November was to be the month that many large banks, such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Chase, were to implement debit card fees. After a storm of protests from consumers, the banks backed away from these charges and checking account holders patted themselves on the back for winning the battle against the large banks.
But congratulations may be premature. Banks learned an important lesson from this episode. The lesson was not that they can't get away with charging extra fees; the lesson was that they must do it quietly so as not to create a storm of bad press.
In the coming months, carefully watch your checking account statements for added fees. What sort of fees? Do you do mobile banking? Need to wire funds? Want to replace your lost debit card? Do you have a monthly maintenance fee on your account? You can bet your bank is looking at either implementing or increasing these fees.
What can you do? First, read those "change to account" notices that come in the mail to see if your bank is notifying you about upcoming fee increases. Carefully check your account statements to track what activities incur a charge.
If you find that the bank is charging fees, you may want to switch to another bank or credit union that has lower (or no) fees.
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