Paying Cash? That'll Cost Extra

In Nevada we have to pay money to spend time with an actual person.
We call it prostitution. But you get a whole hour.

Banks are offering "services" like this now.
You can get Free checking, as long as you do it all at the ATM.
the moment you walk in, and someone says' hello, 2 bucks.

I pulled my money from a Savings and loan a couple of years ago because EVERYTHING I did cost me a few cents here and there. I'm pretty sure they charged me a buck to walk past the entrance, to go to the groocery store.

They no longer have my account.

Originally posted by 44soulslayer
Conspiracy angle:

What if the companies will eventually suspend charges for credit card usage.

This would encourage people to pay by credit card rather than by cash.

Now apply this to all forms of spending. The police state would be able to see the exact expenditure of a person, and compare it to their income to check for discrepancies.

Insidious stuff, these charges.

Star,Star,Star,Star,Star - Hit the head on the nail and drove it through the first time!!!!

My preference is not to deal with anyone "in person". So, I too use my banks free bill pay online. However, I have been hit with every transaction fee, surcharge, extra overcharge, local, state, municipal and etc..charge you can think of.

I literally hate to open a bill as I get enraged reading all the extra lines of misc charges that are nothing more than ways for the billing company to rob you of every dime they can. Furthermore, when they owe you it's like forget it! Comcast was charging me for an equipment rental for 2 years on equipment I owned. Yes I missed the charge and I admit since the bill was the same every month I didn't look. The point is that when I did catch it I called and they actually thought I was dumb enough to believe their story:

"Yes, we can refund up to 6 months only because we don't keep any records beyond that".

Yes, they were bold enough to tell me that obvious lie and then talk in circles at points laughing at my predicament. They are not the first company to boldly lie to me like this.

It's like the doctor who keeps you sitting in the waiting room for an hour for your 10 minute appointment and then charges you if you don't cancel appointments within 24 hours.

Man, these types of threads can ruin a day fast!

When historians look back on this era,it will be no different than say the "Capitalist misdealings"in the early 1900's.


Business's are abusing the system right now for profit,it will soon come to an end,it is all just another phase of history.

reply to post by hdchop


You know this thread just opened my mind, I have always pay my bills on line using the companies web pay services.

I always have to pay fees.

My bank of 30 years offers the service for free, well for the first time I just enrolled in the service.

I guess I always been too busy to take advantage of what my own bank have to offer.

Here, Arron Russo talks about a cashless society



"Life takes VISA"

A big part of the blame is marketing (legal trickery) another is just pure greed.

Though many companies have used the fees to create more revenue for them & their shareholders. It is done in a way that attempts to hide the expense from their customers and then ambush them when the bill time comes which leaves them in a vulnerable position and so many reluctantly comply and some are completely unaware.

Ambushing customers at the moment of pay with extra expenses or else lose service and their credit rating has become the status quo of the evil greedy corporations.

Once they own the rights of giving you the business, and then they stick it too you wherever and whenever they can. They are like the "mafia" either pay when and how we see fit or tomorrow we'll destroy your ability to do business with us or anyone else. You are essentially in there owned territory and you will comply.

You can't complain because you just end up in an endless loop of company employees who pass the buck in circles and there is nobody available who is ever responsible for any problem you have with their service. It is always a policy or computer program that is responsible for your treatment or fate and there is nothing they can do to change the policy or rewrite the software.

I once fought at the counter with a cable company because I ended my service one day into the new billing period. While they were able to prorate my bill to 1/30th of a month for the service their computer system was unable to remove the full months taxes which were 5(x) the amount of my service I used. I made a huge scene and told all customers waiting in line they should switch to satellite and the company responded by calling the police - because I was complaining that they were robbing me and blaming it on the computer that had no flexibility that they programmed. Of course I ended up paying the extra 12-13 dollars to the company because it wasn't worth the hassle to not pay - which is what they count on.

It seems many companies these days seem to treat us like subjects instead of customers. Especially companies that sell services that have become basic needs in today's society.

They have lobbied to create laws for their benefit at our expense.

Every step of the way they nickel & dime us at every turn and if we don't comply they threaten to destroy our credit that make it more difficult to survive in their credit world.

The corporations are the enemy and those responsible for this behavior are so far behind the scenes that have hidden themselves behind policy's, rules & laws that they themselves created, but act like they never knew.

If you oppose them you are labeled a terrorist and they even brainwash your brothers & neighbors into believing so because its there message that's read in the media and not yours.

Originally posted by TheComte

I've often wondered if it were possible to turn the tables a bit. Start charging companies a small admin fee for contacting you, sending you promo material, for phone solicitation, anything really.

Right now we have the expensive option of filing lawsuits or just billing them. Neither option is going to solve the problem.

We need some kind of consumer bill of rights. As it seems every time we do business they have written all the rules in the customer agreement we always have to agree to when we use their product or do business with them. While these agreements were written to protect the business to stay in business they have gone beyond that in my opinion and are now used to bilk us.

Originally posted by MemoryShock

Keep in mind the fact that I have a prepaid wireless account

I too have shifted to the prepay wireless account and it is the best thing I've done in years. I no longer get surprises with my wireless bill where they nickel & dime me for $20 of taxes & fees every month along with my bill.

In the past when I didn't pay my bill on time they would cut me off and I would have to jump through all kinds of hoops to get my service back.

Now I can prepay several months at a time and my phone tells me how much money is left at the touch of a button or after every call, so I have become aware of how much my calls cost and when I need to refill. After every call my phone prompts me with this call cost xx and you have xxx left on your account.

