Banks Roll Out New Check, Card Fees

[CatWoman]

Source: WSJ

The nation's banks will be bombarding customers with new fees and products in 2010 as they try to replace more than $50 billion in revenue wiped out by new rules that clamp down on certain business practices.

So far, the changes are mostly concentrated in checking accounts and credit cards. In addition to attaching new fees to old products, banks are introducing new types of accounts that they hope will reel in new customers and reduce their funding costs.

For plastic, the new rules go into effect in February as part of the Credit Card Act of 2009. The rules will limit some interest-rate increases, require more disclosure to customers and prohibit banks from raising interest rates on current balances unless a customer is at least 60 days behind in a payment.

Credit-card issuers collected $22.9 billion in penalty fees—such as those assessed for late payments—in 2009, up from $19 billion in 2008, said , who runs a credit-card consulting firm in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Credit-card companies already have been racing to slip new fees and practices into customer contracts ahead of the law. Issuers are closing accounts, switching cards with fixed interest rates to variable rates and introducing cards that have an annual fee.

Read more: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Banks-Roll-Out-New-Check-Card-wallstreet-3274874484.html?x=0&.v=3

[hobbit709]

1. that's why all my accounts are at a credit union.

[CatWoman]

2. same here

:hi:

[goclark]

8. I may have to go that way ~ thanks

[MadMaddie]

9. Yep

Same here, best move we made last year!

[ChiciB1]

14. Me Too! If THEY Start, I Don't Know What To Do! I Only Have One Credit

card and don't use if all that much, but I'd like to keep "one" just in case. Plus it's easier to do "some" business that way!

However, I plan on keeping my balance of no more that $500.00 to zero. I heard there were going to be charges if you DON'T charge!!

This is really just another pie4ce of crap they're pulling! I wonder what's next?

[PatrynXX]

18. If this law that was supposed to help makes thinks worse

I'll end up at a credit union too. :(

[robdogbucky]

19. Not so fast my friends, check your mailbox....

I just received my notices from my credit union regarding compliance and changes due to my credit accounts with them per the Credit CARD Act of 2009. They do allow that they could have waited until 15 days before the changes are enacted on 2/16/10, and they do allow that anyone that does not agree and do not want the changes to apply to them can close their accounts.

Guess what.

I think I will do just that, any cards at least.

I know MasterCard will no doubt wait for the 15-minute, er excuse me, the 15-day fuse stars before notifying me.

I received their last statement earlier this week. I am writing out my payment to them right now.

Just sayin' that the credit unions will comply with all this on their cards as well as I just found out. I have not had any notice thus far about any changes to my checking account. Talk about ripped from the headlines, or ripped from the home page news threads on DU.


Stay tuned



Just my dos centavos

robdogbucky

[BlueJazz]

29. I don't know what all the gripes are about...I mean,. at my Bank, I incur NO fees...

...just as long as I perform all actions, concerning my Cards, on the 3rd Tuesday of the month at 2:43 AM, IF the Moon is full and it hasn't rained in the past 2 hours and I've clicked my heels together twice and said: "I'm coming home Auntie"

:)

[customerserviceguy]

39. Credit unions are fine, where they know what they're doing

I used them regularly in the Pacific Northwest, but over here in NY, I'm on my second one, and I still have difficulties with it. They have been responsive to my requests for corrections, but I just wish they would have gotten things straight from the get-go.

[aquart]

45. Actors Federal has been fantastic.

If I ask them a question online during working hours, they PHONE me within minutes. If it's after hours, first thing in the morning.

[HBravo]

3. Just watched "Rollerball" last night.

I had forgotten about the corporate controlled future aspect of the movie. Seems like we are there.

[abelenkpe]

4. That should make them popular. nt

[No Elephants]

5. We should all pull our money out of banks and invest it in the stock market.

Oh, wait. I don't like them either.

Mattress it is, then.

[SHRED]

6. Moral of the story? MOVE YOUR MONEY

Credit Unions and local banks.

[sam sarrha]

7. the bottom 80% possess only 7% of wealth, and 74% of debt.. looks like it will get worse

talk about wealth Redistribution.....

[SOS]

13. and the poorest 10% of banking customers pay 90% of the debit card fees

Buncha white collar gangsters.
:mad:

[old mark]

10. We use only a credit union. We had bank account till a few months ago

because it was easier to pay bills online, but our credit union has added the same features, so we closed out last bank account ever. We have our credit card through the credit union as well.

The bank IS NOT your friend.

mark

[Roon]

17. My checking account is free and I get a visa debit card to access my money

My Mother doesn't like banks either. (although she does have a bank account) But she does most of her banking at her credit union.

