Bank Fees – Theft or Maintenance

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As soon as Princess got a job, I took her to open a checking and savings account. What a great way to teach money management, I thought.

Conversation yesterday:

Princess:  “Mom, I was checking my account and they took $5 out my savings.  Why did they take my money?”

Me:  “I’ll check on it.  Probably since you turned 18 they changed your type of account.”

Verifies what happened.  Yep, the bank did in fact change her savings from a free account to charging a maintenance fee.

Me:  (calls back to explain the way banking works.)

Princess:  “But they are taking $5 a month.  That’s 60 dollars a year.  I work hard for that money.”

Me:  “Yes, I know but that is their maintenance fee.”

Princess:  “Maintenance for what?  I didn’t ask them to do anything.”

Lesson learned.

Note:  You know she closed that account, right?  Princess is serious about her money.