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Opinions
October 20, 2011 The Observer
www.fordhamobserver.com
New Debit Cards Charges Reasonable? Don’t Bank on It Banks are a lot more accommodating for people who have a lot of friends named Benjamin. My closest friend is...Ramen.
MARIO WEDDELL
Features Co-Editor & Asst. Photo Editor
“Here’s an idea! How’s about we charge them money for spending money, unless they have a lot of money? You know, so if they can afford to pay the excess fees, we won’t make them pay the fees. But if they don’t have a lot of money, and they just spent the little money they had, they should have to give us some more money. It’ll be funny.” I assume this was the reasoning when Bank of America announced their new debit card policy: consumers who use their debit cards to make purchases would have to pay a five dollar monthly fee. That means if you want to use your card to buy groceries or to pay for a cab or maybe to buy a ski mask to rob a bank, a five dollar fee will be charged to your account. This is supposed to go into effect early next year, unless the cardholder has a premium or privilege account, in which case the fee does not apply. That makes sense, because banks don’t want to lose their clients who have more money. It makes a lot of sense. So what are my options? I could switch banks, use cash for purchases or swipe my credit card. With more banks looking to hit their clients with service fees (Wells Fargo and Chase, to name a couple), I’m not looking to join another Henry F. Potter-esque bank (Don’t know who Henry F. Potter is? See “It’s A Wonderful Life.”). My best bet would be to join a credit union. Credit unions are non-for-profit, meaning they exist to serve their members, not to maximize profits for shareholders. That’s incredibly reasonable. Unfortunately, I’m probably not going to switch anytime soon.
fatima shabbir/The Observer
It may be your money, but the bank will find a way to take it from you in any clever way they know how.
Credit unions tend to be local and since I can only work part time as a student, I need my parents to pay my rent. That means money from Texas sometimes magically appears in my New York ATMs. So I’m stuck with Bank of America, for now. The fee isn’t outrageous. I could find a way to save an extra five dollars a month. For example, if I chew my food less, I won’t have to brush my teeth as often, prolonging the life of my toothbrush, saving me money on a replacement.
It’s easy to save money. But I don’t want to change my behavior for a bank. The principle is outrageous. And, as we all know, banks usually take an interest in the principal of their clients, so I have a right to be upset. A little bank humor there. The bank wants me to use cash to buy things. Or even better, credit cards, because they profit if I mess up on a payment. Unfortunately, it’s against my personal code to pay for things with cash anymore. To the bank, using cash
makes sense, but to me, it only makes cents. Since I don’t carry a change purse, the pennies and nickels I get stuck with after a purchase just find their way into a jar on my shelf. It brings a new meaning to the term “old money.” By the time I gather enough pennies to make a trip to the bank worthwhile, my penny has probably decreased in value. The day I realized that a debit card allowed me to pay for things to the exact amount was a glori-
ous day in my financial journey. Besides, according to the U.S. Mint, the cost of making a penny in 2008 was 1.7 cents. It’s illogical. I can’t get behind such a backwards system. The argument for penny preservation is rooted in a fear of change. Ironic, I know. Simply put, a lot of people like Abraham Lincoln’s head on their coin. Hell, I’ll put his picture on my debit card if it means I don’t have to use cash. Besides, I’d rather not have a full wallet if I get mugged. If I can’t use my debit card, and using cash is preposterous, I’m stuck with credit cards. Still, paying for everything with a credit card can be just as risky. If I don’t pay my bill in time, I have to deal with tough interest rates (since I’m a non-premium, unprivileged student) that only support the money-grubbing banks further. Again, banks are a lot more accommodating for people who have a lot of friends named Benjamin. My closest friend is named Ramen. I can’t use my debit card and switching banks is out of the question for now. It seems that it’s time to make a choice. Cash or credit? Either way, I’m getting robbed, right? I guess I can at least decide who I want my mugger to be: a guy in a hoodie, holding a knife or a guy in a suit, holding a pen. Maybe I can put all my pennies in a sock and use that as a weapon. Cash it is.
