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Banks adding, raising fees

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By NANCY TREJOS and JONATHAN STARKEY

The Washington Post

Published: July 4, 2009

WASHINGTON - Your bank wants more of your money, and it's found a way to get it: by jacking up the fees on your account.

Customers are paying more to maintain a checking account, withdraw cash from an out-of-system ATM, and when they bounce a check. To make up for declining revenue, many banks are boosting fees and requiring higher minimum balances for many accounts.

The institutions also have made it easier for customers to spend more than is in their accounts - and then hit them with substantial fees, a practice so vexing to consumer advocates that the Federal Reserve is thinking of regulating it.

Bank revenue has plummeted on the back of foreclosures and rising credit card delinquencies. Now Congress has passed a law cracking down on arbitrary and excessive credit card fees. So the banks have been fighting back.

"There is an economic storm that has made revenue fall," said Michael Moebs, an economist and chief executive of Moebs Services, an economic research firm in Lake Bluff, Ill. "Fee income is basically where banks and credit unions can offset both loan- and investment-related losses."

Bank of America this year raised the maximum number of times customers can get hit with overdraft fees from five a day to 10. On top of that, it began charging a one-time fee of $35 if the account remains in the red for more than five days. The bank also raised the monthly fee on My Access checking accounts to $8.95 from $5.95. Citigroup's Citibank last year increased its overdraft fee to $34 from $30 and its ATM fees for non-Citibank customers to $3 from $2. Wells Fargo last year increased its maximum overdraft and insufficient funds fee to $35 from $34.

Banking officials said they are simply reacting to market forces.

"I think when you look at the whole - all of the fees overall - the landscape has changed and that has meant rising costs for our industry," said Anne Pace, a spokeswoman for Bank of America. "For the bank to continue offering competitive products and services, and making sure we are lending responsibly in the current environment, we have to adjust our prices."

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