Banks trade on temptation, a tool of the devil (if you believe in that sort of thing). They are evil. People get into debt head over heels because banks make it so easy to do so. Then the banks come along and act like these people who can't or won't pay their bills are the dregs of society.
They sell loans to collectors, and collect loans themselves, and resell loans, each time tacking on charges and fees. So, if you started out with a $20,000 college loan it's quite reasonable, in our society by and for the wealthy, that you could owe the lenders 400% in interest charges accumulated over the years. Can't make your payments? No problem. The interest charges keep on coming. In fact, banks prefer it that way. More money for them. The government guarantees it.
The banks will seize your possessions, cars, homes, bank accounts. They'll attach your wages. They use underhanded, illegal tactics, especially with those who can't afford a lawyer, because people can't fight back and banks can get away with it.
They're ingrained into the law and the 'less than rich' man or woman has no recourse. No recourse, but to pay and pay the rest of their lives because the debt hasn't been paid off and the interest must, by all means, accumulate. The interest must never stop. Not war, not gloom of night, shall stop the interest charges from accumulating. In fact, war is a profitable venture so, by all means, fund it, at an acceptable interest rate, of course.
Although there is one other way to escape your interest charges, if you can't pay them. Die.
And so bankers of the world are the evilest of people. The root of all evil, indeed. Take Mr. Pennypacker in It's a Wonderful Life. Typical heartless banker.
Pop quiz. What industry, sanctioned as legitimate by law, is also a very popular criminal enterprise? Hint: it has to do with money. Hence, people in this business could easily move between criminal and legal circles of this industry.
Now, I never said there shouldn't be banks. Why be so extreme. I just said they're evil. They need reform. They already have very heavy government regulation. No wait. That was before Bush. The reason there was so much regulation is because of the great opportunity and temptation to abuse having access to everyone's money. If that abuse didn't exist, the regulations wouldn't need to be there. So, it is recognized by law that banks are inevitably corrupt.
A lot of people who appear well off are in the same boat. They may use credit to buy a house, car, etc. Then when hard times hit they have to sell out or be foreclosed upon. It's the temptation that banks put out there making it easy to get loans and easy for them to foreclose and collect.
The bank concept is a good one in theory only. In practice it is to the bankers' advantage to see people get in over their heads so they can be foreclosed upon. They have an incentive to do that to people. It's money. Banks get to have the people pay on loans and when they can't they can resell the property for a nice profit. You could be paying a car loan and have one payment left, but if you can't make that one payment the bank will repossess it and resell it at a nice profit. They don't want to work with people. I know because this happened to me.
Banks will fee you to death. If you bounce a check, the bank has a policy to re-post the check three more times to see if it will be paid. If it continues to bounce they charge a $30 overdraft every time. So, one bounced check will rack up $90 for the bank. Then if the person has other checks out, their account becomes too low to pay those checks and each one racks up another $90. Nice work for bankers who do nothing but sit on their fat asses and collect.
Why do I have an issue with banks? They have their greedy fingers in everyone's money. No other industry has the power to deduct a bill or fees directly from your own bank account without so much as a notice. Whether the charges are legal or justified is besides the point. People earn money and should have the right to decide when and if they want to pay someone, including their own bank. They should have the right to question and refuse to pay someone if they disagree with the bill. But, with bank fees there's no recourse. The banks take it out of your account and may as well say 'f*ck you sucker, we're taking this fee' while they're at it. This is morally and constitutionally wrong.
In the case of poor people or someone in a bind, they are the ones who suffer the most. Banks operate on the premise that everyone has money in their accounts. So a few little fee deductions here and there won't matter. They can't fathom the concept that some poor guy might be down to his last ten dollars before next week's paycheck and that ten dollars might be the difference between buying food to survive for another week or not. No bank would give a flying f*ck. They let the guy die rather than asking before they deplete his money.
Banks and people in the finance industry live in a world of oblivion to life itself. To them everything is based on money. They have the power and sometimes the law and so they don't care who gets hurt. They take what they feel is right with complete disregard. And now the government is taking our money and giving it to them when they're the ones with the overdrafts.
Pure evil.