Bank Fees: Are They Fair and Reasonable?

It wasn't that long ago that to have a $35.00 bank fee was quite disturbing and back then the consumer and their banker usually haggled quite hard as to who would keep the charge. Boy, have things changed! If you do an internet search on bank fees, or even a search on any popular bank name + sucks and you will find blog after blog of peoples stories how the bank just wiped out their account and no, it was not just because they carelessly overdrew. The banks are now taking advantage of many practices that the consumers did not even know existed until now; and the consumers have been caught like a deer in the headlights.

It was recently brought to attention about the way that banks pay out small overdrafts or not pay them out. Also if they take a large deposit first against what is coming in after? This double whammy has a huge payout for the banks because they could charge as follows:

- $ 1.75 Overdraw on Account because of a tip duplicate transaction you don't even know existed

- $ 37.00 Overdraw Fee

- $ 33.00 Overdraw Charge Fee

- $175.00 Other checks that did not get covered

- $ 33.00 Minimum Balance Fee

+$ 40.00 Deposit that should have covered the $ 1.75

By the time you even know that this has taken place it is too late, and the bank knows this. So, if you didn't check on this account for 2 days you can rack up over $500 just in charges alone. The second day the fees get higher and wilder, usually add up to over $200.00+ ea. day. And the banks are no longer preying on just the low balance customers, you could be transferring $ 50,000 from one account to another and oh, woops, they took out any checks and charges but the transfer deposit wound up taking them into the next day.

Now, this would all be well and good if you could just call your banker up and they would say "oh, yes, that was a mistake, we will take care of it, Miss Jones", but not any more, these banks are doing this all over the country and raking in the fees. Because of course, it's all perfectly legal. All of this was sent to you on that tiny scrap of paper that you really could never decipher with your statement. So, the employees at the bank are all armed with scripts of "I can write $33.00 off, that is how we will help you", "you really have to watch that balance more closely, Mr. Smith, here do you need a new check register to write down your checks in and out"?

There are more stories and even worse practices going on, but until you experience it for yourself, you truly won't believe it!