Odds are that your bank is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and that your bank pays a premium to the FDIC for said insurance. And while those banks may choose to pass that cost on to customers, they can’t go calling it something like an “FDIC fee.” [More]
bank fees
Wells Fargo Advances War On Free Checking With $7 Fee In 6 More States
By 3.8.12
Wells Fargo continues to phase out its free checking offerings, tacking on a $7 monthly fee in six states. Even existing customers whose free checking had been grandfathered in will have to start paying up. Oddly, the bank declined to name the six states affected. [More]
A Peek Into The Scrambled Mind Of A First-Time Home Buyer
By 1.23.12
Just about everyone who knows what they’re doing when it comes to buying a house has bought a home before and learned from their mistakes the first time around. First-time buyers are in a tough position, with banks, real estate agents and sellers looking to exploit their naivete. [More]
Chase Pulls Plug On Tests For Two New Fees
By 11.15.11
Like several of its fellow mega-banks, Chase has been testing out various new checking account fees in different regions of the country. But a pair of those tests have come to an end — and will hopefully never be seen again. [More]
BofA Scraps Plan To Let Customers Opt In To Overdraft Fees
By 11.10.11
As it paid out $410 million to settle a class-action suit over reordering transactions to maximize overdraft fees and backed down after initiating a $5 monthly fee for debit card users, Bank of America has done some soul-searching. The bank says it’s decided not to go ahead with a plan to let customers opt in to a $35 overdraft fee on debit purchases made with insufficient funds. [More]
TD Bank Explains How To Avoid Its Fees
By 11.4.11
Responding to bad press it received over the announcement of a new fee and increases of other fees, TD Bank put out a press release clarifying aspects of its new $9-per-withdrawal charge for excessive savings account withdrawals (excluding ATM and teller withdrawals). Insisting the fee will affect only 1 percent of its customers, the release ends with some helpful advice on how to avoid its charges. [More]
TD Bank Decides It's A Great Time To Introduce A New $9 Fee
By 11.3.11
Tone-deaf to the lessons of Bank of America’s $5 fee debacle, TD Bank is trotting out a new $9 charge for each savings account withdrawal after customers exceed six monthly transactions (excluding deposits or ATM or teller withdrawals). The fee begins in December. [More]
Citi "Simplifies" Banking By Raising Monthly Service Fee
By 9.16.11
Citi customers with the bank’s “Basic Banking” package currently pay an $8/month service fee that can be waived if the customer makes five qualified transactions per month. The good news is that they are reducing that requirement; the not-so-good news is that Citi is raising the monthly fee for people who don’t make the necessary number of transactions. [More]
Banks Impose Surcharge For Using The Word 'Bank'
By 7.14.11
As usual, parody news site The Onion has managed to produce fake news that tells the truth better than actual facts can. This week’s radio newsflash: not satisfied with charging us fees to receive statements, use tellers, use ATMs, have accounts, and transfer funds, banks will now automatically charge us seventy-flve cents to use the word “bank.” That sentence cost me $1.50. [More]
9 Of The Most Annoying Bank Fees
By 6.13.11
The banks of America are breaking new ground every day in the science of nickel-and-diming consumers with fees that start from the second you open an account to the moment you angrily close your account… only to move it to another bank with a different set of fees. But since there are so many ways in which financial institutions can bleed your account dry, the folks at CNN Money have come up with their list of the most annoying fees. [More]
Wells Fargo Also Pledges To Reduce Overdraft Fees
By 9.24.09
Chase and Bank of America aren’t the only ones suddenly growing pseudo-human faces and reducing their money-sucking overdraft policies. Today Wells Fargo squirted out a press release that says they “will eliminate overdraft fees for customers when they overdraw their accounts by $5 or less and will charge no more than four overdraft fees per day.”
BofA, Chase To Limit Overdraft Fees
By 9.23.09
Sometimes lawmakers can cause reform just by threatening legislation. That seems to be the case with Sen. Chris Dodd making Bank of America and Chase flinch by proposing legislation that would force banks to get customers’ permission to charge them overdraft fees.
These Days, It's The Banks That Rob You
By 7.6.09
Oh, for the innocent times of Dillinger, back when ATM overdraft fees and phone teller charges weren’t even a glimmer in the greedy eyes of bank management, and Johnny Depp roamed the countryside with a Tommy Gun and a dream. Nowadays it’s the banks that are pulling heists on unwitting customers.
Best Buy Charges $15 To Pay Bill On Time
By 6.29.09
Owners of Best Buy credit cards (via HSBC) are being charged $15 to pay their bill on time online. The only way to avoid the fee? Pay at least two business days early.
How To Avoid Record-High Bank Fees
By 11.3.08
Bank fees are increasingly disproportionate to the cost of business they’re supposed to cover, as shown inBankrate’s latest annual survey of consumer banking costs.
- Average NSF (non sufficient fund) fee: $28.95, a 2.5% increase from last year
- Average ATM surcharge is $1.97, up 1%
- The minimum balance required to avoid fees on interest checking accounts at a brick and mortar bank: $3,461.84, up 4%
- The average minimum required to open an online checking account: $650.81, up $517.48
Fees are designed to take advantage of your inattention. To avoid getting tripped up…
