Comments on: Watch Out for Pesky Bank Fees

By: bt

bt — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:55:05 +0000

haha no fees for me

By: Bridget

Bridget — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:29:42 +0000

This is hugely helpful, especially for those youngins’ just branching out on their own.

Many thanks.

By: John DeFlumeri Jr

John DeFlumeri Jr — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:52:50 +0000

That is a helpful article, the banks sure have a fee for everything.

Thanks for writing it.

By: Gema McAlister

Gema McAlister — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:58:56 +0000

I think that it is so ridiculous that companies find any and every which way to take more money from people. We had a checking account that had a monthly service fee of $20 because we didn’t have a balance of $15k! Are you kidding?!! We actually got the charges reimbursed, and changed to a free account when we complained. I agree that it is very important to read all the fine print.

By: Lynnae

Lynnae — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:21:38 +0000

We do have Sterling. I’ll have to look into that bank. I’m going to try to make the rounds tomorrow to get some info on some local banks.

By: marci

marci — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:10:02 +0000

PS – good recap.
I had NO clue there were so many fees ‘available’… :(

By: marci

marci — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:09:11 +0000

Do you have Sterling Savings there?
(Formerly Western)

It’s an in person type of bank – I don’t do online anything
except check my balances.
My checking acct is free – my savings acct is free.
Online checking writing is free (they say -I don’t have it) if you
do 2 transactions per month. Less and it costs.
No charged for mailed paper statements.

Yes there’s an overdraft fee, but I have overdraft protection – free.

Unless I want a special service, I have paid NOTHING for years and years at that bank…. and if there is ever an issue, a phone call or a walk in and it’s been handled very well.

By: Penny

Penny — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:30:42 +0000

While this doesn’t deal with banks, per se, I made the mistake of getting credit protection through my credit cards when I was younger. The fee was contingent upon my balance, so as my balance increased, so did the fee. I didn’t know that credit card companies are required to refund fraudulent changes. Now, you can get credit checks for free once a year. Watch out for gimmicks. This “protection” certainly didn’t help me when I had to wrangle with Bank of America, who put me in a position where I felt I had to close my account. ( I could go on, but since I wrote about it on my blog, I’ll spare you the details.)

By: Lynnae

Lynnae — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:41:23 +0000

I think that’s the most frequently asked question on this blog. I used to bank at the same C.U. that you do, I believe, and they were great!

Then we moved here, and I initially had an account at our local credit union. They changed their fee structure and started charging for crazy things like too many transactions made in the actual building, as opposed to online. It was basically an online account, like you mentioned. And their new monthly fees for keeping an account with them were higher than any other banks in the area. So we closed our account.

It’s been a few years, so I should really check to see if they’ve restructured their fees again, but down here, the credit union hasn’t been a great option.

By: Julieanne

Julieanne — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:31:02 +0000

Lynnae, have you considered banking with a credit union? We have virtually no fees at our credit union, because they are not in the business to make money…I believe that they are a non-profit. I’ve had an account with one of our local credit unions since I was 15 or 16, and it is wonderful because the people who work there have worked there “forever”, are truly nice people, and want to serve customers…unlike our experience with Wells Fargo, which we eventually left because of their impoliteness, turnover, and constantly adding new fees each year just to bank with them. Also beware that Wells Fargo (and possibly other banks) which offer a “free” checking account as long as you have a significant amount of money being directly deposited into your account each month, will literally charge you a fee if you walk into the bank to do anything at all, and will also charge a fee if you call on the phone to ask a question. It’s basically an “ATM” checking account where you must do every bit of your banking via the ATM, or you get charged. Highway robbery, in my opinion. The banks earn enough from loans and credit card interest that they don’t need to be doing this.