Talicha J. Poetry

Back On My Blog Sh*t

2011 vs 2026 banks still suck

May 12, 2026

Someone recently commented on an old blog post of mine. I could see the comment without reading the post. It said, “I admire your perspective and willingness to embrace this new chapter.” I decided to check out what post it was referring to and found myself 15 years in the past. It was weird, hearing my voice so clearly. Agreeing and disagreeing with myself. And wondering how the version of me in my 20’s would feel about the version of me today. So, I’ll share the post, and then after, I’ll share my perspective now.

Title: Random
Date: Aug 5th, 2011

Twenty-five is almost over for me and I must say although I had no elaborate plans for myself, the current state I am in is not what I would have pictured. My life’s failures and successes can be debatable depending on who you ask I guess. If you’re asking me, well, I will say that my life is equal parts success and failure just not in the ways most would think. Example: most would assume that working for a multi-million dollar corporation is a success and that getting fired from said corporation is failure. I on the other hand think it to be just the opposite. Why? I spent five days a week dreading going to the office to sit in a cubical listening to people whine and complain about money they spent even though it wasn’t there to spend. I wouldn’t say I was miserable but I often questioned what I was doing with my life. Aside from the obvious of course of a steady stream of income and health benefits I could not find any good reasons to waste my time and energy in such a place. Yet I stayed. Society always told me that I had to have a nine to five, a new car, a nice house, trendy clothes and so on. And I foolishly listened and lived that way, live that way. I am trying to look at my current situation as a do-over, what better time than the present to live the life I want right? So here I am nearing twenty-six at a rapid rate, unemployed, single, broke and all I can think of is a line I read in a book not too long. This line has stuck with me and I guess I’m ready to let it mean something more personally to me than just a cool thought. “Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lost”…honestly what better time to realize how free you are than when you have nothing binding you? Now this freedom is something that does not necessarily mean easy. In fact I think even though being free gives your life a whole other form of wonderful joy it also gives you more to overcome and struggle with. Now that I have this freedom I still have to figure how to pay my bills or how to afford to get to all the places I want to go, how to pay for equipment I’ve dreamt of to help me with my music and poetry recordings and so on. Bottom line, I have to figure a way to balance everything so that any situation I find myself in I can view in some way, shape, form or fashion as a success. Too many times we find ourselves wondering what if or why didn’t I so I will make it a point to do the what if’s even if it means stepping outside of the box I’ve placed myself in. My freedom depends on it.

Okay, first off, I think I was way too harsh on myself: “I will say that my life is equal parts success and failure” — absolutely not. I kind of want to give past me a hug for believing that I had done so many things poorly that I would consider 50% of my life a failure. As mentioned in the post, I had been so caught up in “societal norms”. I was letting external forces dictate how I felt about myself. I am happy to say my view has shifted drastically in that regard, for the better! Yes, there is failure, that is inevitable. But in the grand scheme, it pales in comparison to what I do well and what I succeed in.

Next, I want to address this: “I spent five days a week dreading going to the office to sit in a cubicle listening to people whine and complain about money they spent even though it wasn’t there to spend.” Oof. What I know now about money and way folks are preyed upon by banking institutions really makes me want to go back and tell past me to shush.

At that point in life, I hadn’t yet become a victim of the banking system. I had no idea. And so, it seemed wild to me that people would constantly call in about overdraft fees. I couldn’t fathom why it wasn’t clicking that if you spend more money than you have, you have to pay a fee. What I learned is that processing times, items on hold / falling off of hold, and sneaky rearrangements of payments were set out to feed more money into the bank.

Banks be like: Oh, you don’t have $6 for that gas you pumped yesterday? Well, now you owe us $36, good luck! And no, you can’t close your account and take your business elsewhere because you have to be at a zero or positive balance! So, pay up, chump!

