It's not just the executives at the big banks who are completely out-of-touch with the 99%. It goes all the way down to the rank and file. I tried to explain the most basic concepts of economic uncertainty to a Citi account manager today and he looked at me like I had three heads.
BASIC SUMMARY: A year ago Citi contacted me and said that since I had less than $X in my account, I'd start getting a monthly charge--unless I had direct deposit for my salary and write a certain number of checks each month. Since there's no shortage of bills I have to pay, that was an easy criterion to meet. I went back to my local branch this day to confront them over the new monthly fees that I know are coming in December, and, well.... it went something like this.
Manager: "We've changed that policy. Beginning Dec. 9th, not only do you have to have auto-deposit, but you also have to have 2 different automatic online bill payments per month. That is the only way to avoid the $10-per-month fee on checking accounts of your size."
Me: "But the trouble with online bill payments is that they always have to pay out on the same day."
Manager: "Yes, that ensures that you're never late in paying your bills."
Me: "But you're not late for a bill if you're just a few days after the printed due date. There's always a second date when any actual late fees kick in. I wouldn't have that option with auto-pay."
Manager: "Why would you need a grace period if you're going to pay the bill anyway?"
Me: "What if there isn't enough money in the account on that day?"
Manager: "What?"
Me: "What if you haven't gotten paid yet for that period and the bill is due? When you mail in a bill, you can just make sure it's postmarked by the due date and then there's no way the money could possibly be taken out of your account for at least another 2 days, maybe 3. I presume there's no such delayed option available for online payments."
Manager: "....." (not saying anything as he stared blankly at me. His mouth actually opened.)
Me: "So if you did have a bill that was due before the nearest pay period, an auto-payment could not be postponed, is what I'm taking away from this."
Manager: ".....yes"
Me: "Well. Thanks for explaining that, I guess."
It made me feel like a piece of dirt. He looked at me like I was a homeless guy with trackmarks up my arm. This is the way so many Americans live! Every single bill I pay--student loans, utilities, Internet--have a printed due date, and then another line saying "if payment is received after [usually 10 days afterwards], you'll get a late fee." Do I like having to "bank" on the latter date being the real due date? No. I almost never do it. But sometimes it does happen.
But apparently, to this guy, it has never happened. Not to him, nor to any of his friends, nor to anyone he has ever read about or heard of in his life. He doesn't even grasp it as the life situation of the people who bank at his company.
When you live paycheck-to-paycheck, when you are a wage slave, you sometimes literally cannot afford to have such-and-such hundreds of dollars taken from your account in a single day. You have to wait for your payment and THEN the bills go out. And so far--thank goodness, thank everything--there's never been a "stretch" where a real due date got missed, where I was penalized. I live paycheck to paycheck but I've managed to keep things from piling up, managed at least to not be drowning under late fees, managed not to have my credit rating shredded, and, yes, managed not to be in any credit card debt.
I've managed.
But this Citibank manager--he can't manage to wrap his mind around it at all.
Is it a cliche yet to say "I am the 99%"? I wanted to say it to him, right to his face. I wonder if he'd have heard of that either.