Occupying Wall Street: It’s About Time We Stood Up For Ourselves RYAN O’TOOLE Staff Writer
Occupy Wall Street is the best thing that has happened to this country in a while, and as its inception is happening a short train ride away from FCLC, I urge all Fordham students to take a stand and join the protests, as students did in the 1960’s. Throughout 2011, we have witnessed the emergence of a corporatocracy in the United States whereby the richest one percent own 40 percent of the nation’s wealth, more than at any other time in the country’s history since the 1920s. This percentage is effectively dictating the direction of American politics and economics. There is one thing they haven’t been able to control though: American society. On Sept. 17, a few brave people decided that they didn’t believe in the system anymore, and they went to downtown Manhattan to sit down in a park and begin the movement that has spread across the country to Boston, Philadelphia, DC, Portland, Seattle and LA, among other cities. There is no question these protesters are staying right where they are, and the Occupy Wall Street movement is not just a fad. Some have even suggested that it could become a liberal Tea Party, a grass roots people’s movement without a designated leader but with boundless energy that will be challenge an entrenched system. I certainly hope so. Since the emergence of the Tea Party I have wondered when the left
SARA AZOULAY/The Observer
Young protesters, frustrated with their prospects, have taken this opportunity to make their voices heard.
and moderates of this country would demand that the ultra-conservative Tea Party not dictate the direction of the United States. It appears that we are witnessing the birth of another grassroots protest movement; the great difference between Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party though is that Occupy Wall Street fights for the well-being and future of the average working American. It strikes at an essential problem in the United States: the heart of America lies in small business owners, manufacturers and hardworking Americans across the country, not millionaires who sit in fancy offices
down on Wall Street who own four houses, actually use the word summer as a verb and are now gauging the American consumer just to make a larger profit. Americans today, particularly college students and twenty-somethings, are seeing their futures increasingly clouded by the dark cloud of burgeoning student loan debt. For others we are being schemed in more immediate ways: I just recently closed my Citibank checking account because they were going to charge me $20 a month to own a checking account with less than $15,000 in it. I don’t know about anyone else at college, but that
amount is a faraway dream for me still. It is infuriating to have grown up in the 90s believing that our nation’s economy would be strong, and there to support us after we finished school. Now, as I stand on that cusp as a senior, I cannot believe that I have to close my checking account essentially because I am a student who works part-time for minimum wage. This movement is morally just. Increasingly the United States is becoming a banana republic and students, the poor and the middle class are being squeezed for all we are worth, which is becoming less
and less. According to a recent article published in The New York Times, the average annual salary of the richest 20 percent of New Yorkers is roughly $371,000 versus an average of $9,000 for the poorest 20 percent. There is something fundamentally wrong in a society where people are charged money to access the money they worked hard to earn. Frankly, we are just mad that while most of us working Americans trim our budgets and try to save money, Wall Street and bank executives are still getting bailouts, multi-million dollar bonuses and paying a lower tax rate than working Americans do. One of the most frustrating aspects of this great movement has been President Obama’s silence. His Chief of Staff, Bill Daley, recently said he “wasn’t sure if [Occupy Wall Street] was a good thing” and Obama has been effectively silent. Are you kidding me? This movement represents exactly the kind of populist anger that he needs to win reelection and he remains silent. Occupy Wall Street has the potential to be an American form of the Arab Spring; it has the potential to be a thrilling, democratic movement to restore power to the people and take it away from K Street lobbyists, Wall Street bankers and stock brokers. Many who oppose the Occupy Wall Street movement claim that it is provoking class warfare. Why is that a bad thing? As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, we need to take a stand to keep the American Dream alive for all Americans, not just the rich ones. Luckily, the origin of the movement is just a train ride away, and we can be a part of it.