As most people know, one of the results of the current economic crisis is the fact that Chase is now the owner of Washington Mutual, where all of my banking is done.
Today I get a brand new ATM card in the mail.
You read that correctly: An ATM card. Not a debit card with a MasterCard or Visa logo, but a card that can only be used at ATM machines.
That struck me as a very interesting way for a financial institution to spend money these days. Does anybody reading this have a card that ONLY works in an ATM machine? How much do you think it would have cost Chase to send out debit cards that can be used at millions and millions of ATMs, restaurants, and stores all over the world?