Monday, October 14, 2013

Checking Fees Going Up Again

By Cornelius Nunev


The nation's banks are doing something incredible, in that they are actually going to reduce bank fees. Just joking; they aren't going to do that, as the recent bi-annual survey by MoneyRate found checking charges and other bank fees are going up.

Expected bank fee increases

For the past few years, the nation's banking institutions have seemed to have been engaging in brinksmanship with their customers, seeing how many fees they can pile on before they leave, en masse. A few finally did last year, after that whole Bank of America $5 monthly debit card fee debacle.

There have been several rounds of bank fee increases noted already this year, and checking charges and bank charges are expected, as shown by a MoneyRate survey, to go upward a lot over the course of the year, according to Forbes. Banks are at least being steady in the increases in charges.

Charges increased everywhere

The MoneyRate survey showed that average opening balances increased from $391.41 to $408.76, according to Forbes. There were other fee increases seen in the survey, which is released every six months. The survey looks at over 100 banks worth of data including the 50 largest banks, according to CNN.

There was an increase in overdraft fees from $29.23 to $29.83. These fees are criticized because they are really expensive, which is why some people get payday loans to stay away from them.

The largest increase was in the minimum balance required to stay away from account fees, which shot up more than $850 to $4,446.57, a 24 percent increase from the previous survey, when it was $3,590.83.

Larger banks were charging more charges than smaller ones, which is to be anticipated. The average large bank charged $13.88 in account charges while medium and small banks saw an average of $11.87 and $9.88. Average monthly service fees increased from $11.28 to $12.08. The yearly cost averages $145, according to CNN, considering the monthly charges.

The cost of using an ATM hardly changed unless it is for out-of-network ATMs, in which case it increased to $1.29, an 18 cent increase. There was also an increase to $2.40 for the average non-customer ATM fee. That is a three percent increase.

Find the very best free checking

Overall, free checking is accessible at 35 percent of banking institutions in the survey, compared to 39 percent last year. Again, it split by bank size, as only 21 percent of big banks offer free checking, compared to 46 percent of small banks.

Credit unions are the very best option for getting accounts with no checking fees still. About 76 percent of credit unions in a Bankrate survey offered free checking, which has now declined to 72 percent of the nation's largest credit unions, according to the Chicago Tribune. That is still much better than banks.




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