Mailbag

When It Comes to Bank Fees, Chase Is Top-Notch

Jim Hightower’s article (“Wall Street’s Fee Scammers,” July 16) is
spot-on, with JPMorgan Chase leading the pack. No wonder they’re one of
the few banks which have shown a profit.

After returning from a three-week Mediterranean vacation, the day I
returned, I purchased with my debit card items at three different
stores for a total of $130. I knew I was running low on my account, but
I also knew from previous experiences at another bank that if I didn’t
have enough in my account, my card would not be accepted. After all, it
was a debit card guaranteeing the merchants that there was
enough to cover the transactions.

I didn’t know I was playing the “gotcha” entrapment game until the
next day, when I went to the bank and found out I was overdrawn, and
two $25 fees were added to my account. I questioned as to why my
purchases cleared, and the manager’s response was: “We give the
customer the benefit of the doubt, and if these amounts are covered by
day’s end, charges will not accrue.” I asked what would have happened
if I’d made 10 more debit-card purchases that same day, and I was told
they all would have gone through, with a $25 insufficient-funds charge
added to each additional purchase. Of course, I deposited cash
immediately in my account.

These three purchases were made on July 13. On July 19, I received
an “insufficient funds notice,” dated July 13, that had been sent via
regular mail, even though the bank has my e-mail address and telephone
number. Their final threat was especially ironic: “Your account may be
subject to extended overdraft fees if you continue to have a negative
account balance.”

I know that not all banks institute the same rules; Chase is one to
avoid.

Allen J. Pastryk

Gadsden Was a Dope; We Should Join New Mexico

OK, maybe I am being unfair to James Gadsden; I know him by little
more than reputation. I suppose we can’t really put him in the same
boat as Seward, who could’ve foreseen the catastrophe that is Sarah
Palin. Yet, I need to blame someone. One of these guys should have seen
what our state of Arizona would foster some day.

You see them in the old Westerns, and some of the new: steely eyed,
men with sixguns on their hips (cue Marty Robbins music), wearing large
black hats, black vests and black coats that reach to their ankles.
Some say they went out with the real old-timers, you know, like Kevin
Costner, a little less metrosexual maybe. But they’re still here.

All right, they are not as tall, generally, and they’re a little
potbellied. Maybe some are more grizzled and whiskey-breathed than
their forebears. They have that half-crazed look in their eyes. They
are not nearly as high-idealed as Henry Fonda … maybe more like Henry
Ford, or that kid in the old comics: just Henry! Yeah, the balding pate
goes well with the look. You gotta wear a hat with a dome like
that.

The point is, they have proliferated since the late 1800s, and
they’re all over Arizona. I know, I’m exaggerating a little; they’re
not all over Arizona, but there’s sure a bunch of them in our
Legislature (“Legislative Circus,” July 23). Every morning, they ride
through the metal detectors of the Capitol, building setting off the
alarms purposely to announce their arrival. God! The noise! At least
they stopped firing their guns into the ceiling. It is the monsoon
season, after all, and you can only patch that old plaster so many
times.

Now, there are those out there who will say, “AWWW, Quit yur
bellachin’!” But I am not one to lament a problem without offering a
cure. No, no, I want balance; I pay my way! We can fix this!

So here goes: What we do is take the land Gadsden bought—you
know, everything south of the Gila River—detach it from Arizona,
and apply to New Mexico for annexation.

Now, hold on there! Don’t get all riled up! Hear me out!

You know New Mexico; they are the Land of Enchantment. No, just
because Mexico is in their name, it doesn’t mean they are a foreign
country. Yes, they even encourage their people to recognize their
heritage, all heritages. They got this guy there; his name is Bill
(probably Guillermo)—he was governor or something—and he
got these awards from nationally recognized education organizations.
Really, I read it in a newspaper that blew across the border. Yeah,
they fund education and everything.

We may have to change the name Pima County. The Pima Indians will be
pissed as hell, but then when have we ever cared about pissing off
Indians? The point is: We in the southern part don’t really belong here
in Aridzona; anyone can see that. We care about others. We want
good school funding; hell, there are a bunch of us who speak another
language, for crying out loud!

It’s obvious we don’t belong. Just look around. You’ll see this is a
good idea.

Marc B. Severson

Corrections

In the review of the Fiery Furnaces’ I’m Going Away (Rhythm
& Views, July 23), the byline was incorrect; the writer was
actually Sean Bottai.

The photo caption with “A Midsummer Night’s … Benefit” (City Week,
July 23) was incorrectly labeled, because we received incorrect
information from a source. The dancers pictured are from Midriff
Crisis, not Lykiska.

We apologize for the errors.

This article appears in Aug 6-12, 2009.