Teen’s savings account – bank fee nightmare

The savings account that an Illinois mom opened with her teenage son worked well, until bank fees piled up on a low balance.

Daniel Ganziano used the account to store pay from his job. When the balance fell to $4.98, he received a letter telling him that a $9.95 low-balance monthly fee had been imposed six days earlier. That fee overdrew the account by $5.10, and daily $28 overdraft fees soon ballooned the amount owed. By the time he got the letter, he owed $229.10.  

Daniel’s mother Melinda, who had urged him to open the account, paid the fee and they closed the account. They eventually got the money back, after they complained to a local TV station’s consumer advocate. Lesson learned? Melinda says, “Banks are not the way they used to be.”

At Directo, we clearly communicate our low fees, and our customers find that they save hundreds of dollars yearly that would have gone to check cashers. Plus, they have the security of funds held in an FDIC-member bank.

Read the full story here.

Paying off site workers – a solution for the distribution hassle

Does this sound familiar?

It’s payday. Your job crews left your offices at 6:30am, and won’t return until 3:30pm. After you run the checks and get them signed, you distribute the ones in the office, then race to each job site to delivery paychecks. You return to the office just in time to go home. Meanwhile, back at the sites, the workers are chomping at the bit, desperate to leave and get to the check casher. This hectic tale doesn’t even take into account the next day, when you replace one of the checks because your employee lost it on the way home!

The solution?  Direct deposit, powered by Directo paycards. With Directo, every employee can participate in direct deposit, eliminating the distribution hassle. In addition, Directo paycards reduce your paycheck fraud risk. It’s simple, costs you nothing, and with Directo’s year-end special, your employees win, too!  Email today to find out how Directo can help your company!

 

Threatened bank fees vanish – but more are coming

The big banks have backed down from their new debit fees, but watch out – they’ll want to make back lost interchange revenue. Read Allison Lyn’s article on MSNBC:

Norma Garcia, manager of the financial services program with Consumers Union, noted that it’s rare for banks to back down on plans because consumers complain. Still, she also expects that banks will try other, less wide-ranging, measures.

“This is a victory today, but it doesn’t mean that they need to let down their guard,” Garcia said.

Garcia said consumers should pay especially close attention to whether banks are changing rules about minimum balances, and tacking on fees for people who fall below a certain level each month.

With new, perhaps hidden, fees on the horizon, Directo’s transparent pricing and simple-to-operate accounts continue to be a better choice for many.

November 5 – Move your bank day – will you act?

The American Banker’s Kevin Wack posted an article yesterday about the personal impact of the increased bank fees.  He fled Bank of America for TD Bank, but it took twenty five minutes of sitting in a branch to get it accomplished. Meanwhile, he wonders how many people will take the trouble to make a similar move. Here’s an excerpt:

Nearly two years ago, Arianna Huffington and some dinner companions dreamed up the idea for what came to be called the Move Your Money project.

Their original idea was political. Individual citizens, by moving their money from too-big-to-fail banks to community banks or credit unions, would be helping to make the financial system safer.

Today, the idea of switching banks is gaining momentum. A grassroots campaign on Facebook that has designated Sat., Nov. 5 as “Bank Transfer Day” now has more than 59,000 members.

But it is not clear how much the bank-switching trend is being driven by politics. Many folks seem motivated not only by the negative headlines they read about big banks, but also by their own personal frustrations in dealing with those firms. In other words, activism appears to be intersecting with self-interest.

It will be interesting to see how many people do switch. At Directo, we’re seeing an increase in accounts as the unhappily-banked come to us for our no-hassle, simple to use accounts. November 5th may not be a one day exodus, but it will happen, and banks will feel the impact before the end of the year.  Read Kevin Wack’s entire article here.

Entangled in bank services? Your big bank is hoping you are.

I’ve blogged about big banks’ increasing fees, and now comes word that they aren’t worried at all that they’ll lose you as a customer. Online bill pay, loan payments and automatic debits are hard to disentangle, and for some folks, its worth the debit fees or monthly fees just to keep life simple. Or just as complicated, depending on your viewpoint.

A survey conducted in October by The Research Intelligence Group (TRiG) indicates that people with increased debit fees won’t switch banks, they’ll just change behavior and start carrying cash. Sounds to me like inertia will be dangerous as well as more expensive.

Meanwhile, here’s yet another article, this one from Forbes.com, about the growing anger over debit fees.

For many, a Directo paycard account will eliminate the frustration. Easy to manage accounts are opened online at the workplace, and Directo paycard programs are free to the employer.

Stolen payroll checks – everyone is at risk

It’s happened again, this time in Pittsburgh. According to Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reporter Brian Bowling’s report, four men are in custody, charged with conspiracy, aggravated identity theft and possession of counterfeit checks.

A similar event occurred in Fort Wayne, Indiana in September. Times are hard, crooks are desperate, and paper checks make your business vulnerable.

Direct deposit will drastically reduce the number of checks your company distributes.  Directo stands ready to help you go 100% paperless. Remember, your business is at risk until you stop distributing your bank account information.

Can you cash this check?

How much do you know about your employees’ lives?

It’s natural to assume that others’ lives are similar to your own. You know times are hard, and that folks are suffering, but how much do you really know about your employees’ lives?

At Directo, we know our customers well. Our Customer Care team hears the daily cares and woes of tens of thousands of everyday workers. We knew that check cashing took a big bite out of employee paychecks, one of the headaches that the Directo paycard eliminates. But how much hassle was it, really, to cash a check and pay bills?

Determined to see for ourselves, Directo employees spent a day walking in our potential customers’ shoes this week. Each armed with a check for $100, we hit mass transit, looking for places that would cash the check without going to our own banks or withdrawing cash from our own Directo accounts. No luck. Banks wouldn’t cash checks for individuals without an account. After waiting in long lines in some scary-looking places, we discovered that check cashers considered the checks “unverifiable” – in other words, not from a nearby business. The signage in these places was alarming, with high fees posted for those checks they deemed safe enough, but we couldn’t cash them at all.

We ended the day with a fresh appreciation for the value of direct deposit, and the difference that a Directo paycard can make in the lives of everyday Americans. Your employees deserve the security of Directo’s FDIC-insured bank account, and the ease of direct deposit paydays, with no credit check, and guaranteed approval.