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Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Unsurprisingly, Checking Fees Going Up Again

By Cornelius Nunev


The country's banks are doing something unbelievable, in that they are actually going to cut back bank fees. Just kidding; they are not going to do that, as the recent bi-annual survey by MoneyRate found checking charges and other bank charges are increasing.

Increasing bank charges anticipated

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

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

Opening balance and overdraft up, among other categories

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 including the 50 largest banking institutions, according to CNN.

Overdraft fees, which some people keep away from by getting payday loans and are often a matter of frequent criticism of banks, increased slightly from $29.23 to $29.83.

There was a 24 percent increase in the minimum balance required to stay away from account fees. It increased from $3,590.83 to $4,446.57.

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.

Out of network ATM charges increased 18 cents to $1.29, though regular ATM charges hardly increased also. There was a three cent increase for non-customer ATMs to $2.40.

Credit unions offer checking free

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

In regards to accounts with no checking charges, the kings of free checking are still credit unions. According to the Chicago Tribune, a recent survey by Bankrate found that 72 percent of the country's largest credit unions still offer free checking accounts. However, it was still a slight decline, as 76 percent did so last year.




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