Paying a bank fee here or there is one thing, but some banks charge you for every little thing.

What would you do if your bank tried to charge you just to access your own money?

Would you accept the fee and move on?

Or would you find a way around it, even if it meant playing by their rules?

In the following story, one customer finds themselves in this exact situation and opts for the latter.

Here’s what they did.

Charge a fee for my own money?

It was only a $3 fee, but you know, I’m cheap and easily annoyed by corporate greed.

I live in Canada, near the border (not all of us do, BTW), and banks here routinely offer both Canadian dollar and US dollar accounts.

There are even ATMs where you can choose between US$ and C$ for withdrawals.

It’s more convenient and cheaper than exchanging $100 from one to the other whenever you want to do some cross-border business.

The time had come to renew my US passport and I needed a check for $130 US dollars.

Personal checks are like $50 to get printed, and I’m cheap, so instead I just stop by my bank to get a cashier’s check.

They thought this would be the easy part.

Since I have US dollars in my account I figure easy-peasy, right?

There’s an $8 fee for writing a cashier’s check but, it’s only occasionally, I can cope.

Nice young chap helps me out.

He looks at the computer and gets that pained look that says, “Please don’t hate me, but …”.

It seems that my kind of account has an additional $3 fee for this kind of withdrawal.

Sigh.

But wait!

Here’s where they had a great idea.

There are ATMs in the lobby, and one of them dispenses US dollars.

No fee.

I ask the poor guy: “Can I just get the cash for the check from the ATM?”

He gets that sort of half-smile twinkle of people who are enjoying the compliance even though he’s supposed to be representing the bank.

“Yes, I guess you can. I’ll set your stuff to the side here while you go do that.”

The whole process took longer than needed but ended on a positive note.

It took three minutes to get the $140 cash ($20s only), and when he finished with the other customer, he took the cash, issued me the check for $130, and said, “I’ll just deposit the extra $10 back into your account.”

Me, with my best (sincere) customer smile: “Yes, please! Thanks for your help, and you have a good day!”

And off I go.

Next stop, Canada Post.

When it comes to banks, it’s hard to tell who’s doing who a favor.

Let’s check out what the folks over at Reddit have to say.

Maybe the next landlord will want them.

Here’s someone who doesn’t even use checks.

Good point.

Yet another person who doesn’t use checks.

That’s the perfect outcome!

Not only did it work out for everyone, but they did it with nothing but kindness.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.