One of the latest hits that credit card users have been coping with is the exorbitantly high credit card fees that they are charged with. These fees are largely the banks’ defense mechanism to cope with new credit card laws that will take effect pretty soon. These laws can really cut profits of banks worldwide, so banks are looking for ways to curb this loss by adding new fees that the new laws do not cover. Interest rates would still increase, but this movement would be monitored closely by the government so banks cannot really do much in this arena, which is why they have resorted to yet another uncovered base – in the form of checking fees.
Checking accounts do have their own sets of fees, in the form of monthly fees that are being charged for use of the accounts themselves. However, banks are pushing for new charges, as well as for increases in existing fees. The new or higher fees would include becoming overdrawn, remaining overdrawn, transferring money from one checking account to another, overdrawing multiple times, and usage of a debit card outside the country.
Of course, a move to charge higher fees is not without “logic,” as concerned banks would put it. Banks are saying that they need to take care of the needs of their stakeholders first and foremost. Since customers are becoming more and more risky due to the volatile global economy, banks feel a need to increase their fees so that this risk would be offset to their advantage.
As expected, consumers of these banks are not happy about these increased charges at all. Logically, taxpayer dollars are being used by the government to bail out ailing banks, as well as banks that have declared bankruptcy. Why then should the regular taxpayer, who owns a checking account, be charged higher fees to keep his bank running when he has contributed to the bank’s continued operations in the first place?
As a customer, make sure to keep a close eye on your checking account. Customers who neglect to do this just might collect roughly $400 in just one day, and this is just in terms of fees. Moreover, make it a habit to note down all your debit card transactions. If possible, write them down as they happen so that you would not have to deal with lost receipts. When your bank statements arrive, reconcile them right away; do not put these off. Lastly, and more importantly, do not become overdrawn to avoid those high fees.
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