|
Outrageous Bank Fees
Everybody knows that banks have jacked up
fees on those who mismanage their checking accounts and
credit cards. Charges for late payments and exceeding your
credit limit have almost tripled in the past decade.
Bounced-check fees now average close to $30 -- with some
banks charging as much as $45 for an NSF (non-sufficient
funds) draft.
Getting less attention are the fees banks are imposing on
their more responsible customers who are just trying to
access and manage their accounts. For example:
ATM fees continue to rise. On average, your bank
charges you 25% more than it did six years ago for using
another bank's ATM. And the "foreign" bank adds a surcharge
that's 40% higher than it was in 1999, Bankrate.com found.
Cash advances take a bigger bite. Getting cash from
your credit card has long been expensive, but the tab has
risen sharply in recent years. A decade ago, most credit
card issuers imposed a 2% fee with a $2 minimum fee and a
$10 maximum fee on cash advances, according to CardWeb.com.
Today, the fee is 3% with minimums ranging from $5 (at most
issuers) to $15 (at HSBC) and no maximums.
Stop-payment and returned-deposit fees have skyrocketed.
A decade ago, stopping payment on a check usually cost $10
or less, and you generally didn't pay anything if a check
you deposited turned out not to be good (other than
bounced-check fees if you subsequently wrote checks based on
the bad deposit). Today, the typical charge for a stop
payment is $25, with one bank, Sun Trust, nicking its
customers for $32, according to Bankrate.com. Meanwhile,
many banks have instituted returned-deposit fees of $5 to
$10 in addition to the cascade of bounced-check fees you
might face.
"Courtesy" services are disappearing. Fees to talk to
bank tellers, in person or on the phone, are now standard
for many low-balance accounts. Cashier's checks and money
orders, once free or $1, now cost $10 and up. Some lenders
have imposed fees ranging from $5 to $15 for making payments
by phone or online.
Miscellaneous fees are rising. Balance-transfer fees
on credit cards of 3% to 4% are now commonplace, as are 3%
foreign exchange fees when you use your credit card
overseas. Account research can get pricey as well; banks and
lenders may charge $5 for a copy of an old check or $10 for
an archived statement.
Get the full story from MSN MONEY. |
|