I debated blogging about this issue; however if I want to stay true to myself, I feel that I have to. 2 weeks ago, I went to the clinic for my annual pap smear. Well, in my case, it had been 4 years since I had one. I had the entire battery of tests run…including the ones for HIV and Herpes (HSV-1&2) which are not usually included in the normal battery of STD tests (more on this later). On Monday I went in for my test results.
Small interlude here; in 2004 (so I did have an annual since then), I had a boyfriend who admitted to me that he had genital herpes. Which type…I don’t know. I do know that he passed it along to his ex and she broke up with him because of this. Back then, I did not really look into it all that much. I assumed that if there were no sores, then it wasn’t contagious. However when I scheduled this annual…I starting looking into this type of thing. I was worried because it had been so long since I ever had an exam. That is when I found out that 1) Herpes is not in the standard battery of STD tests and 2) You can get herpes from asymptomatic people and have it and never know. I was shocked; and resolved to get the test done.
The last 2 years have been tough for me health-wise. Without getting into too much detail, I’ve had a lot of issues with circulation, tingling and pain below my waist. Although this is mainly from the damage to my left leg and hip…it also carries over into the groin area. Since so much has gone on ‘down there’ and I’m liable to feel all sorts of things, I started to wonder if I was actually suffering from prodomal herpes symptoms, and just never knew. I started to comb the ‘net, subconsciously bracing myself for the idea that I too, could have genital herpes (like %25 of the population…and %39 of Black women supposedly do).
Due to changes in Federal Banking regulations, banks will no longer have the option to authorize debit card purchases in excess of the ledger balance of an account as a ‘convenience’. This is because each transaction can have an overdraft fee attached to it; throwing a checking account hundreds of dollars into the negative rather easily. In my opinion, this regulation is long overdue. I would MUCH rather deal with having my card declined at a merchant instead of dealing with hundreds of dollars in bank fees.
Now my Grandmother insists that there is no problem if you keep tabs on your account. In the course of normal spending, I agree. However I ran into a horrific situation where I had returned an expensive item (a set of brakes for my car). My account showed the refund…however the funds were ‘pending’ and not available (even though the amount was added to my balance I checked the ATM for). I repurchased another set of brakes…and had some other purchases. All of which went through; and then threw my account into a pretty deep negative hole because the money that I thought I had was not available until the next business day. I talked to the bank and was quite unhappy that the ATM balance inquiry did not state that a portion of the balance was ‘unavailable’. Their nonchalant response to me was to wave 2 of the 5 overdraft fees. Whatever.
I find it interesting that banks are actively marketing this system as this great thing their customers can have if they choose to remain grandfathered into this system. Please. What you are doing Dear Banks, is acting like a loan shark instead of a consumer bank. Think about it; you want to collect $140 in overdraft fees for someone that used their debit card 4 times and spent $10 in excess of what they had in their account? So you fronted $10 to your customer…at the cost of $140. That is some pretty insane interest right there!
I can see where this can be useful…but within the lines of some hard and fast rules. And they would break the bank (pardon the pun) on either party’s side. Let’s say the bank agreed to authorize up to $50 over your account balance twice per year (to prevent habitual overdrafters). Or let’s say they limit the overdraft fee amount to $50 to $100 dollars. There. You are not ‘out’ of the money and the customer does not feel like they are being raped.
But it is no secret that banks make mad, crazy profits on overdraft fees. The real, long term question here lies with the educated/non-educated consumer. Will they believe the hype from the bank? Do they understand their own spending habits and debit card use enough to know when this is worthwhile or not? What effect will this regulation have on the banking industry (as this has the potential to be a significant reduction in bank profits)?
All in all though, this is as big win for consumers .
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