The blizzard of fees that clutter consumers' bank statements every month has turned balancing a checking account into a new-age stress test. Consumers regularly get dinged with fees for everything from visiting tellers to ATM withdrawals. This irritating pattern of proliferating bank fees often leads people to throw up their hands in despair, believing the situation is hopeless. But it is not, in fact.
Banks appear to have locked half of all American families into a never-ending spiral of bank fees.
These billions offer a plush pay-out for the banking industry at a time when it already reaps record profits. The tragedy is millions of American households are trapped with checking accounts that routinely cost hundreds of dollars each year. Free checking is often only available to those who have enough cash to meet often high minimum balances. For many other households, the only way to keep a checking account is to surrender to these fees. As lawmakers race to adjournment, the so-called bank modernization bill offers a rare opening for reform.