Hey everyone.
Today, instead of a little storytelling, I wanted to bring up a topic that I've thought about for a while now and that is banks. Particularly, I wanted to talk about people and their relationship with banks. But first, let's talk about what banks do.
A bank, to most people, is a place where you can store away your money for safekeeping instead of keeping it all in your couch. You go to the bank, deposit your paycheck, put away a little bit of extra cash until next time when you need to buy a little something for that someone special. But they also provide other services for people who might need a little extra help in their finances. The most obvious service is making loans.
Say you need to buy a house, but you don't quite have enough to afford one. Where do you turn to? The bank! Banks are probably the best place to turn to when it comes to borrowing money. They're less likely to send scary people to your doorstep demanding you pay them back.
That said, they're not about to just lend out money all willy-nilly. They need to know if you're responsible enough to pay that money back. I already talked a bit about that in my previous article about Credit, which you can read about clicking HERE.
Now that we're up to speed about banks, let's get to the main topic, the customer's responsibility.
Now, banks, like most service businesses, offers services to the people who make accounts with them. The main one, of course, is holding your money for you, the customer. That said, the money is still yours, so you got to keep an eye on that money yourself. Banks try to make it easy for you to keep track of what goes in or out of your account, but it's still on you to actually take advantage of that or make sure your checkbooks are up to date.
You can't blame the bank for you draining your own account buying this or that. They can't tell you what to do with your money, though they will try to give you helpful advice. If you ignore that advice, that's on you. And if you overdraw your account, the bank could end up footing the bill for you. Don't expect them to do that for free. You essentially borrowed money from them, which you will need to pay them back with a little something extra for their trouble which is usually in the form of penalty fees.
And remember what I said about banks being like service businesses? Well, they're more than just service providers. They are the stewards of your money, protectors of it so to speak. And as protectors, they need to make sure when your money goes out, it goes out to the right person. And the best way to do that is by checking I.D. So anytime you go into the bank, you got to make sure to have yours, especially one that's not expired. Because if the guy or gal behind the counter don't know who you are, you can bet that there is no way they'll let you touch any of that sweet moolah you got saved up for a sick new car.
Honestly, something like bringing a valid I.D. to a bank should be common sense and you should be glad if your bank consistently asks for them. Because if they're okay giving your money away without checking who's actually taking it, then stinks to be you.
Sometimes things can suddenly happen to your bank accounts that you'd wish you had heard about sooner rather than later. And banks are more than happy to tell you ASAP. But they can only do that if they know where you live or what phone number you are using now. So, whenever you move, get a new phone number, or even change your email, it's always best to let the bank know right away. Otherwise, if any problems come up with your money, you're going to miss the chance to fix it.
And of course, banks, as a business, will charge fees for services given. Not everything they offer is free. No duh. If you ask for something, expect to pay for it. They usually have all the fees listed in a nifty little handbook that they'll give you if you ask.
If you don't like being charged for those fees, then take advantage of promo offers, upgrade your account for more benefits if you qualify, or listen to recommendations from tellers or bankers for workarounds. Whatever you do, don't pick a fight with the worker over fees you signed an agreement to. They don't deserve it when they're just doing their job, and will be less likely to be so flexible with you.
In conclusion, while banks are the ones holding money for their customers, customers themselves are responsible for handling that money and following the rules they signed up for when they opened an account with those banks. It's pretty common-sense stuff. Check your balance and transactions regularly to make sure you don't spend more than you actually have, be sure to bring your I.D. whenever you want to take out money, and make sure the bank has the correct mailing address, phone number, etc. in case a problem comes up that needs your attention ASAP. Oh, and just pay up if you ask for something with a price tag on it.
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