Not Just Debit Fees: Other Ways U.S. Banks Cost Customers

The era of the debit card fee may have come and gone, but plenty of bank charges remain.

Indeed, with all the talk of debit fees, it's easy to forget about all the other reasons banks will charge you. And as of October 2010, the median bank account had been issued a staggering 49 separate types of fees, ranging from $1.50 to $175, according to an April report by the Pew Charitable Trust. The report examined fees and policies at 10 of the largest banks in the United States.

Since last year, though, some things have changed. For example, while the Pew report estimated overdraft fees alone would cost Americans around $38 billion this year, Bloomberg Businessweek more recently found that number would fly in around $16 billion.

Other less-known fees, such as returned check fees and stop payment fees, cost customers an average $12 and $29 each, respectively. But with interest rates expected to remain near zero through 2013, according to the Federal Reserve, more fees may be on the horizon as banks struggle to raise revenue.

BofA has already seen one proposed fee fail this year. After announcing a five dollar debit card fee, BofA was forced to deal with widespread complaints from its customers. The bank ultimately abandoned the fee, but not after more than 650,000 people joined credit unions following BofA's debt announcement, more than in all of 2010.

And the fees continue to come, hidden or not. The Chicago Tribune reports that many big banks are instituting fees on previously-free services. Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase have upped their fees for entry-level services, according to the New York Times.

Banks have even put fees on customers who receive unemployment benefits. Surcharges paid by American welfare recipients will cost over $16 million this year, according to an analysis by the Western Center on Law and Poverty, cited by The Huffington Post.

Here is a rundown of the fees and policies associated with the median checking account as of October 2010, determined by the Pew Charitable Trust:

RATE IT!   |  

VOTE

Unfair

Makes Sense

CURRENT TOP 5 PICK YOUR OWN TOP 5

USERS WHO VOTED

NEW! CREATE YOUR OWN SLIDESHOW

Comments

[bbriani3842]

11:50 PM on 11/28/2011

Give the banks an inch and they'll take a finger!

[bbriani3842]

11:48 PM on 11/28/2011

Any one else still wondering why there's an #OWS movement?

[johnsmith9875]

06:19 AM on 11/28/2011

Just move your money out, its pretty easy. They will whine and will tempt you by eliminating some fees (which seems to indicate the fees weren't mandatory in the first place), but stand your ground, and move your money to a nonprofit Credit Union. You won't regret it.

[dennis clayton]

11:40 PM on 11/27/2011

Time to get rid of big bank theories and stay with the little local hometown bank. And with all these money crazed CEOs that run these big banks and dont do a thing but sit on their rears and vacation whenever they want to. Time to take back America people and say NO MORE.

[littleblackcat]

08:20 PM on 11/27/2011

I cannot see where ANY bank has anything to complain about! They are paying nothing (fractions of one per cent is nothing in my view) in the way of interest to savers. They borrow from the Fed at 0% interest and they are charging USUROUS interest rates on credit cards! Even those with good to excellent credit are being charged anywhere from 9% to 29%, depending on which card you use. I NEVER use the card I have from Sears except for the twice a year I must just to keep it viable. I have excellent credit and they still charge 26% interest. I pay it in full within a week of my purchase.

These interest rates would be laughable if they weren't so illegal. I'd like to know why the repubs aren't uttering a single peep about that! I don't know why the banks don't pay taxes on THAT income!

That was a stupid remark! I can answer my own comment: That income pays crooked, thieving bank CEOs their outrageous salaries and bonuses!

[structurequity]

05:31 AM on 11/27/2011

do these usurers in; pronto!

[Wib]

08:35 PM on 11/26/2011

The best thing the federal government can do for us, and for the banking system, is to break up the super large banks that grew up after the government decided to allow the massive bank mergers that have taken place. The banks, of course, will scream, but we taxpayers have had to clean up after them too many times, and this past cleanup has essentially bankrupted us. We can not afford to take care of the "too big to fail" banks any more, so they now must be broken up -- and at no charge to taxpayers or bank customers. This time, it's the banks' and their shareholders' responsibility. They were themselves responsible for their growth by lobbying for it and are themselves responsible for the necessity to break them up by not handling properly the responsibility that came with their growth.

[alteredstory]

04:16 PM on 11/26/2011

Just a reminder, for those who whine about how we shouldn't expect free services:

Banks already get something out of holding our money - they use it for investments and loans, which is where they make their profit.

They hold our money, and in exchange, they get to use it. THAT is the deal on bank accounts.

All these fees are newly manufactured in recent decades because they want MORE money without doing more work for it.

They're greedy.

[johnsmith9875]

06:22 AM on 11/28/2011

The problem is these days with leverage, banks really don't need our money, which is why they offer ridiculously low interest rates on investments like CD's. If they need cash they just get some free money from the Federal Reserve, and with the 28-1 system of using 28 fake dollars for every real dollar they have, depositors just aren't important to them.

Take your money out, walk it to a Credit Union. Reward the responsibile, punish the irresponsible.

[MegaMomSC]

09:34 AM on 11/17/2011

And I bet they are trying to think of more!

