XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.books   
   From: rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com   
      
   The Horny Goat  wrote   
   > Rod Speed  wrote   
      
   >>> (And those fees would, of course, be   
   >>> passed on to the customer. Like I said.)   
      
   >> Not to those who don't pay any fees.   
      
   >>> Nice dream world you've living in there, son.   
      
   >> No dream involved with fee free accounts, its reality.   
      
   > Fees are always passed on one way or another even when it's "free"   
      
   Not to the subset of customers who choose to use a fee   
   free account and pay their cards off in full every month.   
      
   > - I convert Canadian into US dollars regularly in my work   
   > and there's ALWAYS a spread between the buy / sell rates   
   > and the rate that Wall Street Journal / Toronto Globe   
   > & Mail / Financial Times etc. quote as the 'market rate'.   
      
   Sure, but there isnt anything like that if you don't convert currencys.   
      
   > My bank drafts are "free" but there's always a 1 - 1.25%   
   > gap between buy and sell rates and that's where they   
   > get their markup and pay their overhead.   
      
   > A 'free' bank account always has fees (usually in the form   
   > of foregone interest) involved one way or another.   
      
   No. Mine, which pays the best rate in the entire country   
   has no fees what so ever on anything at all. It doesn't   
   even have and bad check fees because it doesn't do   
   checks, just electronic transfers which are completely free.   
      
   One of the other ones actually pays you a small amount   
   if you withdraw more than $200 at a time at the ATM to   
   encourage you to use the account like that.   
      
   Another is completely free if you have more than $2K per   
   month deposited into the account, and they don't care if   
   you withdraw that $2K immediately, so I have an automatic   
   deposit and withdrawal of $2K setup every month to that   
   other account that pays the best interest in the entire   
   country and those transfers are completely free too.   
      
   I keep them separate mainly so that even if someone   
   does manage to compromise my transaction account,   
   there is never more than the float in there, so its just   
   a very minor nuisance while the bank fixes the problem   
   for which they are ALWAYS legally liable, and there is   
   no possibility of them getting anywhere near the other   
   account which has the bulk of the cash in it earning the   
   best interest in the entire country. All with a full govt   
   deposit guarantee too.   
      
   All completely and absolutely free, no hidden charges at all.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)