"Money File"-Beating The Bank
Wednesday, December 20, 2006SUSIE GHARIB: In the money file tonight, fighting back against your bank. Here's Eric Schurenberg, managing editor of "Money" magazine.
ERIC SCHURENBERG, MANAGING EDITOR, MONEY MAGAZINE: Some banks like to talk about the importance of their relationship with you. Did someone say abusive relationship? Increasingly, it seems, the bank treats every transaction you make as an excuse to sock you with sneaky or unreasonable fees. Let's start with the fees you pay to use another bank's ATM. They've gone up about 50 percent since 1998, and although the dollar amounts aren't huge, two bucks added to $100 withdrawal is 2 percent. That's a lot when the bank's paying less than 1 percent on your savings. So what do you do when you need cash and your bank's ATMs are nowhere near? Make a debit card purchase and ask for cash back. It generally costs nothing.
Then there's the foreign currency fee, the price you pay for making an ATM withdrawal abroad. You might pay three bucks, plus 3 percent each time. Now, you still want to use plastic abroad since that gets you the best currency conversion rate. To avoid the fee, you need to find the right foreign ATM. Citibank gives you a break at all its own ATMs abroad. Bank of America lets you off the hook at those affiliated banks.
Finally, the bad deposit fee. That's the $10 or so you pay if you deposit a bad check from someone else. Never mind that you're the victim more than the bank. If you're unsure of a check, try cashing it first at the bank that issued it. If the check has already bounced, try protesting the fee to your bank. If all that relationship talk means anything, the least the bank could do is waive the fee. I'm Eric Schurenberg.
