Average minimum
to avoid fees in noninterest account: Banks
are making it easier for consumers to avoid monthly service fees
on checking -- all they have to do is switch to noninterest accounts.
With interest rates on checking accounts averaging just 0.27 percent,
not much of a sacrifice. Those who do have to keep just $245 in
the bank to avoid the monthly fee. The steady lowering of this number
since 2000 reflects the increased number of banks offering free
checking accounts.
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Average
bounced check (NSF) fee: The cost of a rubber check bounces
ever higher. This fall, it has climbed to an average of $25.80 among
the 490 accounts Bankrate surveyed in the top 25 U.S. markets. When
Bankrate first surveyed checking accounts five years ago, the average
was $21.57.
Online
access availability: It's a wired world. More than 19 out
of every 20 checking accounts let consumers access their information
online. A full 96 percent have online access, compared to 56 percent
just five years ago.
Average
monthly service fee, interest-bearing accounts: Keeping a
checking account is becoming an ever-more-expensive proposition.
The average monthly service fee now stands at $10.86. Pay that every
month and you end up forking over more than $130 a year for the
privilege of handing out your own money via check. It is the ninth
time in 11 surveys that banks have increased the average monthly
service fee.
One note: Bankrate has changed the methodology
of collecting service fee data. In previous surveys, this item also
included any fees charged for the return of canceled checks. Now
it includes only the service fee. If anthing, the previous surveys
overstated the cost the service fee.
