This is how the banks in Britain scam you into debt. Might be the same in other countries, but I’m not familiar with them.
Starting with the Slogan “Money Is In The Poor People’s pocket!”.
Opening a checking account in Britain is not the easiest. One has to qualify (credit wise and job wise) and prove they can fund their checking account. Funding means prove there will be money coming in regularly from somewhere, like a job for an example.
Once the person gets through that, they have a checking account. The account will come with automatic overdraft (meaning if you run out of your own money, you can use the bank’s money to a certain set amount) and a visa or master card credit card, the bank issues, with a preset limit on it, which means you can use your bank account to purchase goods through the internet or in stores or you can use the credit cards without using cash. Makes this an easy scam.
These overdrafts and cards are automatic and here is where the scam starts. Scam is where you trick people into something that will benefit you and cost them something without letting them know up front. Scam is based upon a researched speculation to know the outcome. “Basic Psychology.”
Money is in the poor people’s pocket and banks know this. Poor people always have to have what ever they see or want. Even if they already have a mobile phone they have to have the newest one, even if they have a video player they have to have the shinier one and if they have 5 they have to have the sixth. The rich don’t care what their phone looks like as long as they can make a phone call they are fine with it. As long as the video player plays the movies they are fine with it. Etc. Banks know this and they know rich people don’t make them much profit. Those people are not much borrowers.
Poor people are weekly earners (weakly I should say), they have to save up for rent or mortgage, car expenses, food etc. The little money they make goes fast. By the end of the month when all these expenses become due they barely have any money, if anything at all.
They are trying to save and spare some but sooner or later the washing machine will break down or the TV stop working or the kids got sick or the car needs repair and where do they go? Yeah, they go to their overdraft and visa and master card the bank gave them a year ago. From that on they are in debt and they have an additional expense/s to pay every month. The scamming banks knew this up front and speculated, the poor customer have the money we just have to get it from them somehow.
They’ve figured out the way. I was recently trying to open a checking account and specifically told the bank “I don’t want any overdraft or visa or master card with my account I only want the account and a debit card that allows me to spend as much as I have on my account”
Guess what they’d said. Yeah. ” sorry, but we can’t do that, the account comes with the overdraft and the card attached”.
They do offer a so called basic account where you can only take out a certain amount of money daily. Say 200 pounds. The scam in that is that you can’t take out more no matter what. Even if you go to the teller window and you have 10,000 in your account, you can’t take more than 200 out per day. So they keep your money forcefully not letting you have it.
Choose your alternative!
Basic Psychology! Can we call it a scam and outlaw it?
We’ll continue this later post ……..