for it, days after I sent in a payment, putting me back under my limit. Then they charged me a $20 fee for charging me the $40. All because I miscalculated how much the cash advance fee would be.

14 Cents. The amount I overdrafted by when Heather forgot her money for a movie ticket. Even though I put money back in the bank that night, they still transfered $50 from my credit card as "overdraft protection." They charged me $9 for that, but it put me over my credit limit again so I expect to get another $60 in charges. Thank God I transfered $165 to keep myself from going over a third time after the newest charges.

36 cents. The amount of money the $200 I once had in my Max Saver account accrued in the 3 years it was sitting there. Good thing I saved it, huh?

$100. The amount of money that magically appeared in my bank account the other day, with no trace in my statement. Too bad I already spent it on food, some pajamas, and a movie (which I probably shouldn't have gone to). I hope they don't want to take it back in a few days.

How the Hell am I supposed to be able to save for a car or education, or even a decent computer if 5/3 Bank keeps stealing all my money? It doesn't help that I live in a state where all the governor sends all our jobs overseas, forcing skilled auto workers to take the shitty jobs, and unskilled and unexperienced workers to be remain unemployed for years. Even if I had a car, gas prices are so artificially inflated that I couldn't afford to commute everyday.

Now I'm at the limit on both of my credit cards, my credit score is going down, and I have to get a student loan and financing on a car. I won't be eligible for a decent rate so I'll get something like 26.5% and end up paying about $8,000 extra that I won't have. It's no wonder so many people default on their loans and the banks are losing so much money.

And now Nelnet sent me an email telling me that my address and phone number aren't up to date and it's imperative that I change them so that I can continue making payments, even though I paid it off 2 months ago. If they fuck me now I'm not going to pay them another penny. They lent me money, I repaid it, I paid the interest, they made their money. End of story.

What the fuck are we all supposed to do?

5 comments :

  1. There's a book about this:

    Gotcha Capitalism
    How hidden fees rip you off every day and what you can do about it.
    by Bob Sullivan, author of MSNBC.com's Red Tape Chronicles

    I read it; it offers some ideas on dealing with all these stupid fees.

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  2. I got the book from the Marine City library today and plan to finish it within a few days. Thanks for the advice. :)

    Now I can use libraries in 2 counties! Yay.

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  3. Better than Metal Gear Solid, but not as good as Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat.

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  4. Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat?

    Never heard of it, but now I'm intrigued....

    ReplyDelete