Are you being screwed by your bank?...

of course you are - it's a bank.

It reminds me of the joke about the man who saves a frozen snake.  After the snake thaws out, he bites the man.  The man is gobsmacked and wants to know why the snake bit him after he saved him.  The snake said, "You knew I was a snake when you brought me home."

If you're still floundering around, a victim of normalcy bias, maybe it's time to do some research.

Unbanked and Underbanked

I never heard the terms "unbanked' or "underbanked" until last week.  These are terms the banks themselves have coined.

I also read that Chase Bank will not allow people to keep cash in their safe deposit boxes.  I have no idea if that is true, since we no longer bank at Chase, and have never had a safe deposit box. It did immediately make me wonder how the bank would know what was in someone's box. 

Putting that together with the news that the economy is in the toilet, it makes one wonder if earning 0% interest on your savings account is worth the hassle of having a bank account.

I highly doubt most people can just close up their bank accounts, but we can certainly become a bit less dependent on them.  In other words, we can become a member of the underbanked.

Bank Locally?

We originally banked at Washington Mutual when we first moved to Idaho 26 years ago.  We financed and then refinanced our home with them, and were quite pleased with the service.  Then Chase bought out Washington Mutual and things went rapidly downhill.

So off we went to a nice locally owned bank; Panhandle State.  We refinanced there in order to get our mortgage out from under Chase, and a much better interest rate.  Guess what?  Panhandle became Columbia Bank and has a whole raft of new rules.  Meantime, our mortgage was sold off to a crap company that we don't trust.

Your Money Belongs to the Bank

Once you put your money in the bank, the bank owns it.  The banks engage in fractional reserve banking, meaning that they do not have enough cash on hand to pay off all their depositors at the same time. That doesn't sound good to me.

I don't purport to be a banking expert.  Heck, I don't even play one on TV.  And I'm not trying to sell you gold.  I believe the only good gold is the gold hanging around my neck, encircling my wrists, or dangling from my ears.

I am suggesting that leaving a bunch of money in the bank is not a good idea.  In case you become really worried, do not go down to your local bank and withdraw a gob of money.  Anything over 5K triggers a suspicious activity report (SAR) from your bank to the feds.  Furthermore, bank employees are now being encouraged to call the local police for anything they consider suspicious.  So that 20-year old twit at the bank can report you for just about anything.

What if the Dollar Crashes?

If the dollar crashes, the money stuffed under my proverbial mattress is worthless.  Thing is, it's also worthless if it's in the bank.  Given the choice, I'd rather have it under my mattress.  Wouldn't you? 


More:

Rural Revolution:  When cash is no longer king

My latest at the Datechguy:  On Prepping 

Michael Snyder:   Hopium: How Far Can Irrational Optimism Take The U.S. Economy?

A very good series from AltMarket with lots of bank info: 

One Last Look At The Real Economy Before It Implodes - Part 1

One Last Look At The Real Economy Before It Implodes - Part 2

One Last Look At The Real Economy Before It Implodes - Part 3

One Last Look At The Real Economy Before It Implodes - Part 4

One Last Look At The Real Economy Before It Implodes - Part 5

One Last Look At The Real Economy Before It Implodes - Part 6 - Solutions

 

 

 

 

 

Is your money safe in the bank?...

probably not.

Understand this:  When you put your money in a bank it is no longer yours.  Did you know that?  Until about a year ago, I didn't know that either.

Put some of your money in tangibles.

We just invested in some freeze dried food.  A mere $300.00 gave us almost a years worth of beef and vegetables.  I spent untold hours searching out the best deals. Costco won.

Who really owns the money in your savings account?...

hint: it's not you.

I know this is a holiday weekend and readership will be low - as it should be.  Spending time with family and friends is important.  If you are lucky enough to have three days off, spend a wee bit of that time reading a few of the articles I've linked, and discussing your future with your family.  As with everything you read, do your own research and "trust but verify."

In our household we believe in being prepared.  No - we don't have a gazillion years of food put away and haven't built a bunker.  We do have a nice pantry and if we are snowed in or the electricity goes off for an extended period (both have happened), we will be cozy, fed, and - most importantly, we will have coffee.

But what's going to happen to the people who have only stocked up with three cans of beans and a twelve pack of toilet paper?  Have you ever seen a grocery store after a major weather event is forecast?  It takes no more than a few hours for the store shelves to be emptied.  Suppose this event continued for several weeks or even months?

There is no doubt in our minds that things are not going well in this country, which is an understatement.  Is the possibility of an economic meltdown inevitable, bringing with it widespread unrest and riots?  Frankly, I don't know. People who are hungry do crazy things.   What I do know is that we'll be ready because it's the prudent thing to do.



From: Global Research:

No Bank Deposits Will Be Spared from Confiscation

I challenge anyone to prove me wrong that confiscation of bank deposits is legalized daylight robbery

Bank depositors in the UK and USA may think that their bank deposits would not be confiscated as they are insured and no government would dare embark on such a drastic action to bail out insolvent banks.

Before I explain why confiscation of bank deposits in the UK and US is a certainty and absolutely legal, I need all readers of this article to do the following:

Ask your local police, sheriffs, lawyers, judges the following questions:

1) If I place my money with a lawyer as a stake-holder and he uses the money without my consent, has the lawyer committed a crime?

2) If I store a bushel of wheat or cotton in a warehouse and the owner of the warehouse sold my wheat/cotton without my consent or authority, has the warehouse owner committed a crime?

3) If I place monies with my broker (stock or commodity) and the broker uses my monies for other purposes and or contrary to my instructions, has the broker committed a crime?

I am confident that the answer to the above questions is a Yes!

However, for the purposes of this article, I would like to first highlight the situation of the deposit / storage of wheat with a warehouse owner in relation to the deposit of money / storage with a banker.
First, you will notice that all wheat is the same i.e. the wheat in one bushel is no different from the wheat in another bushel. Likewise with cotton, it is indistinguishable. The deposit of a bushel of wheat with the warehouse owner in law constitutes a bailment. Ownership of the bushel of wheat remains with you and there is no transfer of ownership at all to the warehouse owner.

And as stated above, if the owner sells the bushel of wheat without your consent or authority, he has committed a crime as well as having committed a civil wrong (a tort) of conversion – converting your property to his own use and he can be sued.

Let me use another analogy. If a cashier in a supermarket removes $100 from the till on Friday to have a frolic on Saturday, he has committed theft, even though he may replace the $100 on Monday without the knowledge of the owner / manager of the supermarket. The $100 the cashier stole on Friday is also indistinguishable from the $100 he put back in the till on Monday. In both situations – the wheat in the warehouse and the $100 dollar bill in the till, which have been unlawfully misappropriated would constitute a crime.

Keep this principle and issue at the back of your mind.

Now we shall proceed with the money that you have deposited with your banker.  READ THE REST

More:

Lord Monckton:   The dollar – and the USA – is toast

Peter Schiff:  2/3 of America to Lose Everything Because of This Crisis

SHTF Plan:   America’s Bubble Economy Is Going To Become An Economic Black Hole

Rolling Stone:  Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever

Family Security Matters:  The Cloward-Piven Plan to Destroy Governments