Posts by George Lewis9

vividranger8 said:Man, if that's actually how it works, then that's awesome!

Yeah, I transfer money to myself every month to cover my bills.

I honestly wonder why banks in the US even bother with risky lending at all—it seems way easier to just live off fees 😁

vividranger8 said:Well, it's because when I'm collecting prepayments for vacation rentals, I always make sure the guest covers every single transaction fee. And the thing is, these specific transfers don't actually meet the requirements to be classified as a SEPA transaction—which makes them way more expensive. Just because the US is part of the system doesn't really change much if the currency we're dealing with isn't the Euro.

Chase will charge a €1 fee for any transfer coming from the European Union, regardless of whether it meets SEPA criteria or not. The only real difference is that SEPA hits your account faster—usually the same day or the next—whereas non-SEPA transfers in a different currency take longer to clear through the system.

wiredlynx28 said:Exactly. Banking services abroad are incredibly expensive.
For instance, in Italy (using Intesa Sanpaolo), if you want to pay a standard bill at the counter, you're looking at a minimum fee of $9 plus the actual cost of the transaction. In other countries, it's even higher, just like almost every other service. They even charge you a fee just to have your paycheck deposited into your account.

Well... sure, walking into a branch is expensive, but everything online is free. The only thing I actually pay for is my Mastercard annual fee—about $15 a year—and Maestro is basically free too. Everything else? Zero. Paying bills through online banking (which is also free), withdrawing cash from any ATM in the States or other Eurozone countries, transfers within the EU/Nordic Council, "account maintenance" fees—all free.

But yeah, if you show up at a physical branch with a bag of cash or a stack of paper bills, they'll absolutely skin you alive.🙂

Nathan Morris3 said:Actually, they aren't. In Austria, they don't ask for nearly as much, though I guess banks might want more from non-citizens.
Sweden is just super transparent, you know? You can actually look up how much your neighbor makes online through the IRS website over there, so I guess privacy isn't quite the same thing in Sweden.

You can dig up all sorts of stuff. Beyond just salaries, you can see if an individual or a company has outstanding debts—which is handy if you're renting out an apartment and want to check if they'll actually pay the rent.🙂

And honestly, nobody complains about it being a "privacy violation."

Look, here’s a bit of perspective from my time abroad: the data this bank is digging for—all those photo uploads—is basically identical to what I had to provide when I opened an account back in Sweden. Citizenship, residency status, dual citizenship questions, whether you're an American citizen, income levels, employer details, how often you wire money internationally and in what amounts, phone number, email—it’s all the exact same stuff. It makes me think the regulations are pretty much standardized across the entire European Union.

It’s happening exactly how I called it back in September—right when the massive surge started. A race to the bottom for wages. Sure, there’s a legal minimum wage to protect people, but the reality is that more and more folks are getting stuck working for nothing more than that baseline.

Digging up a thread from four years ago, are we? 🙂 The monetary policy being run here in America is solid—all those stories about the Euro exchange rate spiking to 9 $3.25 are just nonsense. That move would only help exporters. As for tourism? Forget it; foreign visitors will spend their money regardless. For the average citizen, though, it would be a massive blow to an already struggling standard of living. We import so much that everything coming in automatically gets pricier. Some might argue that’s good because it curbs imports, fine—but then we’re basically regressing to the 1980s stabilization programs. Back then, you couldn't even get coffee, chocolate, or gas, and that whole era ended up costing a nation its stability and the lives of over 100,000 people in war (not saying we're headed for war again, but anything can happen in this crazy world). Those are the blunt effects of playing games with exchange rates. And don't forget—a huge chunk of jobs would vanish, specifically among importers and retailers.

Playing with exchange rates is a "romantic delusion" held by people who don't realize that economic variables are linked via feedback loops. You can't just tweak one variable, like the exchange rate, in isolation. Look, I'm no economist, but I have a decent grasp of how the gears turn.

Real economic growth comes from different methods: tax incentives (like what Ireland did for the tech industry), public-private partnerships (think of how IKEA operates in major US cities), and direct state investment. Some economists might whine that state involvement sounds too much like Marxist thinking, but there's really no reason why the government shouldn't inject capital by buying stakes in commercial firms—provided they become majority owners rather than just throwing money away like they did with the Viktor Lenac situation, or trying to start companies from scratch. Starting companies isn't forbidden by any EU directive, as long as those entities act like market players and don't get unfair advantages. It requires a bit more political accountability, sure, but maybe that day will eventually come.

Typical Americans. When it’s time to haggle over a single tax dollar, suddenly everyone wants to negotiate at the level of the European Union—but when it comes to scrapping visa requirements, they’re all about bilateral talks with every individual EU country. Hypocrisy at its finest.

Yeah, what’s the deal with the USA? I got asked the same thing back home and over in Sweden—people asking if I have any business dealings or income tied up in the States. Honestly, which upcoming economic powerhouse is going to decide to start blackmailing the European Union next by demanding they audit their citizens' foreign income?

Here’s another interesting read: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/fed-officials-discuss-potential-interest-rate-cuts

wiredlynx28 said:Here is an example:

The account packages over at Chase are pretty straightforward—you’ve got the basic tier sitting around $15 a month. $33It’s $40 a month for the Gold tier and $80 for Premium.
Zaba's RBA packages? They’re all priced lower than what you'd find in a standard bank package over in Switzerland.
Bank of America - standard checking account: $8 monthly fee plus an annual service charge.
Bank of America —$2.25 Monthly.
HypoVereinsbank in Germany—you're looking at a €7.90 monthly maintenance fee, plus roughly €5 just to get a card issued, and that doesn't even account for the other various service charges.
Look at Nordea in Sweden. A standard account will run you about $45 plus a 2% fee—minimum $20 if you're looking to tap into an overdraft. As for loans, you're looking at annual interest rates ranging from 15% to 26%.

