Punk Art Photos: "Still Life, Bank Of America" (x 2) (The Squawker)

 

<Take One: The Squawker>

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It's a weird thing, isn't it, when a piece of your life suddenly disappears? One minute, you're in and out of this building, or that one; you regularly talk with So-and-So, or Such-and-Such; Monday through Friday, you go to Job XYZ, like clockwork. The next....suddenly, you're no longer doing any of these things. Depending on your circumstances, you may give these things a second thought, or maybe not. Like they say...it's a free country.

Such was is the case with these photos here. You're looking at two views of our local Bank of America (BofA) branch, which suddenly, unceremoniously, shut down a couple years ago, without warning. The move didn't affect the Squawker and I, because we'd switched to a different bank, after reading various media reports about BOfA seizing accounts. 

That didn't sit well with us, having experienced run-ins over the years with zombie collectors trying to make good on (presumably) long-dead, long-forgotten debts. But dealing with a private debt collector is different from your local bank, which has the power to hit right where you live -- your account. It doesn't get anymore basic than that.

So we switched, and didn't look back, as the cliche goes. We're happy with our current bank, aside from the odd issue here or there (see: "Life's Little Injustices (Take II): I Feel An Overdraft" for further reference). The BofA building itself has languished unbought and unused since the closure, though it didn't get boarded up until this summer, when Squawker shot these photos.

<Take Two: The Squawker>

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All things considered, seeing a place that marked one of your daily or weekly routines feels weird.  What's happening with the building, I don't know yet, though workmen have been out in force the last few weeks, dutifully doing whatever retrofitting that a new owner might require -- assuming that one is actually on the horizon.

The same abrupt axe fell this summer on our local insurance office, when the owner retired suddenly, after 30- or 35-odd years. Just like that, another reference point disappeared overnight, along the staff we'd dealt with for the decade or so. One employee found the same job with a different agent out of town, a dozen or so miles away. I ran into her at the store, where she briefed me on the relevant details. 

She the owner always planned on retiring, but suddenly brought up the date by a couple years -- illness, reversal of fortune, or strong desire to ride into the sunset, who knows? -- which caught everyone off guard. In any case, one other coworker chose to become an independent agent, and his dad -- who'd come out of retirement to help -- retired again. We were assigned to a different agent, whom I haven't met yet. Due to Corona's incinerator, I'm mainly doing business with him online. We have spoken once or twice, but I don't think we've met.

COVID-19 has shone an interesting light on how banks really operate, including how many consumers are shut out of the system, as The American Prospect reported this spring (see below). An estimated 24.2 million Americans are "underbanked," or operating outside traditional financial networks, while an additional 8.4 million have no bank account. That's an awful lot of people without access to an awful lot of things.

However, while Congress exempted stimulus checks from federal or state debt collection (except for child support), it didn't carve out a similar freedom from private debt collection, leaving recipients at risk from anyone trying to shake them upside down, whether it's a zombie collector, or your friendly neighborhood local bank.

We've seen many variations on this problem in the past, notably 2018, when Bank of America faced a major backlash for freezing customers' accounts over citizenship questions. Whether it reflected general Trump administration xenophobia, at the federal macro level, trickling down to some overzealous local executive looking to move the minute hand, and justify their existence, is hard to say.

Time will tell what happens to our old bank, as the workmen continue doing what they're doing, surrounded by the tools of their trade, and a variety of scaffolding, though I think the ATM machines are finally gone now. I wonder how the former employees we used to see are doing, and whether they've joined the millions struggling for their health, their sanity, and indeed, their basic survival. As for the rest of it, well...what else can I say? Old habits die hard. --The Reckoner

Links To Go (Hurry, Hurry,
The Garnishment Cometh):

The American Prospect:
Your Coronavirus Check Is Coming.

Your Bank Can Grab It:
https://prospect.org/coronavirus/banks-can-grab-stimulus-check-pay-debts/

The Huffington Post:
Bank of America Faces Backlash

After Freezing Accounts Over Citizenship Questions:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bank-of-america-citizenship-question_n_5b88470ae4b0cf7b00339747

Life's Little Injustices (Take II): I Feel An Overdraft

A funny thing happened to my bank account last week. Late one night, I decided to check my account online, only to find myself staring down a big, ugly, negative number. How'd this happen? I wondered.

Only yesterday, I'd deposited $100 to cover another bill hovering around the corner.  What happened?  I thought I was covered! I quickly found my answer...somebody had cashed a couple checks that I'd written three and four months ago, yielding a black hole in my account.

I did what any rational person does in this type of situation...I narrowly missed doing a limbo dance off the ceiling!  After all, in this economy, most people don't wait that long to cash their checks...because they literally can't afford the luxury (like my hairstylist, who cashed a check of mine within two hours after doing her work).

Anyhow, I popped by the drive-through and made a deposit to erase the deficit, and pleaded my case to the manager that afternoon.  "Surely you can't expect me to anticipate somebody sitting on a check that long..." I contended.  "I assumed those checks were long lost, or long cashed. Either way, I had no reason to question them."

Not quite, the manager responded: most jurisdictions impose a six-month limit for cashing checks, so the bank had to honor them. The overdraft protection policy was crafted to spare the embarrassment of bouncing a check or two.  At $32 a pop, I could afford it, right?

Fortunately, we struck a compromise. The manager lifted one overdraft charge, because I'd never asked for a reversal before, and the situation was a little unusual. By Friday, I closed the gap after transferring $25 from another source, and selling a stack of albums for $35 at my local music shop.

Normally, the shop only pays a dollar apiece on used vinyl, but the owner gave me $2 each, because he liked my selections so much -- including my second copy of The Clash...to my Faces stack (Long Player, First Step, A Nod's As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse, Ooh-La-La)...to some imd-'80s Lou Reed fare (Legendary Hearts, New Sensations)...and my early XTC collection. Ouch!

Of course, we know why banks charge these types of fees. They're pure gravy, as a June 2013 white paper from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suggests.  According to the report -- which comes from survey data reported by larger institutions -- overdraft and non-sufficient funds fees accounted for 61 percent of the charges that banks got in 2011.

Based on those figures, the bureau estimates that banks netted about $12.6 billion from consumers in 2011. That same year, the average consumer paid $225 in overdraft charges, and roughly 27 percent of all checking accounts paid at least one overdraft fee. If you felt stung, you've got plenty of company.

You can read the full report below, or skim the New York Times story if you're pressed for time. Suffice to say, more discussion needs to occur, Thankfully for me, good musical taste still pays off when you're struggling, as another vinyl proprietor told me earlier this month: "I still get people saying, 'Why can't you pay three bucks a pop for my Journey albums?'" 

The CFPB report's figures also convince me of something else...if John Dillinger had owned the banks that he robbed...he might have been a hell of a lot better off.  As for those copies of Legendary Hearts, or Ooh-La-La?  I'll just have to replace them later, I suppose. Such is life. --The Reckoner

Links To Go (C'mon, You Know The Drill Already):
ConsumerAffairs.com (Lots of good info here):
Bank Fees Are Hard to Avoid, Especially For Low-Income Customers:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/bank-overdraft-fees-news-and-analysis

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
CFPB Study Of Overdraft Programs:
http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201306_cfpb_whitepaper_overdraft-practices.pdf


The New York Times:
Banks Rake In Overdraft Fees, Report Finds:
http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/11/banks-rake-in-overdraft-fees-report-finds/?_r=0