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Because of new regulations, banks are increasing the minimum balance rules to receive free checking. According to a survey released by Bankrate, free checking balance requirements jumped 23% over the last year and the average monthly fees associated with non-interest checking accounts rose 25%.
Bank customers now must keep an average minimum balance of $723 in their noninterest bearing free checking accounts and should expect to pay about $5.48 monthly in fees if this balance drops beneath $723.
And the fees don’t stop there. SunTrust, the 11th biggest bank ranked by assets, raised other checking account related fees last month. Basic checking account customers will now pay $36 on all overdrafts instead of the former $25.
The fees are the banking industry’s effort to address losing $10 billion a year in revenue because of federal restrictions on debit cards and overdraft policies, according to a Sept. 24th article in the Wall Street Journal.
In addition to adding or upping fees, banks such as Bank of America are cutting staff. BOA intends to shed 16,000 jobs by the end of 2012.
Want to learn more about the cost of free checking? Watch this WSJ video.