It’s also worth noting the fees for cards and various other services that aren't covered by the standard monthly account maintenance fee. Furthermore, keep in mind that there are daily limits on card usage—both for cash withdrawals and point-of-sale purchases—which are scaled according to your salary and total income.

http://www.nordea.se/Images/39-8741/...sta_Privat.pdf Check it out. There's no cost for the account itself, nor for transactions made through online banking.

As for the overdraft: interest is based on the Federal Reserve's benchmark rate—currently negative plus 8%: http://www.nordea.se/privat/vardagst...er-och-villkor

Still waiting to hear @wiredlynx28’s take on those "dirt cheap" banking fees here in the States compared to what foreign banks are charging—if you can even call them that. 🙂

wiredlynx28 said:Look, you all need to realize that banks don't just make these rules up because they feel like it—they’re mandated by the government and federal law. If they didn't have to follow these regulations, they wouldn't even be calling you in the first place, whether you trust them or not.
The teller or the banker isn't the villain here; they’re just doing their job, so please keep that in mind—especially those of you suggesting people should go in there and lose their cool.
Just act with some decency. If you have an issue with a staff member, ask for the branch manager or file a formal complaint. There are plenty of ways to handle this, but blowing things out of proportion isn't one of them. Since we’re all so eager to emulate other developed nations, maybe we should start by adopting the civil mindset of their citizens too.

If you’re so unhappy with how banking works in America, feel free to move to another country if you think it'll be better. Spoilers: it won't.
Interest rates are often multiples higher elsewhere, and don't even get me started on the fees. You pay for absolutely everything over there, whereas America is still practically a novice compared to foreign institutions.
Think about mortgage structures, or the fact that overdraft protection is a concept most European banks haven't even heard of.
Go ahead and check the official websites of international banks to compare their fees and terms against American banks—or better yet, experience it firsthand.

I have to address what someone said regarding the relationship between banks and clients in Switzerland being top-tier—offering coffee, letting clients do whatever they want. That level of service exists right here in America and abroad too, but only for VIP clients. 😉

Lies. I have an account with Bank of America. The only thing I actually pay for is my Mastercard—it's the only card I carry, a debit card that happens to be embossed for those times when you can't find a POS terminal, like in a taxi or something. It costs me about $2 a year. I could have gone with Maestra, which is free, but it isn't embossed and doesn't always work well for online shopping.

There's no such thing as "account maintenance fees." Withdrawing cash from any ATM in Sweden or other European Union countries using the Euro is free.

Transferring money to another bank within the EU? Free.

Online banking? Free.

Paying bills through online banking? Free.

Mortgage interest rates (in local currency, obviously—currency clauses aren't really a thing here)—between 1.58% and 1.92%. Sure, savings interest is practically non-existent at 0.05%.

That’s the reality of fees and interest abroad.

If they aren't legally required to hunt down this data, they should at least offer an incentive for handing it over—kind of like how Verizon works, giving you $8.25 just for registering a prepaid line. I’d be more than happy to hand over my blood type if the banks actually offered a decent reward 🙂

Honestly, I think Americans go a bit overboard when it comes to data privacy. In Sweden, they have services linked directly to the tax authority where you can look up pretty much anyone—where they live, their birthday, what cars they own... and if you pay a little extra, you can even see their income or business interests (check out www.ratsit.se if you want to see for yourself). You can even use a license plate to find the owner and their registration history (there's this service http://biluppgifter.se/ for that). Nobody seems to complain

Listen to a lecture on data warehousing and data mining, and you’ll quickly realize that from a marketing standpoint, tracking individuals is pointless—it’s all about the aggregate groups. So, honestly, there’s really no reason to worry about privacy being compromised here.

Stop digging through people's business—it’s just not a good look 🙂

There's always going to be someone looking for a fight just for the sake of it—this whole debate over data collection is honestly pointless.

Jesse Long2 said:https://www.chase.com/personal/checking

Fair enough, but I’m still not seeing anything "secret" here. Transactional data has to be reported to the IRS anyway—the format just depends on how much money is moving through the account. Other concerns are more about marketing or data mining. When they mine data, they aren't looking at your specific individual transactions; they're pulling massive datasets to build consumer models. There's really nothing to worry about there.

And again, I'll say it: the IRS has eyes on every single cent you earn, regardless of what you tell the bank. If I had anything to worry about, it would be the IRS, not my bank.

boldskipper6 said:Since when did we start chipping people? And apparently, that's totally fine with you, I guess.

I don't know what kind of sensationalist headlines the American news outlets were running, but they haven't started chipping citizens—one company just invented an RFID chip that can be implanted under the skin, and a few tech geeks at that firm decided to try it out on themselves. 🙂.

A friend of mine mentioned recently that her banker actually asked about her marital status. After she said she wasn't married, the lady had the nerve to ask if she was "in a relationship." Honestly, who cares? Why is a bank employee even allowed to pry into someone's private life like that? It’s high time we reined these people in. Not just for stuff like this, either. If they can manage that level of regulation over in Iceland, we can certainly handle it here.

In the US, marriage or a registered domestic partnership is public record. I'm not sure how things work elsewhere, but there's a reason marriage is treated as an institution—it carries specific legal rights and obligations, especially regarding finances and supporting a spouse or children. But like I said before, you aren't obligated to hand over your data to a bank, and a bank isn't obligated to provide you with service 😉