Deep down I knew what I was doing wasn't right, but women can become shopaholics, and there was just something about wanting stuff and knowing that I couldn't afford it that was fun at first, and risky.



Yeah, fark off.

God Is My Co-Pirate: women can become shopaholics

You don't have to be a raving feminist to want to kick her ass for that.

flucto: God Is My Co-Pirate: women can become shopaholics

You don't have to be a raving feminist to want to kick her ass for that.

indeed.

now.. there is a dude who was a victim of ID theft. fark you banks, fark you very much.

Is this article about my ex-wife?

Can you even write bad checks anymore?  I thought there was some instant system in place similar to credit cards.

I agree that it's within the rights of the banks to deny risky people bank accounts. At the same time, there should probably be some regulation around the expiry of the data on which these decisions are made.

If you're going to use this ChexSystems data like credit data, then it needs to be regulated like credit data.

I worked at a customer service call center for a bank for 2 years and you wouldn't believe the type of shiat people thought they could get away with. The bank I worked for did offer one account type for people with derogatory information on ChexSystems, but it was loaded with fees and restrictions. I think it was something like 15 dollars a month, had a daily debit limit of $250 that couldn't be raised for any reason, and some other restrictions as well.

You could tell the moment a person started talking to you that that was the type of account they had, and that was the reason they were having whatever problem they were calling about. Typically just writing bad checks isn't enough to get you on ChexSystems, as long as you continue to pay the bounced check fees, the bank doesn't care, it's when you let the account stay dormant with a negative balance that you're going to get yourself in trouble. The real pisser is that even if you pay back the money you owe, once your name is on ChexSystems, it's there for 7 years and you're SOL.

downstairs: Can you even write bad checks anymore?  I thought there was some instant system in place similar to credit cards.

There is, but not everywhere uses it or is set up for it. Paper checks are still usable under the old system.

downstairs: Can you even write bad checks anymore?  I thought there was some instant system in place similar to credit cards.

More direct merchants run your check through TeleCheck now, which will tell them right away if the check is good or not. Even if the check is valid however TeleCheck can still decide to reject your checks if you try to pass off too many bad one and end up on their shiat list. You can still easily write bad checks if you're passing off personal checks to people that aren't going to try and deposit them right away.

I'm 29 now, so I've grown a lot wiser about my finances than when I was 18 and 19. Now I only write checks if I have the money.



WISDOM

downstairs: Can you even write bad checks anymore?  I thought there was some instant system in place similar to credit cards.

Yep. And places like Amscot will gladly cash a check for whatever amount you draft.

My mom manages the front desk at a day spa. One of the hair stylists stole checks from the book at the front desk (after mom repeatedly told the owner to lock it up).

She's still trying to get back the (if you can believe it) $18,000 the guy stole. Amscot never said boo.

Granted, the owner is an idiot. The dude did get arrested and is being held accountable for the money (like she'll ever get it back - blood from a stone as it were). But I do blame Amscot in part for allowing this to happen.

"Back when I didn't know what overdraft fees were, I would get too excited and write all these checks."

You mean I actually had to have money in the bank to use those checks you gave me? You probably shouldn't have given me so many of them, then.

You mean a checkbook ISN'T a magical, Harry Potterverse-esque money device?

rumpelstiltskin: "Back when I didn't know what overdraft fees were, I would get too excited and write all these checks."

You mean I actually had to have money in the bank to use those checks you gave me? You probably shouldn't have given me so many of them, then.

The hell with overdraft fees - did she freaking know what a available balance was?!?

Here's an idea.

There's a conversation to be had here about how the poorest among us get eaten alive by the financial system. There's a real problem with how simply being poor can incure unfair penalties, between seedy cheque cashing and payday loan places and rent-to-own shops and higher security deposits and higher interest rates, etc, etc, those who can least afford it have to pay the most.

But CNN goes and finds the most outrageous examples of morons - and no matter how good the system, there will always be morons - so that everyone gets angry at them, and no real conversation about financial education happens.

