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Monday, 14 October 2013

Banks At Least Regular As Checking Fees Increasing Again

By Cornelius Nunev


The nation's banks are doing something incredible, in that they are actually going to reduce bank fees. Just kidding; 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

Banking institutions have been adding more and more charges to try and see what they can get away with without losing consumers. Apparently they hit their threshold last year with the $5 debit card charges mistake Bank of American made last year. Banks will always try to add extra charges.

Bank fees are always increasing, so at least they are regular. Forbes explained that there was a MoneyRate survey just released that showed large increases in checking fees and other bank fees this year. There have already been many rounds of increases for the year, and apparently they will continue.

Categories of increased charges

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 few months. The survey looks at over 100 banking institutions worth of data such as the 50 largest banking institutions, according to CNN.

In order to avoid overdraft charges, a lot of people get payday loans. That shows just how costly they are. The average overdraft increased to $29.83 from $29.23.

There was a rise from $3,590.83 to $4,446.57 in the minimum account balance required to stay away from charges. That is a 24 percent increase, and it was the biggest increase.

Considering monthly service fees increased from $11.28 to $12.08, the average amount paid for an account per year was $145, CNN pointed out. Medium banking institutions averaged $11.87 service fees while small banks had $9.88 service fees. Average large banks charged $13.88 in account fees. It is obvious that larger banking institutions charge much more than smaller banks do.

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 best free checking

Only 21 percent of big banking institutions offer free checking right now, and 46 percent of small banking institutions offer it too. Only 35 percent of banks total offer free checking, which is a decrease from 39 percent last year.

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




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