Savings Quick Tips: Don't Pay Anyone to Hold Your Money
Where competition thrives, consumers win. The banking industry has more competition than ever with the introduction of online banks. So, you don't have to put up with overpaying for checking and savings accounts.
The main idea is to remember that you're giving them the privilege of holding your money, so it's up to the bank to sell itself to you.
Still, banks today are nickel-and-diming their customers with ever-increasing fees. The average ATM fee is $1.64, with 98.3 percent of all banks charging such a fee, according to a survey by Bankrate.com. The table below shows how ATM fees have risen. If you want interest on your checking account, you might have to shell out an average of about $11 per month and maintain a balance of $615, on average. The average bounced check fee is more than $27.
| ATM Fees Rising | |
|---|---|
| Year | Fee |
| 1998 | $0.89 |
| 1999 | $1.12 |
| 2000 | $1.33 |
| 2001 | $1.36 |
| 2002 | $1.38 |
| 2003 | $1.40 |
| 2004 | $1.37 |
| 2005 | $1.54 |
| 2006 | $1.64 |
All those fees could easily devour any meager interest you earn on checking and savings accounts. They could essentially force you to pay the bank for using your own money, a losing proposition.
Here are tips to avoid unnecessary bank fees:
More on: Family Finances
From Living Rich by Spending Smart Copyright © 2008, FT Press. Used by permission of FT Press, and Pearson Education. All rights reserved.
To order this book go to Amazon.
8 Printable Thank-You Cards for Teachers
