BY PAM LOBLEY

WWW.NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

NOW THAT'S FUNNY

In the old days, I used to stand in line to cash my paycheck.  I would fill out a little deposit slip, and subtract the cash I wanted to take out of my account for coming days.  The teller would take my check and slip, and give me the $100 (or whatever) I requested.  All that was free of charge.

We can now get our money any time and (almost) anywhere.  But it costs.  If you use an ATM that is not your bank, you will pay a fee.  According to NJ101.5, certain hotels or bodegas will charge up to $6 per withdrawal at their ATMs.

I know about these charges and I try really hard to avoid them.  I will drive way out of my way to get to my own bank to withdraw money, rather than give another $3 to a rival bank or orphan ATM.  Plus, I am old enough to feel weird just walking up to some detached ATM in the middle of a store or mall and taking money out.  I don’t want that weird little detached machine to know my bank account number, or my pin, or how much money I have in my account.

Luckily for me, almost every place we spend money takes the debit card now.  I can still remember the delight and disbelief I experienced the first time I realized McDonald’s would take my debit card. Hooray!  Impulse fries and milkshake whenever I want!  The fact is, most places NEED to take debit cards, or we would all be carrying around hundreds of dollars of cash with us.  If I went to pick up some dry cleaning, fill up my gas tank and buy lunch at McDonald’s for the kids and myself, that would easily end up costing over $100.  I am not going to carry that much cash.  And I am certainly not going to take a side trip to some ATM to take out $100 and pay a $6 fee.

Banks are charging us these fees because new laws have put lids on other predatory fees they can charge their customers.  They have to find some way to suck more money out of us so they can pay their CEOs $14 Gazillion in year-end bonuses.  Of course, we as the consumers always have the option of planning ahead so we have plenty of cash on hand and don’t need to use these expensive ATMs.

Fat chance.  As long as banks can count on humans to be disorganized– they’ll be raking in the money.

Pam Lobley writes the “Now That’s Funny” column.  Check out her blog:  Better Living Through Chaos! Follow her on twitter @plobley.