Need another reason to hate those “Big Bad Banks”? Well, here’s 10 of them. These are 10 of the most common, yet blatantly outrageous fees charged by the well-known mega banks, such as Bank of America, Capital One, PNC, and TD Bank (and many smaller, regional banks have them as well).
1. Research Fees. If you want a particular set of transactions researched in your account history or you want to dispute a transaction, Bank of America will charges you a “research fee” of $20 an hour. At Chase, the service will cost you $25 an hour.
2. Photocopying Fee. If you are adverse to online banking yet need a paper copy of a statement, check or deposit slip, expect this “service” to take a bite out of your account. Many big banks including: Bank of America, HSBC, Capital One, and TD Bank charge between $3-$7 per photocopied item.
3. Account Inactivity/Dormant Fees. Many banks impose a fee for letting your money sit in your account. If there is no deposit or withdrawal activity for a period of 9 months to a year, then expect the fee machine to slowly eat away at your balance. Several banks also charge a bank card non-use fee: for every month that you don’t use your bank card, there’s a small fee deducted from your account.
4. Statement Fee. Many banks are now charging a fee to send paper statements to account holders. This fee ranges from $1-$6 dollars per statement. To avoid this fee, it is typically up to the customer to enroll in online banking and to inform the bank that a paper statement is not needed.
5. Excessive Withdrawal Fee. This fee is incurred when the account holder makes “too many” withdrawals from the account per month.
6. Non-bank ATM Balance Inquiry fee. Want to know what your account balance is before making a purchase? Don’t try to check it by the ATM of another bank or you may be socked with this fee.
7. Low Balance Fee. Many banks have minimum balances on their checking and savings accounts. Dip below you account minimum for even one day and be rewarded with a fee of $5-$10.
8. Reference Letter/Account Verification Letter Fee. Need to verify that you have a bank account and that it is in good standing? Well, the letterhead will cost you. Currently, several banks, such as the Bank of America, charge up to $10 for this letter.
9. Coin counting Fee. Several banks have machines that can count your change and redeem it for bigger money. But, as expected this service comes with a pretty hefty fee. Coin-counting fees at many banks run at 5% or more.
10. Account Closing Fee. Tired of all the fees and hassle and thinking of leaving your bank? Not so fast! PNC and U.S. Bank charge customers $25 for closing their accounts within 180 days of opening them, while Chase charges customers $25 for shutting down an account within 90 days of opening it.