When electrons, bits, and bytes bite our pockets

I have not written a check to pay a monthly bill to send to any of my creditors since 1998. That's when I discovered electronic banking. I remember the great cacophony and wailing that then surrounded online banking. People predicted hackers would steal every penny out of my account, that I would not be able to keep track of my payments or my account balances, and that unscrupulous companies would siphon more money out of my account than that to which they were entitled.

Other than the time my bank mysteriously cancelled the mortgage payment I had set up to automatically pay every month, online banking has been pretty darned successful. My bank gives it to me free, and the online resources are easy to use. Most banks, especially the better ones, figured out long ago that online banking was cheaper for both the bank and the client. With no paper checks to write, sort, or mail, the cost is basically nothing. Oh, the banks have to maintain plenty of server space and keep the sites running securely and well, but they'd have to do that with their mainframes anyway and the cost to do this is a fraction of what paper and postage would cost.

So, I'm puzzled as to why my mortgage banker charges me $6 each month to process my automatic payment. The money goes straight from my checking account to the bank, wirelessly, electronically, and instantly. So, why the extra $6 charge? Because they can. It's $72 per year I have to pay for convenience and, since I put every bill possible on auto pay because my memory of when it's time to pay bills can slip a bit, they're sticking it to me for my convenience. And, get this; it's pure profit for the bank.

I'm puzzled as to why one of my credit card companies wants to charge me $16.95 if I want to pay a bill electronically and have it post to my account the same day I pay it. If I schedule it to pay one day later, there is no charge. Again, it's all electronic, little bits and bytes of data, so there is no paper and the payment posts immediately on the credit card company's server. This means there is no cost to the credit card company. Luckily I'm in the habit of paying my credit card bills early to try to mitigate some interest fees, so this isn't a normal issue. But, again, they're sticking it to me.

I found an old gift card lying around the house and called the "800" number just to check the balance. This particular Visa gift card company is charging me $2 for month as a "processing fee". Processing what? The data sit on the company's server. It isn't eating any binary code so it doesn't need to be fed. And it's just sitting there not running around so Visa doesn't have to clean up a mess. So, if I or someone in my family doesn't get out there and spend, spend, spend we have to pay $2 per month which comes off the top of the gift card balance. Hey, son, I wanted you to save this card and use it for something special, but go out there and buy something worthless and of poor quality today so we don't have to keep getting royally screwed by one of Visa's minions.

I'm not a big fan of our President. I don't believe "tax and spend" works. Actually, that's not quite true. I think it will work to wreck our long-term economic prospects, and the debt we're running up right now will haunt my children in their adulthood. Let the little bastards sweat and watch their tax rate to up to 50% to pay for all of the government's spending.

That being written, I salute President Obama for his desire to tighten up on the credit card and banking industries. I hate government regulation of most businesses. But when businesses prove they can't regulate themselves, and consumers are getting routinely cheated and swindled through no fault of their own, then it's time for the government to act. True, nobody ever put a gun to the head of anyone and told them to run up a $10,000 credit card bill on a $25,000 annual salary. But I have, personally, seen examples of excess that I feel proves the credit card industry is a train on a crooked track that needs to be throttled down.

One of my credit cards used to be due on the 5th of each month. Then it was the 4th, the 3rd, and so on. Within a year and a half the new due date was the 15th of the previous month. They got me once. I was so used to paying on the same day that I missed a due date and had to pay the $35 penalty. If I want to pay something off after I buy it, I had better not wait until the statement comes because I'm going to pay interest. And I once cancelled a card and started paying off the balance. The interest rate went from 6% to 24.9% overnight. Why is that ethical? In my mind it should be illegal.

One final whine. If a credit card can get a purchase to show up on your on-line statement immediately, why does a credit take five or more days? It's all bits, bytes, and little electrons floating from one computer to another. There ain't no teller named Mary stamping things, there ain't no USPS postage, and there ain't no mail carrier losing my payment. It's all instantly transmitted, instantly posted, and when it suits the companies it comes instantly out of my bank account. But when it's time for them to put something back in? It almost takes an act of congress. And that's exactly why congress needs to get involved and force accountability on the crooks, thieves, and financial muggers that run the credit card industry. I realize I'm asking congress to do something responsible but, hey, we all have our momentary lapses of reason.