I hate banks.

I think I've decided that banking and banks are the devil. Seriously, so many things go wrong with banking that it's almost asinine; if it were feasible, I'd just hide all my money somewhere else (like under a mattress).

For example:

I opened up an account for work through Chase. I hadn't really put money in it, then got a bill for $50 for the $25 they were automatically withdrawing from my checking monthly. To me, that's kinda silly...if there's no money in my checking to put in my savings, how about just not putting anything in there? Yeah, apparently not. So that was stupid, but I took care of it...so I thought. Now, I apparently just got another bill for $65...for the same $50, but now with a late fee. The thing is, I sent them a check and paid it before. I have absolutely no idea why or what I'm even getting billed for, and the last time I called customer service, they told me that it was for my savings account, explained nothing further, then attempted to convince me to add some other stupid service on my account.

I'm starting to think that I'm going to just close the damned account and just open up a savings account with Washington Mutual, where I already have my checking, and apply for a credit card there. Seems like a much more logical thing to do than all of this ridiculousness with Chase...

Yeah, that's banking for you, I guess. They're in the business of storing your money for you, but also trying to finagle as much out of you as possible - just short of downright theft, actually. Maybe it's just my recent experiences with banks (however, I have never actually had a problem with Washington Mutual, hooray), but my opinion of them is rather low.

Oh, if only massive in-the-wall safes were to come into vogue again...



And here's a link to someone's blog who asks the same, eternal question:
http://www.sweeting.org/mark/blog/2004/12/06/why-do-banks-suck



UPDATE: Apparently, that's some overdraft protection nonsense that they're withdrawing, and I can only fix it by going into a branch, all of which are in very far walking distance. So, I'm gonna knock that idiocy and just close the stupid account. A word to the wise: piggy banks are far more reliable, and even better, they charge no fees. I think I'm gonna make a sound investment in one now...