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Banks Jack Up Customer Fees
Many banks are responding to hard times by slapping consumers with higher checking account fees.
Banks are responding to the troubled economy by jacking up fees on their checking accounts to record amounts.
Last week, Citigroup Inc.'s Citibank started charging some customers a new $10 "overdraft protection transfer fee" to transfer money from a savings account or line of credit to cover a checking-account shortfall. Citibank had already raised foreign-exchange transaction fees on its debit cards and added minimum opening deposit requirements for its checking accounts. Over the past year, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s Chase, Bank of America Corp., and Wells Fargo & Co. have boosted the fees they charge noncustomers who use their automated teller machines to as much as $3 per transaction.
With all these changes, the average costs of checking-account fees, including ATM surcharges, bounced-check fees and monthly service fees have hit record highs, according to a new study by research firm Bankrate Inc.
Depositors are also paying more for extra services. In July, for example, Comerica Inc.'s Comerica Bank raised fees in Michigan for customers who want to stop payments or get a cashier's check. Last year, PNC Financial Services Group Inc.'s PNC Bank introduced a processing charge of $3 for customers who use their debit card to get a cash advance at a teller window... [more]
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Banks have been relying more and more on their fee income. Naturally they increase those fees when other areas of profit decline. It's incumbent upon the customer to pay strict attention to their accounts so they don't run afoul of the fee thresholds.
You Ohioans were so hell-bent on protecting the irresponsible actions of some people that you passed Issue 5.
Well, who's going to protect you from these evil banking conglomerates?
Banks are not "evil conglomerates"! They are businesses...They can charge whatever they like for their services, as long as the market will support it. It the fees are too high, go bank-shopping, withdrawl your riches and move them to a bank with more reasonable fees. The banks will compete to win the customer base.
"They can charge whatever they like for their services, as long as the market will support it."
And yet Ohio was drooling and falling over them selves to control the PayDay Loan business.
Where is that "compassion" Ohioans had when, by passing Issue 5, they forced the government to protect the little guy from predatory lenders like the evil payday loan conglomerates?
I changed to a credit union years ago, and I'll never go back to using a bank. The fees are as outrageous as the methods used to calculate the client's monthly cost. Now, to add insult to injury, taxpayer dollars are being used to bail out banks which according to Helen are nothing more than private businesses.
From HelenWheales: Banks are not "evil conglomerates"! They are businesses...They can charge whatever they like for their services,
I've got an idea. Let a few of us get together and open a car wash, run it like a bank until it goes under, then get the government to fund us for another ten years. After all, we can't let all the workers just go on unemployment, can we? And think of the tax dollars the government will be losing when we close! We don't want to lost that, right?
If banks were as friendly and convenient as they advertise themselves to be, and if they charged reasonable fees, check cashing and pay day loan stores would never exist. But that isn't the case, and in fact, the reverse is true. The State government should be asking themselves why check cashing services are replacing banks.