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His Bank Tried to Charge a Surcharge for a Cashier’s Check—So He Used a Clever Loophole to Get It for Free

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These banks will do anything to make an extra buck, huh?

Even if you’re a long-term customer, they try to find some way to twist the knife and get a little bit of extra cash out of your account…

Until now!

Check out what this guy had to say about how he found a clever way around a bank fee that he wasn’t about to pay.

Get started now!

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, by the way) and banks here routinely offer both Canadian dollar and US dollar accounts.

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

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

The time had come to renew my US passport and I needed a check (spelled ‘cheque’ here) for $130 US dollars.

Makes sense…

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.

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 get mad at me, but …”.

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

But wait!

There are ATMs in the lobby, and one of them dispenses US dollars. No fee.

Here’s an idea!

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.”

Three minutes to get the $140 cash ($20s only), and when he finishes with the other customer he takes the cash, issues me the check for $130, and says “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.”

Reddit users spoke up.

This person had a lot to say.

Another Reddit user shared their thoughts.

This individual spoke up.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who gets fired, then ends up with extra cash due to a loophole in the termination letter.

And another reader weighed in.

That was pretty clever!

Good for him!

Down with all these extra fees!

Don’t you just love it when you save a few bucks…?

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