God Is My Co-Pirate: But CNN goes and finds the most outrageous examples of morons - and no matter how good the system, there will always be morons - so that everyone gets angry at them, and no real conversation about...anything.

Now there's a problem that's bigger than bad checks.

I was in Chexsystems for awhile...

I used to bank at US Bank (goddamn motherf*cking assholes), and they basically existed to generate fees. I didn't make much money and lived pretty close to the financial edge, so there was never much money in my account. It would be common for me to have $8 in my checking account until payday.

The first sh*tty thing they did was process your stuff from highest to lowest first and they processed fees first. So the $60 for gas got processed before the $2.00 candy bar. So if you were $10 off, you could generate 4-5 overdraft fees.

The next thing was, once you got an overdraft fee, the fees multiplied really fast because how they processed them. For example, I have $58 in my account and my 3 transactions ($60, $5, and $2) clear Monday morning. Now I'm overdrawn $9. You go to the bank and give them $120 to account for the overdraft charges that haven't posted yet, and now you're $6 in the clear. Tuesday morning you wake up and a transaction for $10 on Sunday clears and they posted the $105 in overdraft charges you expected for the stuff that happened Monday. Wednesday you wake up and have an overdraft for the $10 charge because they took their fees first and then processed your debit and then your credit.

Yeah, I know. I should have had more money, blah blah blah. But they structured how they processed credits and debits and when/how they processed fees to generate the maximum amount of fees.

So how did I end up in Chexsystems? Fun story. My debit card got cloned and someone racked up $750 in charges. It was obviously fraud. Swiped charges in Raleigh and Chicago 10 mins apart, etc. I called US Bank and they recognized it as fraud, removed the charges, cancelled the card, etc. I got a new card and thought that was the end of it. About two weeks later I see a weird $790 charge show up one day, plus 6 overdraft charges the next. I call and they said they manually bundled and forced through the transactions because it wouldn't settle against the old card number, and when they did that, 6 other small transactions I made with the new card were now overdrawn.

They refunded the $790 charge and the 6 overdraft fees.... until the next day when 6 more hit. After a week of this happening, they said they weren't going to refund the charges anymore, and they only should have refunded the first 6, and did the rest out of the kindness of their hearts. I told them to get f*cked and never paid them the $500 some-odd in fees. Luckily I already had a BofA checking so I didn't really give a sh*t.

I still vandalized a few of their ATMs and put a brick through one branch's window. Whatever. I'm petty.

So yeah, there's my tl:dr Chexsystems cool story, bro.

Diogenes: God Is My Co-Pirate: But CNN goes and finds the most outrageous examples of morons - and no matter how good the system, there will always be morons - so that everyone gets angry at them, and no real conversation about...anything.

Now there's a problem that's bigger than bad checks.

Are you saying you have a cute kitten video to send in? Be an iReporter and send it today!

When I first learned about checks, I thought they were pretty much just printing presses.

When someone said they didn't have enough money to buy something, I responded "just write a check."

That someone was Mom, the something was a train set, and I was 5 years old.

I have no idea what an overdraft fee is despite getting hit with them every time I buy something!

impaler: When I first learned about checks, I thought they were pretty much just printing presses.

When someone said they didn't have enough money to buy something, I responded "just write a check."

That someone was Mom, the something was a train set, and I was 5 years old.

That's how my step daughter was when she was 5. Her mom would say "We don't have money for that" and the kid would reply "You got that debit card, don't you?"

how can I be out of money? I still have checks left

ddam: impaler: When I first learned about checks, I thought they were pretty much just printing presses.

When someone said they didn't have enough money to buy something, I responded "just write a check."

That someone was Mom, the something was a train set, and I was 5 years old.

That's how my step daughter was when she was 5. Her mom would say "We don't have money for that" and the kid would reply "You got that debit card, don't you?"

