Don't let your bank rob you--switch!

After suffering flash burns from heated up customers last fall, Bank of America set aside plans to charge its customers a $5 a month fee for the privilege of using a debit card. Fear not, BOA is at it again, this time with plans to gaff customers with basic checking accounts with a monthly fee.

BOA's plans include an alternative to the fee-instead-of-free plan: Bank online, buy more of our products (read that "loans") or maintain a certain bank balance. Non-profit watchdog Consumer Reports says to be on the lookout for other banks to try and play this same sort of shell game.

A lot of us in the RV lifestyle have enough financial concerns to worry about without getting gouged by banks. What's to be done? First off, don't toss out those fluffy mailings that come with your bank or credit card statements. If your bank intends to change the way they do business, they'll often stick a circular in your monthly mailing, along with piles of useless adverts. If you don't pay attention to what they're up to, you won't be able to "opt out."

If you've got your money in a commercial bank, don't hesitate to yank it out and move it to a customer-friendly organization like a credit union. Used-to-be credit unions were pretty tight to get into, say those made up of employees of specific industries or groups. These days a lot of credit unions have memberships for Joe Everyman. You'll find credit unions often have really FREE checking accounts, better interest rates on savings, and lower rates on loans--even for RVs.

Many people shy away from getting out of an abusive bank relationship, simply because they aren't sure how to proceed, or imagine it will be an ordeal worse than they're undergoing. Here's a link to easy walk-through instructions on how to make a switch http://news.consumerreports.org/Move-Your-Money.pdf