[agnis1]

11:33 PM on 11/16/2011

yeah surcharges on everything. My garbage bill has a fuel charge on it now You can't even hardly read a gas bill or phone bill anymore. So many darn charges and taxes. Just nickle and dime a person is their motto. My credit union does not charge one fee on my checking account. I see people lined up to switch their banking there.

[Kelly Dunning]

09:25 PM on 11/16/2011

I never have overdraft fees or any other financial problems that would otherwise be a hassle to people working at my bank...however, I have been hit with hidden fees three times since I transferred banks about 6 months ago. I think that when you are talking to the person about your new bank account, they should have to tell you about all of the hidden fees that you have just signed up for...for instance, there is a penalty at my bank for too few transactions per month, and there is a different penalty for too many transactions per month! It is completely ridiculous! You can't win!

[Kelly Dunning]

09:38 PM on 11/16/2011

Oh, not to mention fees for online banking and statements, which actually SAVES them money in the long run.

[AverageJill]

12:56 PM on 11/26/2011

My bank charges me to transfer money between accounts online, but I can do that for free at the teller window.

[KRobinsk1]

04:27 PM on 11/17/2011

OMGoodness, they are charging you for less services? Fewer labor hours or computer hours? How did we get to a point that doing nothing involved a fee?

[musterseeds]

07:43 PM on 11/16/2011

Big bank want charge fees so they can bonnus for there CEO. Our goverment so stupid bail them out.

[jmarworth]

04:56 PM on 11/16/2011

I wish there were some way to live in this world without banks. Does anyone have any
ideas about how to do this? Going all cash is impractical.

[Condley]

03:54 PM on 11/16/2011

The big banks don't want financial deadbeats! So if you are one of those who has overdrafts, and lives hand-to-mouth, please take your business elsewhere! These fees are designed to discourage financial bad behavior that you people indulge in. I have banked at one of the nations largest banks for over 40 years and I have NEVER been charged a fee of any kind. So will you whiners who think the world owes you a living go pound sand. Take these worthless Wall Street protestors and go start your own bank! Then you can charge whatever you want and leave the rest of us alone.

[Kelly Dunning]

09:30 PM on 11/16/2011

That is not true! As I posted above...there are penalties for too few transactions per month, and too many transactions per month...also, ATM fees, transfer from savings fees, fees for dropping below a certain balance, and many more...none of those fees make you a loser or a dead beat!

[bjhmger]

04:11 PM on 11/26/2011

Moron. Unless you keep a $25,000 daily balance with Bank of America you get charged. So happy you are able to do that.

[davesocal818]

03:43 PM on 11/16/2011

It's not only the banks, people........On my Southern California Gas Bill I had a charge in the amount of $2.69 under something called, "Public Purpose Surcharge!!!!!" Now what the hell is that ??????? If it's on SoCalGas, you can bet ur bippy it'll be on yours gas bill..........To chnge the subject completly, why is it legal for Congressmen/women to sell, buy, trade stocks using "Inside Trading" without public knowledge but yet it is illegal for the general public to do the same......As a rule of thumb, the Congress makes millions while the general public goes to prison for doing the same exact thing. HP, check this double standard out....Google, "Stock Act.".............Oh, I forgot, congress writes the laws, naturally for themselves and screw the public.

[wesx]

03:54 PM on 11/16/2011

Did not find that on my gas bill but the federal goverment bilks my phone bill about $14 each month.

[davesocal818]

08:01 PM on 11/16/2011

glad you didn't get that crazy surcharge....we all know that when one starts it, others will follow unless the individual states step in and bans them..........like that will happen....thanks for your reply.

[johnsmith9875]

06:26 AM on 11/28/2011

Yeah the feds do that to fund a rural infrastructure, which is something phone companies should be doing but aren't, so the feds have to step in.

People gripe about how government is inefficient, but it seems private industry refuse to provide services where needed. They only provide services which make the CEO his bonus money.

[KRobinsk1]

04:36 PM on 11/17/2011

I agree. They who make the laws seem to always exempt themselves from those laws. How is it really possible to become a multimillionaire on a salary of approx. $150,000 per year. Almost everybody in congress become millionaires before they leave.
It is the best route ever to prospertity in this country. We need term limits and a bill to prohibit congresspeople from ever becoming lobbyist. It is not about personal freedom. They are free to go back to their states and work. They don't want to leave the gravy train. It is all about personal greed. They are sent to congress to serve "We the People". Most only end up serving me the "Greedy"

[Wib]

08:57 PM on 11/26/2011

I disagree with the term limits because that will allow for the rebirth of the backroom deals where a few party insiders decide who gets nominated for what office and so forth. We've gone through all that before, if you read your history. Also, this is just a way for the 1 percenters to reduce how many they have to pay for influence, and probably how much they have to pay as well. It should be cheaper to buy off a few unelected party insiders to put forth the candidate of choice for the wealthiest among us than to have to pay each office holder after they have been elected. We need to get the money out of politics, then it is less likely to matter how long a person holds office, in fact it may allow for more honest people to be elected and last longer in office than is now the case.