Banks Getting Rich Off Your Economic Misery
Posted by DDOCS in Money, tags: Economy, Money, Scams
Want to know how banks are making up the money they lost in the economic crash? Off you, that’s how.
Despite the current recession, banks are charging record fees to checking account customers. The costs are sneaky: higher non-bank ATM fees, higher bounced check fees, and higher monthly service charges.
ATM fees have risen for three-consecutive years. In 2009, consumers paid an average fee of $3.54 to use another bank’s ATM, up 16% from 2004. This includes the fee charged at the ATM, as well as the fee charged by the customer’s bank.
This year, consumers are paying a record charge of $12.55 per month for an interest-bearing checking account, up 3.5% from 2004, Bankrate’s data show. The average bounced-check fee was $29.58 this year, near the inflation-adjusted high of $29.73 reached in 2005.
Also, banks are increasing their credit card interest rates and penalties for late payment. They are finding any way they can to make up for the housing mortgage debacle of ‘08. And, don’t look for it to get any better any time soon.
BankRate.com has a good list of ways to avoid checking account fees. Some tips are common sense, like don’t bounce checks and only use your bank’s ATMs, but others may be new information on how to avoid paying more.
Most banks offer three or four checking account options. Visit the Web sites of several banks and see the differences between accounts. Do you really need free checks if you’re going to have to pay a fee for the account? If you pay most bills online, perhaps you only need a couple of paper checks per month and it would be cheaper to buy them yourself. Carefully review what each account offers and see if it’s worth the price of admission, or if you’d be better served by a free account.
So, read your statements and shop around. Don’t let your bank stick it to you.
Photo courtesy of Flickr: The Consumerist
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