Posted on 06/17/2010 8:00:52 AM PDT by C19fan
The move is expected to hurt retail clients who could be asked to pay new monthly maintenance fees on the most basic accounts that do not generate a lot of activity, the paper said.
To avoid a fee, customers will have to maintain certain account balances or frequently use other banking services, such as credit and debit cards, automated teller machines and online accounts, the Journal said.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Financial Reform just as Obama wanted.
Wait til he gets cap & tax.
FUBO
Yup. That didn't take long, did it?
Chase Bank is making its customers op-in to their existing over-draft checking accounts and then chargeing over-draft fees even as the over-drawn check is paid from their over-draft account which is basically a high-interested credit account.
One of the things I was amazed at when I entered the world of banking was the cost of maintain each account on the system. When you have checking accounts and savings accounts that have small balances, they net for the account is negative each month.
What people do not understand is that there is a “cost” to keeping your money in a bank—and that cost includes the physical costs, but also the data system costs. Think $4-8 a month just to keep your account active. If you have $100 in there, they will never be able to recover that with the use of your money.
But, folks will not “get that” and they will cry about the imposition of fees on the most basic account. And secretly, the banks will pop a bottle of champagne when the customer closes the account and leaves.
We just received a letter from our small town bank telling us.
I am not surprised.
Sucks, doesn't it? And it's not just the small banks... heard on CBS radio an hour ago that Bank of America will be charging fees for all or some checking accounts soon.
I HATE democRATs.
This was standard about 40 years ago. “Free checking” was a way to get people to change banks. It soon became the new standard.
People will go back to paying cash or use money orders.
Take your cash out and go to a local back or credit union. At a time when banks need deposits you can really stick it in BOA’s ass by moving the funds.
I believe BofA has for years. I have free checking, safe deposit box, free cashiers checks, etc. but only because I maintain $1K minimum balance at ALL times. Been that way for years now.
In addition to all the factors mentioned in this thread, the fact that interest rates are effectively 0 now, enters into this as well. If a bank could use your money from your “free” checking account to generate income for the bank, that paid for the “free” account. If the real return on say, T Bills, is close to 0, then that scheme doesn’t work so well any more.
Another point is that opting out of the banking system seems less and less doable nowadays, with the roles that plastic (debit or credit) and direct deposit now play.
zerO!
The Won saves us ever more money grabbing by the eeevil banks
sarc
We have BofA because it's the closest bank near us, and BofA ATMs are plentiful in our area so we rarely pay ATM fees. We also maintain an over $1K balance, so our checking acct is free. Our BofA safe deposit box is far from free, though... actually the yearly fee is quite expensive. Sounds like you got a good deal... ;-)
Not even that necessarily. A lot of it is extra regulation and paperwork added on just to do the same things that are already being done.
that’s right...just keep ginning up new demand for the Gubbermint to step in and regulate you...suckers!
As if Zero isn’t into our lives and freedoms enough. Now he wants to get more money from the voters. What a slime.
My son was soooo happy that Congress outlawed overdraft fees.
I told him that he will have to pay for it one way or another.
There is still NO free lunch.
>>And secretly, the banks will pop a bottle of champagne when the customer closes the account and leaves.
Seems a bit shortsighted to me, but my situation may not be typical. Some of the banks that popped a cork when I was a poor student seem to be hounding my every move now, asking me to sign up for their platinum CC’s, IRAs, checking, savings, mortgage.
I basically ignore them. They will never get my business again.
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