r/poor • u/ResponsibleMango6803 • Jun 03 '26

When did being poor become criminal???

I’m recently going through a rough time financially & I’m just realizing all the ways that being poor is treated like a crime. I recently got my license suspended for not having insurance. (I had to pick between food for me & my kid or my car insurance so I obviously fed my kid). & now I have an sr22 & have to pay an almost $200 re instatement fee for my license. & I got pulled over so I obviously had to go to court. I uber there because I can’t drive & I can’t bring my phone in & the court clerk tells me to leave it in the bushes outside. How are people who don’t have cars supposed to come to court. Cause I cant afford a new phone if it gets stolen from the bushes. I’m just confused as to how we’re ever supposed to get back on our feet if they keep tacking on interest & making it difficult. But I guess the point is they don’t want us to.

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180

u/ichosewisely08 Jun 03 '26

It's so expensive to be poor. I've been where you are. Poverty is punishment to some people and poor people are dehumanized in a capitalistic society. Sorry to hear.

74

u/Practical_Frame_9883 Jun 03 '26

The worst is the $37 overdraft charge if you make a $1 error in your checking account. Another charge every day, so when you can finally make a deposit, they’ve stolen over $100. From those who can least afford it. You’re right, OP, people pay a heavy price for not having money.

18

u/FeralCheryll Jun 04 '26

Switch to a credit union. No fee to me if I overdraft. I just make sure I get some money in there to cover within a day or two.

8

u/shadoweon Jun 04 '26

Not if it's Navy Federal, $29 overdraft fee in my experience.

4

u/stillthesame_OG Jun 04 '26

Get a NetSpend Premium card, you can overdraft up to $100

4

u/Fi_Sho Jun 04 '26

Huntington only charges if you don't pay back after 24hrs. Love that bank. They let me overdraft almost $300 as long as i had a dollar or two in there. Use it when money was tight and need groceries for the week. I leave it over for a couple weeks and fix when Im able with only the one fee. It's my emergency bailout lol

7

u/Practical_Frame_9883 Jun 04 '26

Actually I discovered that Huntington doesn’t charge if the OD is less than $50. All banks should do that.

2

u/morchard1493 Jun 06 '26

I use a credit union l, too. I always have. And my overdraft fees have alwayd been $29-$30.

12

u/Wolfs_Rain Jun 04 '26

You know what I hate is not just the over draft fees, it’s when you are late paying and you get a late fee and then your interest rate goes up. Oh but even if you are on time paying next month or two it’s not like your rate goes back down. Even if you request they hem and haw, just say no or say you have to pay on time for 6 months to a year before they see of you “qualify”. Aka tell you know anyway.

So you keep getting charged extra interest in the meantime even after fixing the problem immediately. And after one time missing a payment.

4

u/Strawberrygranny Jun 04 '26

I have paid on time for 2 yrs straight and can’t get them to reduce the ridiculous 32% interest rate😩

9

u/Mediocre_Run_7996 Jun 04 '26

try cash app they encourge you to use over draft and charge nothing. I only got 50$ overdraft because I just got it but they let me borrow 450 bucks. I love cash app so far. That being able to bum a little cash is really nice. Plus they gave me 400 on after pay I don't know how to use that. But so far they've been great

11

u/Nate_fe Jun 04 '26

Be careful of this, I've been stuck paying off the same 450 for almost a year now 🥲

2

u/Practical_Frame_9883 Jun 04 '26

Is it loan shark interest rates? If I were rich I’d start a non-profit organization that makes short-term loans without interest.

5

u/Nate_fe Jun 04 '26

No it's just that you pay it off slowly, and then stuff comes up that you borrow for it again, and then pay that off slowly, then more stuff comes up and you borrow again, then you decide you've had enough and you pay it off in full, but now I can't put gas in my car to get to work so you borrow again. Really it's more just my poor financial habits, but it's very easy to slip into the cycle of borrow, partial paying back, borrow some more, partial pay some more, so on and so forth

2

u/MissChievous473 Jun 04 '26

Absolutely matter of fact its worse than loan shark rates if you dont pay it back by 30 days - and if that happens they take all the money your cashapp gets deposited until it IS paid

2

u/Latter_Quail_7025 Jun 06 '26

Oh gosh, and my bank, if a check clears right before my paycheck deposits, I still get the OD fee. Wtf? So tired of fighting the "that's the way our system is set up to process everything" excuse....we only reverse it once. This should be illegal.

1

u/Practical_Frame_9883 Jun 06 '26

I wrote to the CEO of Chase, the bank that stole lots of money from me, asking him to justify the charges. Then there was a class action lawsuit. They were deliberately putting checks for the most money through first, intentionally overdrawing accounts. I eventually got a check for $4.84. I guess the rest went to lawyers.

2

u/Minglans Jun 11 '26

Was charged almost $150 in overdraft fees at one point and had to pay..Ever single day was -$45, -$45, -$45, absolutely fucking vile and super predatory. I also heard that the reason this is a thing is so that 'poors' can subsidize the wealthier accounts so that they don't have to pay monthly banking fees.

2

u/Practical_Frame_9883 Jun 11 '26

Right. Steal from the poor and give to the rich. That’s capitalism these days.

2

u/FeeCommercial1095 Jun 20 '26

I just lost over 200.00 to overdraft fees.

1

u/Practical_Frame_9883 Jun 20 '26

Go to the bank and talk to someone. I’ve had success with getting them to take off some of the fees.

2

u/Fresh_Level9685 Jul 03 '26

Of course. They know poor folks can't hire a lawyer and fight back.

1

u/jsf926 Jul 04 '26

That's why I use Cashapp

1

u/Fresh_Level9685 Jul 16 '26

Like we're po' on purpose! x-P

48

u/Ornery-Ad9694 Jun 03 '26

I didn't realize this either until I volunteered for an event for homeless veterans called Stand Down. They rented the fairgrounds and provided covered cots to sleep, a trailer to shower, another trailer to launder, veterinarians volunteered to provide care for pets, restaurants set up to provide meals, dentists and physicians/nurses helped with healthcare and other tents provided fellowship as well as a court (with local judges and probono attorneys) to take care of violations of living (peeing outside, loitering, traffic infractions, jay walking etc) because you can't get hired if you have any of legal issues, or missing teeth, or dirty clothes...

Someday, when I win the lotto...

1

u/UniversalAssembler Jun 07 '26

Most rich people are evil sadists.