Ever since the precipitation of the current financial crises, says American Financial, banks have been squeezing customers to maintain profits. The Federal government has endeavored to stop these squeezes but most of their efforts have been too little too late. An old agricultural metaphor, adds American Financial, says that the government locked the barn doors after the horses were stolen.

As an example, in April of 2009 the government passed credit card reform which was supposed to stop financial institutions from unfairly hiking their credit card interest rates. American Financial explains that, in reality, the reforms have barely affected credit card interest rates. American Financial reports that big banks have many hidden tactics to push on with business as usual even when the rest of the country is dealing with hard times.

American Financial explains that banks rely on hidden fees and overdraft charges to generate more profit than their actual financial business practices. In fact, hidden fees and bloated overdraft charges in 2009 exceeded $40 billion, reports American Financial, while the banking industry’s total profits for the same year were barely over $12 billion. Banking is the only industry that has not taken a loss during this economic tailspin, and this has only been possible by chiseling away at customer accounts.

At the same time, according to American Financial, banks have actually been paying out exceedingly large bonuses to their executives. American Financial reports that this was an embarrassment to big banks when it was recently reported on NPR and other news sources. Public opinion of big banks is worsening because the banks continue to grow their profits on the backs of customers that have less money every year.

Clients come to American Financial because they want to know what they can do in the face of such centralized mismanagement. Clients ask American Financial, “How can an honest, hard working American family ever get ahead in such an economic environment?” American Financial says the answer is simple, but it takes knowledge and discipline to see it through. When people turn to organizations like American Financial, they acquire the tools and strategies to prevent banks from cashing in on customers’ misfortunes.