WaPo: Government Pays Almost $1 Million For Empty Bank Accounts

We all know the feeling.

It occurs when we try and take money out from an ATM that doesn’t belong to our bank. A message pops up on the poorly colored screen informing us that we’ll need to fork over $2.50 to access our money.

It’s a feeling of complete annoyance, yet we shrug, exhale, and hit “OK” –sucking it up for the sake of convenience.

Well, imagine paying almost $1 million dollars a year in bank fees…to keep accounts open that have no money in them.

Welcome to the United States Government.

A Washington Post story out today reports that the we’ve been doing exactly that.

“It is one of the oddest spending habits in Washington: This year, the government will spend at least $890,000 on service fees for bank accounts that have nothing in them. At last count, Uncle Sam has 13,712 such accounts, each with a balance of zero.’

‘These are supposed to be closed. But nobody has done the paperwork.’

‘So even now — as the sequester budget cuts have begun idling workers and frustrating travelers — the government is still required to pay $65, per year, per account, to keep these empty accounts on the books.”

What makes it worse is the complete lack of urgency to close these accounts. Nobody bothers doing the paperwork because—as the Obama presidency has clearly shown us—Democrats in Washington simply don’t treat our tax dollars with any care.

We need to end this carelessness. Let’s make sure we elect leaders that treat your money as thoughtfully as you do.

Stand with the NRCC today and we look to increase our Republican majority.