When I was 5 I thought the same thing. I thought checks were money and there was a whole book full of them!!

But, but, but I can't be out of money, I still have checks left!

Cubansaltyballs: I was in Chexsystems for awhile...

I used to bank at US Bank (goddamn motherf*cking assholes), and they basically existed to generate fees. I didn't make much money and lived pretty close to the financial edge, so there was never much money in my account. It would be common for me to have $8 in my checking account until payday.

The first sh*tty thing they did was process your stuff from highest to lowest first and they processed fees first. So the $60 for gas got processed before the $2.00 candy bar. So if you were $10 off, you could generate 4-5 overdraft fees.

The next thing was, once you got an overdraft fee, the fees multiplied really fast because how they processed them. For example, I have $58 in my account and my 3 transactions ($60, $5, and $2) clear Monday morning. Now I'm overdrawn $9. You go to the bank and give them $120 to account for the overdraft charges that haven't posted yet, and now you're $6 in the clear. Tuesday morning you wake up and a transaction for $10 on Sunday clears and they posted the $105 in overdraft charges you expected for the stuff that happened Monday. Wednesday you wake up and have an overdraft for the $10 charge because they took their fees first and then processed your debit and then your credit.

Yeah, I know. I should have had more money, blah blah blah. But they structured how they processed credits and debits and when/how they processed fees to generate the maximum amount of fees.

So how did I end up in Chexsystems? Fun story. My debit card got cloned and someone racked up $750 in charges. It was obviously fraud. Swiped charges in Raleigh and Chicago 10 mins apart, etc. I called US Bank and they recognized it as fraud, removed the charges, cancelled the card, etc. I got a new card and thought that was the end of it. About two weeks later I see a weird $790 charge show up one day, plus 6 overdraft charges the next. I call and they said they manually bundled and forced through the transactions because it wouldn't settle ...

Sounds like you make very bad decisions.

Can a reporter be sued for libel if they attribute a quote that wasn't said?

I had a teacher in high school who set aside two days a month to teach us stuff like how checks work and how to balances checkbook. Even explained how rent to own was a very bad move.

Pity that the schools don't require those lessons for all, just reserved for those lucky students who has a teacher who cares more for a lesson that will keep students out of future problems more than getting us prepared for yet another farking standardized test.

impaler: When I first learned about checks, I thought they were pretty much just printing presses.

When someone said they didn't have enough money to buy something, I responded "just write a check."

That someone was Mom, the something was a train set, and I was 5 years old.

That's funny. I'm trying to explain currency to my kid right now. He understands that you need to pay back credit card charges etc, but he still can't figure why you have to give paper to a place in exchange for ice cream and baseball cards, and why they take it in exchange for things that are actually useful. "It's just paper... why can't they just print more and give everybody some?" Tough to farking explain to a kid and you get philosophical trying to put it into words. You can become an inflation fearing gold bug if you're not careful.

Great Janitor: I had a teacher in high school who set aside two days a month to teach us stuff like how checks work and how to balances checkbook. Even explained how rent to own was a very bad move.

Pity that the schools don't require those lessons for all, just reserved for those lucky students who has a teacher who cares more for a lesson that will keep students out of future problems more than getting us prepared for yet another farking standardized test.

That's awesome, I agree financial education is understressed in schools.

From the stories I've been told by people who work there, Bank of America is particularly good.

Let's say they get 5 of your checks in on a particular day. They don't run them in the order they receive them - they will process the biggest ones first so the account will be depleted faster and they can bang you with the overdraft on as many transactions as possible.

Then, when you have a few checks bounce, they'll start holding your deposits for a few days - even when they're checks DRAWN ON A BOA ACCOUNT (you know, one they could easily check for available funds) before crediting them, in the hope that you'll accrue a few more overdraft fees.

Banks = farking assholes.

spman: downstairs: Can you even write bad checks anymore?  I thought there was some instant system in place similar to credit cards.

