http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/05/28/banks-target-checking-fees-to-find-new-ways-to-raise-cash?icid=main|htmlws-main|dl3|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailyfinance.com%2F2009%2F05%2F28%2Fbanks-target-checking-fees-to-find-new-ways-to-raise-cashAs people shift from using credit cards to debit cards, banks need to find new ways to sock it to them. And it looks like they may have found one: higher checking fees. If you're not careful, these fees can add up to hundreds of dollars before you even know they hit you. To wit:
* Bank of America (BAC) will increase its monthly account maintenance fee on its MyAccess checking from $5.95 to $8.95 per month in June. It will also start charging a one-time fee of $35 if your account is overdrawn for five business days. And that's on top of the overdraft fees, the maximum number of which has also been raised. Last year, they would never ding you more than five times in one day; now, they can whack you up to 10 times.
* Citigroup (C) began charging 3 percent of the transaction for some debit card purchases and ATM withdrawals made outside the U.S. last year, up from 2 percent before. That now matches the cost of using credit cards. Citi also increased its overdraft fee to $34 per incident. It had been $30.
* SunTrust (STI) is charging a higher fee on its basic checking if customers overdraw multiple times. The bank also raised its overdraft fees on other accounts.
* Wachovia/Wells Fargo (WFC) is doubling to $10 its fee to transfer money to checking to cover insufficient funds on some accounts. It will also start charging that fee to a credit card rather than taking it from a linked bank account, so you could end up paying interest on that charge as well.
