<p>my local bank is now charging for EVERY time a customer uses the debit card to make a purchase. they informed me that they had to make up for the new debit fee changes! I informed them that that was a great way to motivate customers to use other cards/cash.</p>
<p>“The service rep stated that it was ONLY $3 per month, not per transaction. I laughed at the attempt to make me think it was a bargain.”</p>
<p>Perhaps there would be less squawking if Wells Fargo took a page from the insurance industry. “Less than ten cents per day for all the features this card offers!”</p>
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<p>Wachovia also had World Savings change its option ARM product in a way that World Savings previously did not want to do. The change was to allow a payment as low as if it had an interest rate of 1% (which would result in negative amortization of any loan with a higher interest rate), which supposedly attracted riskier borrowers.</p>
<p>But note that the real estate bubble popping brought down even lenders that were ordinarily conservative in their lending practices. 30% loss in value of the collateral meant that the borrower’s downpayment, even if was at the traditional 20%, was more than wiped out, with the lender absorbing the additional losses after foreclosure.</p>