And the kicker? The overdrafts are only costing the banks about $5! So, a $30 profit was made because either you got duped by the system or you are struggling financially. In 2023, approximately 7.9 BILLION dollars was paid in overdraft fees. In 2011, over 30 BILLION dollars was paid out. Disgusting. A federal regulation posed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) would have made it so big banks capped overdraft fees at $5, which would drastically reduce the impact on the average household.

It didn’t pass, in fact, in 2025, a law was used called the Congressional Review Act, which means that this can’t be posed again in the future. They said it was to protect the credit of the hardworking Americans. Because if they reduced overdraft fees, then obviously they would have to take other measures to get money from us, like raising monthly account fees, removing overdraft eligibility, requiring minimum balances, etc.

The Congressional Review Act also prohibits the reissuing of the rule in substantially the same form or the issuing of a new rule that is substantially the same "unless the reissued or new rule is specifically authorized by a law enacted after the date of the joint resolution disapproving the original rule."

Whoops, that was a tangent. Ha! Bottom line is, I was too harsh in saying people were “whining”. The system we live within is designed to take, take, take. I actually applaud them for calling in to complain, to push back, to question.

As far as freedom and working within our capitalistic system and balancing passion…I’m still forming my opinions here. The definition of freedom has been so fluid. Ever changing. I don’t know what it really means at this moment. Maybe it’s me working in a corporate office doing a job I’m less enthusiastic about as each year passes, but instead of five days a week, I work nearly 40 hours in 3 days. The shifts are long and draining, but I have a four-day weekend. Which means I can teach poetry workshops, write, and create during those days. I have the time to plan and co-host an annual 4-week virtual writing retreat (shameless plug: camp write start use code talicha15 for 15% off).

“I have to figure a way to balance everything so that any situation I find myself in, I can view in some way, shape, form, or fashion as a success.” Hmmm…I’m torn on this. I think it’s very optimistic to do so. Yet, a part of me pushes back on that. A part of me wants to say, no girl, call a fail a fail and learn from it and keep it moving. Because what I do now when things don’t go as planned is adapt. I take the L and keep moving. I don’t try to puzzle out a way to call it a win. I have my big feelings about it for sure.

So, looking back at this post from 15 years ago took me down an unexpected path. One where I did research on banking 🤣, which was not on my bingo card for the day. It’s really cool to see what I used to believe versus what I believe now. Today’s quest question in the Finch App was: How do you feel about changing your mind on something you believed for a long time? And my answer was that I’m for it (team growth). I think it’s interesting how that prompt lined up with today’s post, as I wound up reflecting on something I changed my mind on.

There you have it, friends! I had fun doing this. Maybe I’ll respond to old blog posts again in the future if you like this kind of thing. I hope you are all taking care of yourselves. And if you find yourself stuck in the spiral of overdraft fees, I feel you, I see you. While some banks have lowered the fees or at least raised the amount of money that can cause a fee to be applied, $7 billion means that they are still being so dang predatory. That’s not on you.

If you’re on finch let’s be friends, my friend code YSFM434LD44 and if you aren’t on it but want to join and be friends, here’s an invite link (this is not an ad lol I just like the app) https://finch.go.link/fCZo9?adj_label=hl2fc

About me:

Talicha J. is a Black queer poet, teaching artist, and Pushcart Prize and Best of Net nominee. She was a 2024 Collaborating Fellow at The Poetry Lab. Her debut collection, Falling in Love with Picking Myself Up (2015), led to a national tour and helped grow her presence as a poet. She is currently an Assistant Managing Editor with Fahmidan Journal.

In June 2024, she released her chapbook, Taking Back the Body, which won the Beyond the Veil Press chapbook contest. She is a Co-Founder of Camp Write Start, curates online generative workshops, and hosts a monthly publication submission space. Her work has appeared in or is forthcoming with Torch Literary Arts, Peach Fuzz, Lucky Jefferson, Just Femme and Dandy, Button Poetry, and more. Visit talichajpoetry.com to learn more!