Has Your Bank Increased Your Fees?

Now that the banks have stopped charging for debit cards, they are finding other ways to make up for the loss of revenue from the decrease in swipe fees that merchants pay for debit card transactions.   Some banks have increased fees for checking accounts and other services.

Additional fees charged

Here are some examples:

Fees charged to close account too soon, which can be 90 or 180 days. This is a new fee.

Fees charged for paper statements, which were free previously.

Higher monthly fees charged for checking accounts.

E-banking customers charged a fee to use a teller, which was free previously.

Higher minimum balance required to quality for free checking.

Charged for incoming domestic wire transfers.

Increased the fees charged for ATM usage.

Higher overdraft fees are charged.

Charge slightly higher interest rates on loans.

Increase in the safety-deposit box fee.

Charged a fee to replace a lost debit card, which was free previously.

Check for additional fees

Make sure you review your bank statements for additional charges that you may not have been aware of.  If you are being charged for services that you hadn’t been charged for previously, contact your bank to negotiate with them. Banks want you to use more of their services, so they can build a relationship with you and make it more difficult for you to switch to another bank.  You can take advantage of this to get better rates from your current bank.

How to reduce fees

Here are a few ways to reduce bank fees. One key way to eliminate monthly checking account fees is to have your paycheck deposited directly into your checking account.  Another is to maintain a higher minimum balance to continue to have free checking. If you are charged for ATM usage, consider using ATMs less often.

If you are unhappy with your bank, it may be time to switch.  You need to do your homework to compare the fees they charge, the branch locations, ATM network locations, services offered, and friendliness of the employees.  You may want to compare banks to credit unions.

Credit Expert Witness, John Ulzheimer, is the President of Consumer Education at SmartCredit.com, the credit blogger for Mint.com, and a Contributor for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.  He is an expert on credit reporting, credit scoring and identity theft. Formerly of FICO, Equifax and Credit.com, John is the only recognized credit expert who actually comes from the credit industry.  Follow him on Twitter here.

Categorised in: Credit Cards, Credit Report, Debt, Money & Identity

This post was written by John Ulzheimer