Highway Thievery?

We all know bank and financial service companies nickel and dime us to death. High interest rate, unreasonable fees, cutting credit lines for even people who pay on time and late fees despite the payment late on another card.

Basically banks look to make the most amount of money with the least amount of effort.

Take my case for instance. I went to the dentist Monday morning. I paid $280 for the visit. Then the receptionist noticed I had a credit due to insurance payments. She asks me if I want to apply the $280 to future visits or refund to my debit card. Of course I decided for the refund.

I get home to check my balance. Sure enough the amount online showed the bank happily subtracted the amount from my checking account. They weren't so quick to refund my money. I called Chase and asked why they deducted but didn't refund. The customer service rep kindly told me that they didn't refund accounts right away. It took 3-5 business days for the credit to appear.

At first I left it at that. Then I started thinking about it. Basically the bank uses my money for free. The money never changed hands. It was refunded less than an hour from when it was deducted. The bank never paid it out. They have free access to my money to earn interest and what other evil things banks to do make money.

I'm a free market capitalist. I have no problem with banks, business and individuals making money. I only have one requirement and that is they make money honestly. Things like trade secrets and company information that's proprietary is fair to keep secret. A business is entitled to keep anything they discover or invent confidential.

What Chase has done to me is at best unethical and at worst criminal. You might think that $280 is no big deal or that it is. To me it's not the amount but how they handle it. The money is rightfully mine. The bank has no right to use it and not credit my account right away. That money is still with the bank. It's money I can't use to pay a bill, buy a book or rent a movie. It's money I can't invest or save. It's free money for the bank to use for 3-5 days. At least they could return some interest to me.

In the grand scheme of things, what is $280. For some people it's a huge amount. For others it's pocket change. But the money belongs to them and not the bank. Think also of how many times in a day, week, month and year a bank does this practice. My guess is that it amounts to millions of dollars if not billions that they are using dishonestly to make money.

Of course I sent off an email to Chase customer service. I was assured the bank would reply in one business day. It's been more than one business day. Not only are they dishonest in using my money but also lie on their website about how long they take to reply.

This is just a small fraction of practices the banks can use to earn dishonest profits.