More direct merchants run your check through TeleCheck now, which will tell them right away if the check is good or not. Even if the check is valid however TeleCheck can still decide to reject your checks if you try to pass off too many bad one and end up on their shiat list. You can still easily write bad checks if you're passing off personal checks to people that aren't going to try and deposit them right away.

Fun fact: check kiting (writing a check you can't cover in the hope that you'll have some time to make a deposit) is technically illegal.

Another fun fact: post-dating a check doesn't mean shiat - it can still be deposited whenever the recipient wants.

Great Janitor: I had a teacher in high school who set aside two days a month to teach us stuff like how checks work and how to balances checkbook.

Too bad you weren't taught correct grammar ;-)

But seriously, that's such a good thing. Hell, my 7th grade math teacher taught us how to calculate compound interest.

I once bought a package of Fig Newtons that cost $39.57 thanks to Wachovia Bank.

/Fired them shortly thereafter, but not before paying $350 in fees.
//My fault. I expected to get a slap on the wrist, not beaten to death with a bat in terms of fees.
///Fark Wachoiva and all banks.

rufus-t-firefly: From the stories I've been told by people who work there, Bank of America is particularly good.

Let's say they get 5 of your checks in on a particular day. They don't run them in the order they receive them - they will process the biggest ones first so the account will be depleted faster and they can bang you with the overdraft on as many transactions as possible.

Then, when you have a few checks bounce, they'll start holding your deposits for a few days - even when they're checks DRAWN ON A BOA ACCOUNT (you know, one they could easily check for available funds) before crediting them, in the hope that you'll accrue a few more overdraft fees.

Banks = farking assholes.

The beef about transaction order is a legitimate one, but it's not specific to any one bank, they all do it. The argument is that the larger items are for things like mortgage payments, insurance, taxes, things you don't want to have bounce, so most customers would like to make sure these sorts of things get paid first. Again, not saying it's right or wrong, it's just the way it is.

Debeo Summa Credo: impaler: When I first learned about checks, I thought they were pretty much just printing presses.

When someone said they didn't have enough money to buy something, I responded "just write a check."

That someone was Mom, the something was a train set, and I was 5 years old.

That's funny. I'm trying to explain currency to my kid right now. He understands that you need to pay back credit card charges etc, but he still can't figure why you have to give paper to a place in exchange for ice cream and baseball cards, and why they take it in exchange for things that are actually useful. "It's just paper... why can't they just print more and give everybody some?" Tough to farking explain to a kid and you get philosophical trying to put it into words. You can become an inflation fearing gold bug if you're not careful.

"Because those are the rules"

Rapmaster2000: Can a reporter be sued for libel if they attribute a quote that wasn't said?

I think the station can, but not the individual reporter. And damages might have to be proved (ie if someone quoted you as saying you like bologna sandwiches and you didn't say it, the judge would probably ask why you're seeking financial compensation)

Why do you ask?

spman: rufus-t-firefly: From the stories I've been told by people who work there, Bank of America is particularly good.

Let's say they get 5 of your checks in on a particular day. They don't run them in the order they receive them - they will process the biggest ones first so the account will be depleted faster and they can bang you with the overdraft on as many transactions as possible.

Then, when you have a few checks bounce, they'll start holding your deposits for a few days - even when they're checks DRAWN ON A BOA ACCOUNT (you know, one they could easily check for available funds) before crediting them, in the hope that you'll accrue a few more overdraft fees.

Banks = farking assholes.

The beef about transaction order is a legitimate one, but it's not specific to any one bank, they all do it. The argument is that the larger items are for things like mortgage payments, insurance, taxes, things you don't want to have bounce, so most customers would like to make sure these sorts of things get paid first. Again, not saying it's right or wrong, it's just the way it is.

Why don't they just process them in the order they come in?

ongbok: spman: rufus-t-firefly: From the stories I've been told by people who work there, Bank of America is particularly good.

