Fee - Banking

Banking

Bank fees are assessed to customers for various services and as penalties. There are unauthorised overdraft fees, ATM usage fees, fees for having an account balance under a required amount. Some banks charge a fee for using tellers in an effort to encourage customers to use automated services instead. The fees have come in for criticism as excessive from consumer advocates. They have also targeted banks practices the maximize the assessment of fees and fees that can add up to many times the amount of small transactions.

U.S. banks extract fees from automatic teller machine transactions that are made at rival banks, even if the customer's home bank has no branch in a particular area (such as when the customer is on vacation). Customers are sometimes charged twice, both by the bank that owns the ATM, and again by their bank. Bank of America charges a denial fee, literally a fee for refusing service to the customer (if there are insufficient funds or a daily limit), and a fee to simply check the account balance at a "foreign" (other bank's) ATM.

Following the 2008 financial crisis and legislation passed by Congress, banks have modified many credit card agreements with customers sometimes increasing interest rates or reducing credit limits.