Students: Keep a Close Eye on your Student Bank Accounts!
It is a huge mistake to throw all college students in the same boat. Yes, there are some commonalities to the college experience, but they are very general. Honestly, the state of being a student beyond the high school level is pretty much the only universal for all college students. Everything else is up for grabs. In reality, Nerdy Ned and Sorority Sally are only a couple out of hundreds of other equally viable collegiate archetypes. It would be good for banks to figure this into the equation when putting together their packages for student bank accounts.
Alas, this could not be any further from how things are. Banks see college kids (and adults) as a marketing segment and nothing more. Just a fertile field of inexperienced clients, a potential goldmine for fees and penalties, that’s how they look at you all. To this end, these accounts are set up in a rather exploitative manner. Yeah, they’ll tell you about your high risk potential, but that’s exactly what they like about you. Why else would they be competing for your business? It’s ridiculous.
It’s a Rough Road
It just isn’t fair that your faltering is depended upon so heavily. Banks could honestly care less about the actual service they are providing for you. In all reality, you are nothing more than human livestock on the ranch of failure. Once you’ve bounced a couple of checks, resultant from either your youthful exuberance, sorry financial situation, or sheer stupidity, it’s going to be as difficult to get another bank account as it was easy to get the original one. Banks that use ChexSystems, an account history tracking software, will not allow you to open an account with them at all if you have made some mistakes in the past. So much for that student bank account!
Even those pencil-pushing money hoarders have their limits, it seems. A couple of big drags off you, with their huge overdraft fees, and they have to put you down. Then what are you going to do? Years of going to your friendly neighborhood check-cashing service are going to result in thousands of wasted dollars. The prospects are surely enough to induce hallucinations.
Do Your Part
You are young, yes, but you are obviously not a complete moron. Don’t let yourself get exploited. Of course you’re being set up when you open up your student bank account, but there is no law which states that you absolutely must be that mark they’ve made you out to be. What do you need that account for, anyway? If it’s just a place to hold money, and to make an occasional withdrawal, then try to stick to that strategy. If it’s somewhere for a third party to put their deposits, which you go on to spend with a card, try not to get too far away from the concept of real cash. It’s the most common way that people get into trouble. Just like with anything else, if you keep a close eye you’ll be fine.
