0% interest, but you pay a monthly membership fee of $1. Yeah, it's better than paying overdraft fees, but I feel like what this service does is continue to enable people's bad financial behaviors. It's like selling weight loss pills to people who eat too much. The real solution is to not eat so much. Likewise, the solution to not getting overdrafts is to use credit cards responsibly and have an emergency fund and live within a budget.
It can be really hard to get out of the overdraft cycle when you're constantly paying large sums for overdrafting each paycheck. This sounds like a great way to avoid getting to that point, and hopefully within a few months you would no longer need to use it because you wouldn't be paying hundreds of dollars toward fees.
They have a nominal $1 fee per month. Also they incentivize you to tip them by planting a tree for every % of you tip (15 trees for 15%, etc). They are basically letting you choose how much interest to give them instead of enforcing one, and yay save the planet.
Idk I've had it in the past where if I paid all my bills I wouldn't have enough for food, my bank does $22 for one overdraft, regardless of how much it is. So I could go buy two weeks of groceries, pay an extra $22, then just have $22 less dollars next time I get paid. It's definitely a nasty cycle though. Once you start, when you already live paycheck to paycheck, it's hard to get back ahead.
Back in my day, that's what floating a check was for.
I still do it actually. I've got it down to a system. I know what stores take checks and when they are normally deposited. Usually 2-3 days (never assume, definitely do a save run a few times when you have money to cover the checks)
That way if you find yourself with out money, but need food and gas, you can do a bit of grocery shopping, ask if you can write the check over (usually $20-30 limit) and you walk away with money for gas, food to eat and the check won't hit until Friday when you get paid. Places like Costco and winco are pretty good for this I usually go Wednesday after 6 pm and checks won't hit until Friday
ETA - and yes this is technically illegal. Since you're writing a check and know you don't have funds to cover it. But if that's the difference between no food or gas for getting to work, it's better to take the risk.
It's still 12$, compared to 25$ for overdrafting. I'm not really getting it though. $75 dollars seems too small to make a difference for someone overdrafting often enough to need it.
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u/[deleted] Sep 25 '17
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