And I Thought "I" Was in Control of MY Money!

I know that everyone is feeling the economic crunch, and to be quite honest...it's COMPLETELY understandable that everyone wants to hold onto their money as tightly as possible. But I have been warned this week, that MY money that is in the bank...really isn't MY MONEY!

You could have fooled me, because I thought that since I worked for it, and my husband worked for it, that it was ours to use at our discretion (of course after all the bills are paid and Uncle Sam gets his share). Seems like our county tax office didn't receive a payment for one of our auto taxes by the end of last year, and sent a garnishment to our bank for the fee. Funny thing, WE NEVER GOT A NOTICE. We paid the taxes on one of our cars, but didn't get a notice for the other. Well, I noticed on our bank statement online that the garnishment for the taxes had been taken out...that's fine, we owe it, we don't mind paying it. HOWEVER, on top of that, our bank charged US, their account holder, a fee of $100 to "process" the garnishment. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? You can imagine I was livid, as was my husband.

Here's another kicker, we contacted the tax office, and they admitted they had not sent us a notice of intent for garnishment (it would have been sent certified). They also stated that they had not received any funds from our bank, and told my husband he could come down to the office tomorrow and pay the taxes.

Long story short, we are still fighting with the bank to find out where the money went to since the county tax office hadn't received it, and for the refund of the "processing fee" which is absolutely ridiculous.

Isn't it sad that (1) someone can find out your banking information without you telling them and (2) that you have NO control of your money when it is in the bank??


The tarp funds weren't enough for these banks, now they want to take everything they can from US, the consumer!


I think the only safe "bank" to keep our money in these days is this...