Instead of sleeping at 2 am I tried to think of ways that a bunch of small banks instead of a few bigger ones is good. Don’t people have to switch banks when they move and stuff? It doesn’t seem like the increased competition argument works here. Small banks would presumably be more prone to failure. What are the benefits of this arrangement?
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arguably more competition on rates, less money going into pockets of shareholders and executives? 5 (or 4 or 6 or 7 depending on who is counting) definitely need more competition
Also, 2 or 3 small banks per year failing keep ppl on their toes vs. 5 banks that are too big to fail and know it?
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I would really need some proof of your first point. The theory sounds true but the lived reality isn’t like that in most situations.
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I don’t recall about banks here but local credit unions are more likely to fund local organizations like kids soccer teams.
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In Canada we have a handful of huge banks and some subsidiaries of theirs that pretend to be seperate, then local credit unions across the country. The cu fund local stuff and often have better rates and lower fees. They’re all (at least all the ones I know of) part of an association type thing so they have really similar policies and share infrastructure like ATMs. They are technically small seperate banks but I’ve gone into a totally different cu from my own and done transactions so to the consumer it doesn’t really feel like a separate institution.
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lots of money going into 10 executive’s pockets instead of into a single exec’s pockets? I’d argue that competition has dropped the cost of investing substantially compared to 25 years ago.
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for many things the CUs buy the same underlying tech as a white label and then just add their logos. It gives them a bit more volume pricing power than if they each chose something separately.
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This is definitely true.
I suspect the rise of online only brokerages is what made it happen. I just saw an ad for one of the big banks offering the same promotion that wealthsimple offered over the summer. I love to see it.
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Also theoretically money stays more “local”
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Here in the US I would definitely say that online only banks like Orange (that was bought by capital one) and Ally have pushed the big banks to do better. They made it standard to offer free checking, higher interest rates on savings accounts and CDs, and even interest bearing checking accounts. Over the last 15 years many of the major banks (I’m thinking BofA, Chase, etc.) have followed suit. There was a noticable downgrade in service and rates once Capital One took over my orange account and after a couple years I switched to Ally. There are also regional banks (not credit unions) that keep money within a specific region or state for lending. Those can be more hit or miss if you don’t live near a branch. I tried one that had a great mission statement and investment philosophy but their web/app services were glitchy.
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I have another medical bill with no apparent way to pay online. Should I…
- Pay by check
- Fill out the form with my credit card info
- Call the number and ask if there’s online bill pay
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voters
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My credit card has an option for a digital card number that I use for this sort of thing so I don’t need a new card in case the number gets swiped.
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Hiw secure is your mail?
They could also probably take your cc over the phone if you do call them!
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The big brokerage houses still use checks.
When I take Qualified Charitable Deductions (QCD) from my IRA, Vanguard will issue a check to the charitable organization.
Vanguard mails that check to me. I make a copy for my records for tax purposes. I then mail the check onward to the charitable organization.
It is clunky, but that’s what they do.
Also some years ago I transferred a lot of money out of one retirement account into another at Vanguard and that was done with a check.
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That makes sense since none of your institutions can use direct debit.
Hmm, all my Vanguard transactions have been electronic. Even when I rolled my 401k over to them after retiring.
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I do direct debt to Vanguard all the time. I just need to link my bank account, and they do a test deposit / withdrawal to verify the account.
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I mean, it’s the USPS? 
No, giving my CC number over the phone is even worse to me somehow 
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Huh, I thought it was safe to give a number over the phone. I know we weren’t supposed to, like, twenty years ago on a cell phone.
Re: mail safety: I put mine in a mailbox on my street that anyone can just open. But if I had something that I wanted to keep safer, I might find one of the big blue drop offs, because those can’t be opened by just anyone.
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Oh, I don’t get mail collected at my house, so the big blue drop offs are what I use.
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