Bank Fees Continue To Rise
According to a BankRate survey, rising checking-account fees hit consumers who bounce checks or use other banks' ATMs the hardest. In addition, banks are raising their fees at a faster rate than the interest rates they're offering customers.
The cost of using ATMs outside your bank's network continues to hit consumers in the pocket with a record $4.3 billion in fees this year. It costs a person an average of $2.91 to withdraw money from an ATM outside their bank's ATM network, an increase of 9.4% from last year. The $2.91 includes the fee that your own bank will charge you for doing so. Of the 247 banks surveyed, 96% now charge for non customer ATM transactions.
The survey found the average fee for a bounced check to be $26.90, slightly below the record $27.13 set earlier this year. Even so, more and more banks are imposing special higher fees on customers who bounce multiple checks.
While the banks are raking in record fees, most aren't sharing them with their customers. The average yield on an interest-bearing checking account is a paltry 0.31%, up only a little from the record low of 0.27% two years ago. The average minimum balance needed to avoid fees on a non-interest-bearing account soared 30% to $267.78 from last year.
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