Wednesday, November 29
ATM fees at Bank of America savings accounts
BOA is great in New York City, since their ATM's are ubiquitous. What BOA did in the past year is very deceptive. If you use another banks ATM, you are charged a fee (usually by the other bank, and by BOA). Savings account users at BOA can now use their ATM only three times (or make three counter transactions) eah month. Use an ATM four times, and BOA starts charging you. Pretty soon, you are spending $9 a month to use your ATM six times. Take a look at the fees for yourself.
Your interest rate for a savings account is 0.2%. A $3,000 account will earn $6 a year (correct me if I'm wrong). In the meantime, you've spent $108 in ATM/counter fees (assuming you visit the bank 6 times a month).
Your best bet is to open a checking account, which gives you another lousy interest rate, but at least BOA doesn't penalize you for using an ATM.
Wednesday, November 1
Kiva.org Celebrates First Year of Online Microfinance
First Web Site to Let Anyone With a PayPal Account Be a "Banker to the Poor" Marks First Year With Unprecedented Success
SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- October 17, 2006 -- Kiva.org, the first person-to-person micro-lending Web site that enables an individual to finance a micro-entrepreneur in the developing world, marked its first year anniversary. Since its launch, Kiva.org has become known as "the merger between Microfinance and Web 2.0" due to its ability to create a transparent, connective and affordable option for anyone on the Internet to lend directly to the working poor. Inspired by Mohammad Yunus and Grameen Bank, Kiva's aspiration was to take microfinance online; in just one year, the organization has been widely recognized as the leader in online microfinance, has attracted a significant base of lenders, borrowers and partners, has built a staff and board of directors, and has received accolades from the press and industry leaders.
Kiva - microcredit from your computer to Africa
Kiva, which means "agreement" or "unity" in Swahili, would allow people with a little bit of extra cash to use their credit card or the online money transfer company, PayPal, to lend directly to African entrepreneurs. Kiva got its start a little more than a year ago in Uganda, where it forged partnerships with local microfinance institutes so that each business would be vetted and approved before being posted on the site.