Things Your Bank Won't Tell You

Vera Gibbons On Ways They Make Money On You That You Need To Know About

(CBS) 

"FREE" ACCOUNTS AREN'T FREE

Beware of banks touting "free checking accounts." Legally, that only has to mean there's no fee tied to the balance in the account, or to the number of checks/debits used each month. But even in these "free" accounts, know that you can and will be charged a multitude of other fees: fees for using another bank's ATM, foreign transaction fees when you travel, fees for checks, perhaps fees for simply owning a debit card; the list goes on and on. Thanks to bad loans, shaky investments and rising defaults, banks are under pressure to shore up their balance sheets, so expect them to continue raising fees.

Experts also told Gibbons we should expect to see more fees associated with debit cards down the road. As credit remains hard to come by, banks will push their debit cards as a replacement, and will then tack on all kinds of new charges.

Banks are required by law to disclose fees and interest rates to potential customers. As a matter of fact, when you're shopping for a bank, experts say this is the most important area to examine. However, many banks fail to comply with this law.

The Government Accountability Office recently visited 185 bank branches and found that one-fifth of institutions didn't provide comprehensive lists of fees when asked, and a-third failed to disclose terms and conditions of their fees. Even worse, more than half didn't have any of this information on their Web sites.

UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT CARDS

The last item we want to discuss clearly doesn't apply to all bank customers, but it may apply to the growing number of people who are unemployed.

More than 30 states now send unemployment benefits on a pre-paid debit card, as opposed to a paper check. Some will direct deposit money into your bank account, as well. Bank of America, U.S. Bank, Chase and Wells Fargo primarily issue the cards. This is much cheaper for the state governments than printing and mailing out paper checks.

Here's where we get back to our theme of bank fees: The cards containing the unemployment benefits come loaded with fees, something many people don't realize until they're hit with the fees. Users can be charged 10 cents to $3 for withdrawing money, using the card to make purchases, using the card at their own bank's ATMs, checking the account's balance, or even inactivity.

The best way to avoid these fees is to have your unemployment benefits direct deposited into your own bank account. If that isn't possible, your best bet may be to take the card to the issuing bank's ATM, withdraw all the money, then immediately deposit back into your checking/savings account.

[rf35]

What kills me is the time some banks take to debit your account. This is especially a problem for service members like me stationed overseas. When I make a purchase off base with my debit card in the local currency, I'll have enough to cover the item (plus the inevitable "international transaction fee") at the time, but the bank waits a day or two to debit the account. By then, it's quite possible the exchange rate has changed and I can no longer cover the charges. This just happened earlier this week when the dollar went way south vs. the British Pound.

[gil600221]

to JCbollom;

Your banks are a bunch of idiots who have employees that are incompetent! Let me explain.

I recently found out that in 1999, someone opened up a credit card in my name in Georgia (at the Bank of America branch) and at that time I was living in Kansas. I then found out that in 2003, this person ran up a total bill of $7500 and did not make payment on this bill so in 2003, Bank of America closed the account and then eventually sold this account to another company (which is a common practice in the banking/credit industry) When I found out about this a few months ago from Bank of America at my local Bank of America branch, I wrote a letter to the corporate headquarters of Bank of America requesting that they straighten out this mess as I had nothing to do with this mess that the bank did as they did not even ask for ID from this scammer, in my case. While HQ's sent the appropriate message to another branch across the country to handle it. That branch told me that they could do nothing about it now or ever as it was out of their hands. I did not create this mess that was now affecting me, Bank of America did by allowing someone to opening up a credit card account in my name and not checking for the proper ID before allowing this to happen. So now I am "Back Peddling" trying to fix this problem! Bank of America will be another large bank to fail if they keep treating their customers like crap, then all of you incompetent employes "JCbollom" will be in the unemployment lines!

[chitown_isaac]

Years ago, I used to get lots of credit card late fees, Account Inactivity fee, Overdraft fee, etc. But, I made a move to purchase a smart phone, which has all my bill due dates to remind me, that avoided all late fees. Closed all unwanted accounts, and got them down to 2 checking accounts, 1 savings account, 1 paypal account, 2 credit cards - now i can better manage my expenses and avoided inactivity fees, and all most of my bill payments are over web. Also, with less number accounts to watch over, i have better awareness of how much money i have.
And in the worst situations, where I missed a payment, or Inactivity fee kicked in, my banks (Citibank, Chase, CharterOne) were all courteous to remove them when I requested with a sincere apology! Most banks do it couple of times in a year, if you dont do it often.

[ssgtusmc31]

WoW.. JC, let them know how you feel brother..amen...

[jcbollom]

I was getting my car repaired this morning when I saw the segment on "Fees Your Bank Will Not Tell You". This is NOT true. Every bank account that is opened is given a notice of fees that could be incurred. It is up to the bank customer to BALANCE their checkbook and not overdraw their account! You did not point that out! If you don't have the money in your bank account, don't write the check or use the debit card. Somewhere out in the world, common sense is running around trying to get someone to use it. I can tell you that we at Bank of America are very willing to reverse any fees someone who has a new checking account or doesn't make a habit of overdrawing their account and they accidentally spend too much money. A chronic check bouncer deserves the charges and is usually doing the overdrawing on purpose. We lose way too much money on people who deliberately write hot checks and the business that takes that check suffers as well. Don't blame those fees on the banks. Blame the people who have no scruples about cheating everyone: you, me the banks and the business owners.