[pokercat999]

21. I hope everyone knows your "Visa" debit card is not a

"Visa" credit card in that if you lose it or have it stolen you are responsible for any losses! With an actual credit card you are only liable for the first fifty dollars of loss if you report it lost or stolen in a timely manner.

[Roon]

25. I had my identity stolen once

So I know for sure what a Visa Debt card is..LOL

[northzax]

27. no you aren't responsible for losses

I know that my debit card carries a 100% guarantee. within 30 days. which means, unlike a credit card, I am out that money for up to 30 days from the day I report the fraud. although to be fair, the one time it happened to me, the money was back in my account within 72 hours.

[pokercat999]

35. Maybe your card has special provisions. However I have heard

and read multiple sources and news stories on various media that the law requires credit cards to cover loses, debit cards are exempt from this law. No matter, it's important to get clarification from your bank on YOUR debit card.

Any lawyers on DU have a definitive answer on this?

[northzax]

36. it's a VISA thing, not from my Credit Union

see: http://usa.visa.com/personal/security/visa_security_program/zero_liability.html

If your account is compromised, Visa is committed to setting things right without further aggravation or inconvenience to you. Visa’s cardholder protection policy requires all financial institutions issuing Visa products to extend provisional credit for losses from unauthorized card use within 5 business days of notification of the loss.

so yes, you can go up to five business days before getting your money back on a provisional basis.

[shadowknows69]

11. And that's why the local bank we're with is kicking ass and taking names.

In the big "Credit Crunch" they had a scrolling text sign saying continously that small businesses should come there, and they did. Go local. Go credit union. Starve the beast.

[zbdent]

12. that's why the can afford the wonderful full-page ads in Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal ...

[Better Believe It]

15. Credit card "reform" legislation worked! Sorta. Kinda.

Well, you didn't expect the banks and the fees they charge to be controlled by this Congress, did ya?

Be satisfied with a few crumbs thrown your way.

Damn whiners!

[davidwparker]

20. what works is that it is teaching a new generation not to use credit cards. it

may be profitable in the short term, but in the long term, not so much.

A new generation of savers, not borrowers, will be a good thing for them.

[jobycom]

16. Maybe that's why Bank of America just closed my credit card account?

Seriously, I used their card over Christmas, wasn't over the limit, was current on everything, and had just paid off the balance. I tried to use it January 1st and learned that they had closed the account. No warning or explanation. I guess their new business model didn't want me in it. :)

[Iwillnevergiveup]

22. From what friends have told me

with Bank of America accounts, those banksters are the worst!
Come to a credit union - come into the light.

[jobycom]

23. This worship of credit unions is misplaced in many cases.

BofA is second worst. Chase is the worst. But I've been with some bad credit unions, too. I had one lie about a payment they had made for me to GMAC, costing me a few hundred dollars. I have seen exhorbitant fees at CUs on checking accounts and credit cards. The worst was a "free" checking account at one here in Austin who then charged me two bucks every time I made a deposit. I get paid weekly, so that added up fast. They had a 40 buck NSF fee, too.

It's not whether it's a bank or a CU that matters, it's how it's run and whether you do your homework. My ex is a bank VP, and I've heard a lot of stories. Credit Union does not equal good, and there are some very good banks out there.

Another think is to buy almost local. National chain banks are no good, and small single-town banks aren't stable enough, but there are some good regional banks--one or two states--that are good.

[kirby]

24. "small single-town banks aren't stable enough"

Mine has been doing fine. It does not charge outrageous fees and never felt the need to get into the mortgage business. So I disagree with your statement.

[jobycom]

41. I'm sure some are.

Most of the ones around me I saw collapse were either very small, or of course the big ones. You're right, though, that doesn't mean that all small banks are unstable.

[NashVegas]

34. There Is Worse Than Chase

Barclay Bank.

I used Apple credit to buy an iMac a year + ago. At the time, Juniper was the bank. Little bastards kept moving the due date. It would go 2nd, 2nd, 30th, 30th, 30th, 28th ... and so on, deliberately. In conjunction, where Chase and AmEx never take more than 2-3 days between the mailbox and the account credit, Juniper took 7-8 days. So, they got me twice. Drove my interest rate up to 30%. Barclay bought out Juniper, and now they take freaking 10 days for a check to clear.

I called them up last month and asked them very nicely to bring the interest rate down to below 20%, they said they couldn't. I didn't pitch a fit or make any threats. The account will be paid off next month, and then I'm going to close. I look forward to that phone call.

