I live in a remote farming community. My nearest neighbor is more than a quarter of a mile away. The nearest town is four miles from my home. There are three convenience stores in the area that offer most of what a household might need at two and sometimes three times the normal price. The closest grocery store is twenty-one miles away.

There is also one banking facility in the area. It is a joke. As a matter of fact you would save money by banking with the local loan shark, a person that owns two of the convenience stores here.

On December 23rd of 2005, I deposited $310 into the local bank. On Christmas Eve I went to the nearest grocery store. I used my debit card to pay the $142 bill. I do not drive so I paid the person that took me $20 and used the same debit card to put another $20 worth of gasoline in their vehicle.

Two weeks after that day I received a letter stating that my account was overdrawn. The bank did not credit my account for the deposit until the payroll check I had deposited had cleared. Here’s the math to the charges my account had accrued by the time I got that letter. $162 – purchases + $3 service charge for using the debit card. As I had made these purchases at two different locations I was charged $30 for each purchase. Then I was charged $7 for every $100 and day that my account was overdrawn. $162 + $3 + 60 = $225 + (7×2.25×14) for a grand total of $347.50.

The deposit I made had cleared on the day that I received the letter but I still owed the bank $37.50. The account accrues a minimum daily charge of $7 for each day that the account is overdrawn. As long as there is a balance due that $7 keeps multiplying. I borrowed the $37.50 in cash and was at the bank when it opened Monday morning, two days after I received the letter. I learned that I still owed them $14 and would owe them $21 by the following morning. I borrowed the rest of the money I owed, from the local loan shark and never used the account again.

This brings us to Wired Plastic Visa. Since I don’t drive and it costs me so much to hire a ride most of my purchases are made online. As you know they don’t accept cash online. I was in need of either a credit card or banking facility. I ordered this prepaid credit card. According to the advertisement there is no yearly membership fees and the card is sent to you free. I actually had the card in four days after ordering it. They make it very convenient to put money on the card. I can actually use the ATM machine at the bank that I formally used to charge the card for only $4 per transaction. Or, I can use any facility that accepts or uses Western Union.

Sounds like a great deal doesn’t it? Realizing that most of these companies have ‘hidden charges’ I loaded the card with just $100. After you load it the first time you have to call a toll free number to activate the card. Once it was activated I was informed that my remaining balance was $84. It had cost me $16 just to put money on the card.

With that $84 I purchased three items online that totaled $39.95. My accrued charges however were $81.95, leaving me with a balance of $2.95. It had actually cost me more to use the card than my purchase total.

Anyone else have banking/credit card horror stories? I would like to hear them.