Re: Gotcha Capitalism


"mg" <mgkelson@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:4b92b513-f206-4282-9704-9e3d94a4ae0a@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Jul 28, 5:28 am, Gary <n...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
What is Gotcha Capitalism?

Coughing up $4 fees for ATM transactions. Iron-clad cell phone
contracts you can’t get out of with a crowbar. Paying big bucks for
insurance you don’t need on a rental car or forking over $20 a day for
supposedly “free” wireless internet. Every day we use banks, cell
phones, and credit cards. Every day we book hotels and airline
tickets. And every day we get ripped off.

How? Here are just a few examples of how big business can get you:

• You didn’t fill up the rental car with gas?
Gotcha! Gas costs $7 a gallon here.
• Your bank balance fell to $999.99 for one day?
Gotcha! That’ll be $12.
• You miss one payment on that 18-month same-as-cash loan?
Gotcha! That’ll be $512 extra.
• You’re one day late on that electric bill?
Gotcha! All your credit cards now have a 29.99% interest rate.

But not for much longer. In Gotcha Capitalism, MSNBC.com’s “Red Tape
Chronicles” columnist Bob Sullivan exposes the ways we’re all cheated
by big business, and teaches us how to get our money back–proven
strategies that can help you save more than $1,000 a year.

An excerpt from the book at :

http://www.amazon.com/Gotcha-Capitalism-Hidden-Every-Day/dp/0345496132

When my wife passed away (God bless her soul) she had papers all over
the house and the check book was beyond repair. So, I opened another
account in my name only in a different financial institution and then
let things sort them self out. After that I decided to retain the
account for awhile in case any checks happened to float in, in her
name. The problem was that somehow, somewhere along the line, we had
opted for an account with a monthly fee -- I don't know how that
happened.

So, the years go by (I'm terrible about procrastinating) and when I
got the statement I would just file it. Then one day I start getting
overdraft notices. When I got the notices, I figured, "OK they're
going to charge me maybe $25 bucks for being $4 over for a month and
I'll go close out that account when I get around to it. But the
notices started coming in every few days. So, finally, I went to the
bank and closed out the account. The fee for being about $4 overdrawn
turned out to be over $200.

Just out of curiosity, what would have happened if you had simply ignored the bank? I would thing they would be *** out of luck. At best they may hire a "collector" who would probably hound you with threatening letters (they won't spend any money to talk to you in person...that woud cost more than they stand to make), which you can ignore also can't you?

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