[jobycom]

40. Egads!! Yeah, you win.

[winyanstaz]

26. yup...I only have an account now to cash my pension..and then I get it out as fast as I can.

to hell with them money grubbing back stabbing bankers.
I am also moving to a local bank instead of a big bank where I am now.
Its such a hassle when you have direct deposit.

[JDPriestly]

28. The banks get their money for next to nothing.

They pay even less interest on their so-called interest-bearing accounts.

They charge high interest rates on their consumer credit card loans.

And the stock market is supposedly rising.

What are they doing with the money in my deposit and savings accounts?

[V_Byl]

30. Not only that....

....correct me if I'm wrong but can't they lend out at about a 10:1 ratio for every dollar they have anyway, and then charge interest on that, and fees, etc.... I mean, I wish I could take my $100.00 and lend out $1000.00 ($900.00 of which I just created out of thin air), secure peoples assets as collateral, charge them interest on that money, get impatient and sell all my loans off as an 'investment' to gain more capital, and lend that out at 10:1.

I'm more amazed at how a bank could ever go 'under'...

We have a local credit union here that I was with for a few years, and to be honest, I get a better deal at Chase (I know, in bed with the devil...) and they've always treated me fairly... sure my CC interest rate just went to 22.1% variable from a 13% fixed, but I never keep a balance anyway... 5% rewards/cash back on GAS and GROCERIES, I love that ;)

[Nikki Stone1]

31. You are correct

.

[northzax]

37. you have the ratio backwards

for banks with transaction accounts totaling 43 million or more (pretty much all of them) must keep 10% of those amounts on deposit with the Federal Reserve. they can loan out 90% of the balance of your checking account, for instance. (of course, they can loan out 100% of your CD, because they know how long the money will be left there) so if you have a $1000, you can't loan out $10k, you can loan out $900.

a bank fails, (theoretically, it's been a long time since a bank actually failed in the US, most are forced out of business by the FDIC first) while the usable term is 'failed' that's not precisely the case, the idea is that the FDIC will take over a bank before it fails (the traditional definition of failure is inability to meet withdrawal demands from depositors, the FDIC is designed to avoid that issue and will take a bank over, sell it's assets and usually find another bank to take the depositors before you actually show up at the bank and find out there's no money, which is what used to happen) so basically the FDIC looks at the bank's balance sheet and uses a weighted formula to determine the actual value of the assets of the bank (cash and government bonds have a 0% discount, other assets have variable discounts based on how liquid they are, if the bank's assets with discounting are less than deposits, it fails. or even close to it.

[JDPriestly]

42. Many years ago we banked with Chase and then went overseas.

Our account was not all that low, but Chase suddenly wrote us to say that our balance was too small for them to carry and that we had to either close our account or they would simply take the money. I haven't forgiven them for that.

[DebbieCDC]

32. Had terrible experiences with both BoA and Chase

Chase was a mastercard only, BoA was Visa and checking/savings account.

I finally had their BS as much as I could take.

Last spring went with small local -- actually 3-state regional -- bank. Fewer branches but EXCELLENT service. A real live HUMAN actually answers the phone when I call no matter which branch I contact. Free online bill pay, free online access to accounts to check balances and what has cleared, got $100 for turning in my BoA checks and debit card when I transferred funds to them, friendly tellers. BEST decision I ever made. I'm just sorry I had to go through bad experiences with Mega-fuck-the-customer-banks first.

Edited to clarify local = regional.

[closeupready]

33. We need to make filing Chapter 7 easier. Put power back into the hands of consumers.

When 1/2 to 3/4 of your outstanding debt is interest and fees, banks need to be put back in their place - in a position of SERVING the public.

[spinbaby]

38. We're shopping for a new bank

Ours has recently decided that free checking only comes with accounts that maintain a balance of over $2000.

[noamnety]

43. We're switching to a credit union this year.

We've gotten three new fees (25, 50 and 50 dollars) for each of the last three months on our checking account. I had them each removed, but the husband and I are tired of spending our weekends pissed off talking to bank managers. It's gotten to the point where they recognize me when I walk in - and I really wasn't looking to have that much of a relationship with my bank. It's all weird shit like they issue us a new bank card, we switch our auto bill payments to that - but before the new billing cycle even has time to kick in, they're charging us a $50 fee for not having any bills auto-debited to the new card. Another time, they randomly charged us for not having a minimum balance with their bank, but we did - they had reclassified one of our accounts so it mysteriously no longer counted toward our total, even though the previous months it did.

We'll be switching to either USAA or the local school teacher's credit union, not sure yet which one we are going for. Either has to be better than the mess that Charter One's turned into.

[aquart]

44. Gotta pay those bonuses.

Mobsters had their Saint Valentine's Day. What do banksters get?