Stubborn Dude Makes Hobby Out of Refusing to Pay Account Closure Fee

When faced with annoying hidden fees lurking in the "terms of service" section of every account contract, most people will just begrudgingly pay the damn $50 and move on with their lives. But a small percentage of impressively spiteful people refuse to let them win. u/fredsam25 is just one example of the sort of person who will go well out of their way just to stick it to the man, even if it takes several years.

Posted by Mel Dawn

“Account closing fee? Ok, leave my account open, forever.” —u/fredsam25

OP's malicious compliance becomes a fun yearly hobby

Redditors applaud OP's dedication to malicious compliance

The comment section was very much on OP's side, encouraging OP to turn their pettiness into a hobby.

Some redditors had mischievous thoughts on how to level-up OP's malicious compliance. “You could build a new calendar around it." Suggested u/StruffBunstridge, "It'd be like New Year's Day, with a ceremonial transferring of funds to celebrate.”

“Use all the profit made that year to buy yourself a single party popper.” Joked u/simonjp.

“Then take a video of you popping it and send it to Fidelity so their email server and whoever is monitoring the email account have to spend company resources storing and viewing the video.” Added u/firelock_ny.

An interesting discovery, thanks to Reddit

When u/Teflon_coated_velcro dared OP to crosspost their epic tale of owning Fidelity to r/fidelityinvestments, another redditor pointed out that someone had already done the deed.

A Fidelity representative responded to the r/fidelityinvestments crosspost, revealing that the company apparently got rid of their retirement account closure fees many years ago. Which means OP's passion for malicious compliance was so strong, that OP didn't even think to check up on the status of Fidelity's policy at any point over the years.

The saga continues

OP updated the thread with an honest concession, admitting that their petty game with Fidelity, driven by pure spite, ended up being totally unnecessary. But being wrong isn't going to stop OP's crusade against Fidelity.