2002-08-19 - 12:27 p.m.

Banque de la Mom

I had to give it a name – Banque de la Mom – this “business” I run to protect my family from the banks. (If they don’t get after me for “banking without a license.”)

The banks are gonna get you, coming or going. Did you know that, if you don’t keep a minimum balance in your savings account – and it’s usually not an insignificant amount – many banks will deduct a service charge, until you have no savings left? Passbook savings accounts used to be maintenance-free, so the bank didn’t charge the customer. Now that they’ve done away with passbooks, they send out statements every couple of months and charge for the service. The charge is greater than the interest they pay, which used to be a helluva lot more than it is now.

If you need to cash a check, banks require that you have an account with them, unless the check is drawn on that bank. But the cost of maintaining any account may be higher than you can afford. You can take your business to a check-cashing store, where they will cash your check – for a fee. It seems you have to have plenty of money before they’ll help you manage it instead of taking it away. It’s hardly worth the trouble to try to maintain an account. And every time my bank merges with another – to improve their service, they say – another service disappears.

I am fortunate that, during the years before all the banks changed their rules, I accumulated enough to protect my accounts. Either that, or I’m being rewarded for getting old (senior citizen discount). In any case, I don’t pay for most banking services. Not only do I have free checking, but when I can pay on-line, I don’t even have to pay postage.

Fate has protected not only me, but those I love as well. For my daughters and son-in-law, I provide the services they can’t readily get from the banks. (I often did it for my son as well, but he has graduated into his own accounts.) I cash paychecks – no charge. I write checks to pay bills, and I keep the books. I keep Excel files on everyone, tracking of how much they’ve given me, what checks I’ve written, which bills have to be paid.

I maintain good credit. That includes credit cards in my name for one or another to use. It is unfortunate that we cannot exist in today’s world without a credit card, but with guidance we can avoid the worst of the pitfalls. Like a guard dog, I look at the bills and give out warnings about overspending. (Why do people have to buy every little thing that catches their eyes?) At the very worst, I will close out those credit cards and leave them to cope on their own – an awesome threat.

What I try not to do is hold it over their heads. Yes, they got into debt, but that can happen to anyone. Shit happens. I am not running their lives, I’m just helping them. The alternatives are almost funny. I could pay off everyone’s debt, and then they could support me, since I would have no savings account left. (I can’t do that till I’m sure they can support themselves.) Or I could die, my estate would pay up the credit accounts, which are still in my name, and then close ’em. They wouldn’t have the credit cards but they wouldn’t have to support me. However, they would inherit Husband, which is no joke.

A story for another time.

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