It’s worth noting that the biggest benefit of the large bank mergers for consumers as pointed out in this celebratory song is that there are more credit card logos to choose from. That’s an argument not brought up enough, and I’ll grant it to them. A political science friend pointed out to me in gchat that “you can’t get just any logo; you probably couldn’t get a card with a Tamil Tigers emblem on it.” That’s a decent point, but it doesn’t acknowledge the huge innovations in card logo technology that has occurred over the past decade while the financial system has both merged into a top-heavy systematically risky mess while massively leveraging up to keep returns high. So I give them this point entirely. But in retrospect, was it a fair tradeoff?I have never had a credit card, but thankfully Bank of America has extended this concept to debit cards: I was able to have a Wilderness Society logo put on my card, so that BoA, I think, makes a donation to them every time I use it. Certainly makes up for wrecking the economy, doesn't it?
More seriously, my experience with BoA has been generally positive, but after reading this account of its shadier side, I'm seriously considering dropping it in favor of a credit union. Any good ones in Maryland?
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