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Banking Fees
By Jay | December 31, 2007
I use Quicken to keep track of my spending. Today I was confirming my transactions for the past month in my Citibank checking account and I noticed that they charged me a $9.50 monthly service fee. I haven’t been charged a monthly fee in years because I have a large balance on my Citibank credit card.
Then I read down further and noticed that they charged me $7.50 in ATM fees. I use a Chase ATM machine that’s in the cafeteria of my company, and had never been charged fees by either Chase or Citibank for using this ATM machine.
This is an additional $17 monthly expense that I am not accustomed to paying. I can get rid of part of it by using only Citibank ATM machines from now on. While that Chase ATM in my company’s cafeteria doesn’t charge a fee, I would still need to pay $1.50 to Citibank for each withdrawal. That’s 1.5% of my typical $100 withdrawal.
But I think I need to start looking for a new bank with no-fee checking. As I wrote yesterday, it’s the little things that we need to be careful about, and that $9.50 monthly service fee will add up to $115 over the course of a year.
Has anyone else noticed that their banking fees have gone up lately?
Popularity: 15% [?]
Stumble it!
Topics: Finance |
December 31st, 2007 at 1:13 pm
I have a Citibank checking account too. They should refund those ATM charges at the end of the month. I don’t know what the limit is, but I’ve had $5 refunded in the past, which isn’t far from $7.50.
The $9.50 charge is easy to avoid, even if you have less than $1,500 in your account. Either use direct deposit or pay two bills with the account. I have my gas and electric bills auto-deducted and I never get the $9.50 charge. (It works even if you schedule the payment through the vendor, not Citibank.)
Hope that makes sense. I really like Citibank checking and wouldn’t be quick to give it up.
December 31st, 2007 at 4:55 pm
I like Citibank too — have had my account there for years and this is the first time I ever saw a monthly service fee. I know they’ve taken some pretty big financial hits, so maybe they’re doing this to bring in more revenue?
I’ll call them on Wed. to see if there was some sort of “misunderstanding.”
December 31st, 2007 at 7:36 pm
I guess it depends on the kind of account you have. I’m on the cheapo level, so I’ve always had to work around the fees. :)