Are Banks Turning Consumers' Misfortune into Their Fortunes?

Growing up I am sure that many of us were taught that banks were the safest place to keep our money. Banks were known as community institutions that were known for friendly and fast customer service. Unfortunately the positive image of banks is a thing of the past. Its reputation has become tarnished as a result of incompetence and greed. They are no longer concerned about providing good customer service but instead they constantly seek ways to capitalize on consumers' misfortune.

During the past 8 years banks complained about seeing a huge decline in profits. If this is true I can assure you that people taking their money out of banks placing it in a glass jar under a mattress are not a major culprit of this sudden change in profitability. Banks have experienced a drop in profitability as a result of some bad investments and loans. Banks have implemented new tactics to make up for those loss profits. They include increased overdraft protection plans, increased automatic teller machine withdrawal fees, and store convenience fees. Unfortunately these tactics are done at the expense of consumers. There are some consumers who do not purposely do things like bounce checks. Sometimes miscellaneous expenses come about and are beyond our control. The bank will cover normally up to $300 for overdraft protection but will charge a persons account as much as $35 every time it is used. This may not seem like a lot of money but if you consider the fact that there are thousands of customers that take advantage of this type of protection it can be a cash cow for banks.

When banks charge all of these outrageous service fees it is a betrayal of consumer trust. It is highly unethical for banks to attempt to take advantage of consumers' unfortunate situations. Then banks have audacity to go to the government asking for financial stimulus packages when they are clearly making billions of dollars by charging consumers all of these ridiculous service fees. Like any other business entities in order for banks to be successful they must have consumers' best interest at hand. This will restore consumer confidence which will them to regain profitability without having to resort to deceptive practices.