All it takes is $15 to get my phone working and I don't have the several hundred dollars in past bills to pay in order to make my phone work.

Prepay truly puts the consumer back in the drivers seat and the appearance of higher cost per minute is just an illusion that the greedy salesmen tell you. The wireless companies created prepay because their other models we're destroying a large chunk of their customer base and someone was smart enough to realize it and resurrect the old customers as well bring in others who are less financially responsible.

The only Caveat is I no longer have that unlimited time and have to pay attention to my time a bit more.


[edit on 25-4-2008 by verylowfrequency]

It's truly getting ridiculous.

It seems like no matter what you do you have to pay some fee no matter how you pay. Even if you just mail a check you have to buy a stamp.

And the problem is, almost every company that does this knows there is no taking your business elsewhere. There are usually no more than one or two utility companies in an area, making it hard to switch.

Cell companies nail you to a contract if they can. Switching banks for loans takes a refinance in most cases and that takes time and paperwork. That's if you can get a better deal by doing it, if not, you're SOL.

Guess I'm going to keep working on debt/contract free living. (pipe dream)

Originally posted by Sovereign797
It seems like no matter what you do you have to pay some fee no matter how you pay. Even if you just mail a check you have to buy a stamp.

Thats an easy one...mail the cheque in a non-stamped envelope with no return address written on it, and the reciever picks up the charge upon delivery (at least thats how it works here in the UK)

Originally posted by Sublime620
My car payment charged me $10 every time I did it over the phone. I hate sending checks so I put up with it.

In some states, Colorado being one, it is illegal for them to charge this $10 fee. A coworker of mine just had her account credited $180 for 18 months of $10 convenience fees that were illegally charged.

Check your state!

Here's another good one. We do auto bill pay on our car insurance every month. The money gets deducted by AAA on the 1st of every month from our checking account. Around the 15th we get a late notice asking us where our payment is. We call and get them to confirm that yes they did take the money out on the 1st but they say it takes them over 10 buisness days to deposit auto bill's into their system and that we should just mail them a check as it will be faster.


Modern technology...... makes you want to be a Luddite.

If you want to stick one to the banks, here's a good cheque-book game to play with a few friends...

Get 10 people who have cheque books and all write out a cheque to each other person for 1p (so I would write 9 cheques out). Deposit the cheques you have recieved in your account, and your friend's in theirs, and the processing costs of that transaction cost the bank around 20p to put through the system in admin overheads...each person has therefore made their bank waste time, effort, and £1.80 per person playing the game

just think how much money we could make them waste if there were 1000's of us playing the same '**** the banks' game!

Originally posted by Digital_Reality

TAKE YOUR BUSINESS ELSEWHERE!

That's hard to do. I don't know how many utility companies there are where you live but here in my town we have one electric company, one phone company, and one cable/satellite company. Not possible to take my business elsewhere. And believe me they find every way they can to screw us here. I have found many and I mean MANY BS charges on my phone bill. And have yet to have a phone rep tell me what they are for when I call. But if I want my phone and DSL I have to pay it to keep it on.

Originally posted by citizen smith
just think how much money we could make them waste if there were 1000's of us playing the same '**** the banks' game!

Ummmm, not much of a game when they ultimately are going to stick us, the consumer, with the bill.

I know a few utility companies I have to deal with charge me a few if I didn't sign up for their "paperless system". In otherwords, they would send me the bill via email, and I would have to pay the bill on-line. If I still want to continue to recieve paper billes, it costs me $2.95 extra, plus a 50 cent service fee for processing the check I mail them. Pretty bogus if you ask me. What happens if I change email providers, or worse yet, decided to do without email & internet period.

Originally posted by Digital_Reality
Its like a school bully that takes your lunch money.
He is going to take it for as long as you give it up until the day you stand up to him and say get (censored).

You're basically damned if you do, and damned if you don't anymore.

I wish something could be done about it, but that takes a lot of organization, and even more people willing to stand up for themselves.

Seven years ago I also used to get hit will all the charges, now I do not. My cell phone is prepaid and sending a text message is around the world is about 2 cents. I receive calls and texts without charge.

My gas and electric doesn't have a service charge to pay in person with cash. Auto insurance can also be paid in person in cash without a fee. It is so refreshing to not have the first name of Bend and last name Rover (courtesy of Ducky's post) anymore.

The next time you look at your cell phone bill and see all the hidden fees and charges, your wallet just got raped and they didn't even give you a kiss. Go to the bank and you fair none better. Corporate America is happy to have you over a barrel squealing like stuck pig. Is there anything you can do...well not much since they control the flow.

For the average American he is a frog in a pot with no way out, your cooked. Complain too much and they cook you faster and then just find another frog.

Paying Cash, in order to Pay cash? That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard....Its like interest....

Well, just for jolly's if you have to pay, say $2.95 in cash to pay in cash, then on the way to pay the bill, have a visit to your bank, hope they don't charge you for this, exchange 3 dollars for 6 rolls of pennies. Then go to pay your bill. Put the cash on the counter for the bill. When you are hit with the service charge, rip off the paper from the 6 rolls of pennies and let the pennies hit the counter. Pick up 5 pennies for your change and wait for your receipt.

reply to post by hdchop


Steal it....Really..Give it a try sometime.....Feels GREAT! Clone your cell hell I have not had too pay for Dish in 8 years
Yank your tags.....Fill up with gas...leave.....Put tags back on and tool box back in the bed....Man yall have too open up a little...Dont break the law all the time, but it aint a crime if you dont get caught.