My Financial Cultural Evaluation Theory

A couple of things which happened to me recently reminded me of a theory which I had been developing for some time. The theory is related to understanding the main philosophies of a culture, and evaluating the quality of life in that culture. What happened recently, was that an ATM swallowed up my bank card.

This is not really a rare occurence in France. Machines will always first ask what kind of operation the user wants to perform, such as a withdrawal or something else. Then, the machine will ask for the PIN for the bank card, in order to validate the operation. If the user fails to get the PIN code correct after a few tries, not only is the operation not permitted, but the card is also kept by the machine, with the theory that the user doesn’t deserve to get the card back, since the user wasn’t able to enter the correct PIN and therefore the card might be stolen.

The logic itself is not perfect. It is definitely very security-minded. It is not the only way that the French ATM can decide to take your bank card. Years ago, I was getting cash in Paris, and as the machine gave back the card, I was dealing with something in my bag. While I was doing that, the machine retracted the card and kept it. Unannounced to me, the machine was on a timer, and after about 60 seconds, decided that I had lost my chance to grab my card, and for security reasons, retracted it. I immediately went into the bank and asked someone to retrieve my card, only to be told I would have to come back the next day.

Back to the present day. Having lost my bank card to a French ATM once, I am pretty careful. But I made a mistake this time, as I selected the wrong account (we have a useless credit account accessible via the same bank card). Immediately after I made the mistake, I chose to cancel the operation. In order to do that, it seemed the only option was to request the bank card to be returned, so I did that. At this point, I had not yet entered the PIN for the card, as I had cancelled the operation before that step. It was probably for that reason that the machine refused to return my card. The next day I went into the corresponding bank, who told me they were unable to retrieve the card, as the machine was one not located at their branch, but rather in a shopping center across town. I had to go to my bank and order a new bank card.

In my mind, evaluating these events leads to an understanding of the philosophy behind French culture at its core. The physical world runs on money, and for individuals, that money is held at the bank. Understanding the philosophy of how the bank works is understanding the philosophy of the culture. French banks offer equality in their services, and offer perks such as being able to use any ATM, from any bank, without a fee. Meanwhile, having a bank card incurs a monthly fee. The only banks which I know of offering free bank cards with their accounts are online-only banks. Transferring money to another account is limited to small amounts when done at a bank branch. Perhaps most notably, the bank branch at which the account was created is the branch to which the user must go to talk to their advisor, or perform more complicated operations.

My conclusion is that the French bank is equal for all in its imposition of inconveniences and fees. Recently, my bank in France refused to allow me to increase my monthly payments on my mortgage, citing my salary as being too low. My salary needs to be about three times the monthly payment, regardless of the amount. So if I am making ten thousand euros a month, I can only pay the bank a third of that, despite the fact that I don’t need two thirds of that amount for daily life. It’s a blanket rule imposed on everyone to keep us safe from ourselves. We can’t be trusted to make our decisions with our money, for fear we might starve ourselves by paying back the loan too quickly. It’s not even a matter of the bank getting more interest by keeping the loan term longer, as the amount of interest we pay now is miniscule since the bank front-loaded it into the loan.

To me, this is what stands out about French culture. Central control, security above else, no risks at all if possible. Arguably, we profit from this sometimes as we are foreigners who might encounter pitfalls due to simply not knowing how things work sometimes. On the other hand, once we learn how things work, it is still inconvenient, if not impossible, to do what we want to do. Often, problems cannot be solved by money or knowledge. I heard someone once say that of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, equality was the main emphasis in France, whereas in the United States, liberty is most valued thing. I find that to be quite true.

Back in America, I opened up a bank account in Oklahoma, where I went to college for one semester. I never again visited that bank branch, and I never had to, because everything was online. My bank card was free, but I couldn’t use it at other banks’ ATMs without incurring a fee. I eventually had privileged accounts because I had enough funds to qualify for them, meaning I gained slightly more interest, and had a few more options. If I knew the rules of the game, I could profit by them. I’m reminded of a great bit by comedian Louis C.K., in which the man with insufficient funds has his few dollars taken from him and given to the rich man as his interest. Clearly, not everyone profits from the way American banks operate. Many people do not play the game, do not follow the rules, or are simply unlucky. But there is a game to be played, by which a person can profit. This is the way I grew up, believing that I was special, and that if I played my cards right, I could do whatever I wanted.

I actually started developing my theory years ago while living in China. Chinese banks are notoriously difficult for foreigners. They’re designed to be that way. Foreigners have great difficulty doing anything more complicated than using the ATM, because foreigners don’t have Chinese documents. It took us from lunch to dinner sitting in a bank branch to close my account the last time I was in China. This reflects the attitude to foreigners in Chinese culture. Foreigners are just that, outsiders who are to be inconvenienced and frustrated at every turn, to be kept out of all institutions if possible, to not be allowed to enter into Chinese culture. But Chinese banks aren’t just poor for foreigners. Though the average Chinese person may not be discriminated against specifically, employers can choose which bank their employees must use to access their paychecks. Doing any sort of complicated operation like a transfer requires a significant amount of time spent at a bank branch filling out forms. To me, the suffering people go through at the bank is paralleled by the suffering that people endure in Chinese culture.

Clearly, not every aspect of culture can be seen at the bank. My theory is rather general and only tested in China, the USA, and France. Yet I find that it tends to hold up pretty well in those scenarios. Now that I’ve been in France for several years, I hope that sooner rather than later, the bank will allow a little more Liberté.