don’t bank on it

so i found out that my name  was on a bank account that was closed with a negative balance. i never even really used that account. but because of being listed on the account, and the time gone by without the balance being addressed, i am on some kind of bank hit-list, some ChexSystem or something. now, two years later, they won’t let me have an account.

i took my checks to the bank—and i have a few that have been stacking up, i usually sign them over to someone and have them cash it but now i’m getting regular checks and wanted to be more independent—and they wouldn’t let me open an account. i offered to pay the $500 off right there, and they said sure, they would take it. but they won’t give me an account. i didn’t ask for a loan, i didn’t ask for a credit line, i don’t even care if it’s only a savings account. but no. they want me to pay the $500, and wait FIVE YEARS before the mark clears. five years before i have a place i can deposit checks and get moneypaper instead.

it feels like a punishment. how am i supposed to live? for five years? they relegate me to poor peoples’ hell, the cycle of exploitation that exists in situations like check cashing stores (which suck up like 10 – 15% of your money) and payaway programs (which i do not use, but sadly exist to cash in on people in similar situations).

i know they will just use my money in smart bankerly ways to make profit, why don’t they want my money? what is the point of five years? why not just make sure my account doesn’t dip below a certain amount, or even take a small percent as a fine? why not do ANYthing but refuse to let me into the system? what is the point? what is the big bad bank afraid of?

i can’t tell you how upset i was to learn this. not to mention humiliated in that bank. in two banks. and very pissed off.

i’m not sure what to do. but what can i do? i guess i’ll keep giving my checks to someone else to deposit. like a child.

funny how my relying on someone else to take care of my money affairs has resulted in my being unable to now manage my own. lesson learned, i guess.

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Published:
02.08.08 / 6am
Category:
mi vida, the human condition(ing)
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