Taxpayers forced to bail out banks / Banks screw the unemployed!

Bank Fees for Jobless Benefits?

There is now a new twist for jobless Americans collecting their unemployment benefits: Bank Fees. For the hundreds of thousands losing their jobs all around the country, bank fees are becoming another headache. Even while their collecting their benefits, they have to pay the bank in order to withdraw their money-or even just by calling customer support.

Thirty states have struck the same deal with other banking giants like Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and US Bancorp. All their programs carry fees and with some banks, people have no choice but to use their state issued debit cards. There are even some banks which charge up to $20 in overdraft fees.

The banks also make money off the interest of the money deposited by the state before it is spent. Unemployed Americans are flooding the offices of their state representatives to investigate the matter.

Numbers don’t lie. In Missouri for instance where there are over 94,000 people unemployed and claiming unemployment benefits. If each of them use their ATMs once a month, at $.50 per transaction, this translates into $47,000 in bank fees. If half of them calls customer service at least once a month, this would mean another $23,500 into the coffers of the bank. Multiply this number by 12 and you get a very big number.