Let's say they get 5 of your checks in on a particular day. They don't run them in the order they receive them - they will process the biggest ones first so the account will be depleted faster and they can bang you with the overdraft on as many transactions as possible.

Then, when you have a few checks bounce, they'll start holding your deposits for a few days - even when they're checks DRAWN ON A BOA ACCOUNT (you know, one they could easily check for available funds) before crediting them, in the hope that you'll accrue a few more overdraft fees.

Banks = farking assholes.

The beef about transaction order is a legitimate one, but it's not specific to any one bank, they all do it. The argument is that the larger items are for things like mortgage payments, insurance, taxes, things you don't want to have bounce, so most customers would like to make sure these sorts of things get paid first. Again, not saying it's right or wrong, it's just the way it is.

Why don't they just process them in the order they come in?

A. Because they feel they are providing the customer a better service by not doing so

and B. To make money

spman: The beef about transaction order is a legitimate one, but it's not specific to any one bank, they all do it. The argument is that the larger items are for things like mortgage payments, insurance, taxes, things you don't want to have bounce, so most customers would like to make sure these sorts of things get paid first. Again, not saying it's right or wrong, it's just the way it is.

Also, they can no longer do that. I think it was Dodd-Frank or one of those financial regulation bills that said they must process lowest to highest.

That was when the banks got all c*nty and started crying about all the revenue they'd lose.

bangmaid: Rapmaster2000: Can a reporter be sued for libel if they attribute a quote that wasn't said?

I think the station can, but not the individual reporter. And damages might have to be proved (ie if someone quoted you as saying you like bologna sandwiches and you didn't say it, the judge would probably ask why you're seeking financial compensation)

Why do you ask?

Because it was pretty shiatty of subs to make up a quote to fire up the rubes.

Great Janitor: I had a teacher in high school who set aside two days a month to teach us stuff like how checks work and how to balances checkbook. Even explained how rent to own was a very bad move.

Pity that the schools don't require those lessons for all, just reserved for those lucky students who has a teacher who cares more for a lesson that will keep students out of future problems more than getting us prepared for yet another farking standardized test.

Most schools started using the free consumer economics course that Visa provided them.

When I graduated HS (class of '81'), Consumer Economics was required for graduation. Ran us through everything about credit and household finances.

Other than the guy who was screwed over by identity theft, I don't feel sorry for any of those people in the story.

You make your bed. Now deal with the consequences.

downstairs: Can you even write bad checks anymore?  I thought there was some instant system in place similar to credit cards.

Francine Abagnale probably has figured out the tricks

ongbok: Why don't they just process them in the order they come in?

Because they're not required to by law.

Who thinks ChexSystems is "little-known?" Their friggin' logo is everywhere.

And I've no sympathy for anyone who deliberately commits check fraud and, as a result, can no longer commit check fraud. ChexSystems is doing their job, protecting both banks and consumers, when they bounce fraudsters out of the banking system.

I do, however, have sympathy for folks that get snagged by a ChexSystems mistake - I had to deal with that when I moved out here, years ago, thanks to (what used to be) Fleet Bank's screwed-up recordkeeping during their flurry of buyouts & mergers. However, it was a minor irritation (as I had the paperwork already in my hands) and ChexSystems was pretty cool about fixing the bank's mistake.

Cubansaltyballs: spman: The beef about transaction order is a legitimate one, but it's not specific to any one bank, they all do it. The argument is that the larger items are for things like mortgage payments, insurance, taxes, things you don't want to have bounce, so most customers would like to make sure these sorts of things get paid first. Again, not saying it's right or wrong, it's just the way it is.

Also, they can no longer do that. I think it was Dodd-Frank or one of those financial regulation bills that said they must process lowest to highest.

That was when the banks got all c*nty and started crying about all the revenue they'd lose.

Nope, Dodd Frank did nothing to change laws about posting order

spman: Nope, Dodd Frank did nothing to change laws about posting order

Well, there was a law somewhere that did. Maybe it was a Fed rule.