A New Year . . .

We have turned the corner into 2012. One of the first things I did was to close my local bank account. They changed the rules, their excuse was the Federal Reserve changed its rules - which really means they can change their rules to fit the Feds rules.

Then they stopped paying interest on the checking account. Yeah, it was not much but it was at 5 or 6 bucks interest per year. And they changed their requirements of a basic $10,000 total deposits (CDs, savings and checking summed together) to a requirement of $25,000. Now I am sure they changed because the Fed allows them to do so, but they did not have to change, they just got more greedy. If you did not have the basic $25,000 they started charging for bank statements ($7,50 a month to tell you how much money you had, your balances, that they were using (now using free of charge)) plus other nit picking charges that mount up to maybe $60 or $75 per year. That is a big change from a piddling little amount of interest to a whopping big fees schedule and all of it with a big smile on their faces like they are doing you a favor.

The credit union was a deposit $25 to be a member. They pay interest on all accounts including checking. Albeit, it is not much but it is something on checking. And they pay more interest on savings accounts albeit it is compounded quarterly instead of monthly (it ought to be daily in both institutions but . . .). And the rates are compatible though slightly different. But the bottom line is that checks are free (they cost $7.50 at the bank for a basic issue, probably about 200 or so checks). So one starts earning more money at the credit union immediately and stop leaking money on fees at the bank.

And the checks are free at the credit union too if you have more that a $1,000 on deposit in the institution. That limit may be a few dollars more, maybe $1,500. They also give a free debit card (I do not need one or use one), a free credit card if you want one. All those benefits accrue based on levels of deposit. We meet all those levels.

The banks are not interested in the little guy. I am not an "Occupy Wall Street" person but I am frugal. And it does not pay to pay for services when you can get free or a reasonable cost. We have joint account with USAA Federal Savings Bank and they continue to pay interest on the checking account, have Gold Master Card with them and I can use any ATM for free. ATM fees are refunded, of course that is not unlimited but it works in an emergency. It just goes to prove the banks do not need to raise their fees, they are just greedy.

USAA does some things quite well. One is auto insurance, homeowners insurance, life insurance and banking. Stay away from their investment business. Their mutual funds suck - poorly managed. They unilaterally dumped me out of a Variable Annuity -just got out of the business and pushed me off to some fly by night insurance company. I ended up using Fidelity - yes, they sell annuities too. And I can use Fidelity Mutual Funds that I am familiar with and invest in my brokerage account to flush out the variable annuity.

So I have lost confidence in much of USAA's businesses. I no longer communicate with them via the Internet for inexplicable unusal security requirements. Basically, they were going to assess my security to see if it met their requirements. I question their security and their security management - it was very intrusive. So we agreed to disagree and I do all business with them via the USPS or the telephone.

And the beat goes on . . .