Key findings of Fall 2001 Checking Account
Pricing Study By Laura
Bruce • Bankrate.com
ATMs
The average surcharge is $1.45, up from
$1.44 in our spring survey.
The percentage of institutions surcharging
is 89.4 percent. That's in line with the previous two studies,
but up from 77.7 percent two years ago.
The average fee consumers are charged by
their own bank for using another institution's ATM is $1.36
-- a new record.
ATM users will pay more than $2.2 billion
in surcharges this year. That sum has increased at an annualized
rate of nearly 12 percent a year since 1998, but rose only
about 1 percent in the past six months -- an indication
that consumers may be getting smarter about avoiding the
fees.
One way consumers can avoid surcharges is
by getting cash back at places such as supermarkets. Free
point-of-sale access is as common as ever, with 83 percent
of institutions providing free POS transactions.
Bounced
check (NSF) fees
Nonsufficient fund charges
continue to march higher. The average fee at traditional
banks is $24.85 -- up $0.40 from just six months ago. Three
years ago, when Bankrate first surveyed bounced-check fees,
the average was $21.75.
Internet banks have nearly caught up with their
brick-based brethren in assessing fees for bounced checks.
Average fee for bouncing a check at an Internet bank is $24.82,
up 5 percent from the previous study.
Interest
checking accounts
Average minimum balance to open an interest
account and avoid fees is $2,434.50. The minimum has gone
up an average of 5.6 percent annually since 1998.
More than half of all interest accounts
have a yield of less than 1 percent. The average yield is
0.97 percent, down from 1.17 percent in the spring 2001
study.
Average minimum balance to open an interest
account is $695.10. That's an increase of 1.5 percent since
the last study.
Average monthly service fee is $10.85, the
highest ever.
Of all accounts surveyed, just 1.6 percent
(9 accounts) pay interest and can be classified as free --
no monthly service fee or per item fee regardless of balance.
Noninterest
checking accounts
Average minimum to open an account is $76.30
-- only pennies higher than previous Bankrate.com studies.
Average minimum balance to avoid fees is $408.16
-- the lowest since October 1998.
Average monthly service fee is $6.19 -- this
has held fairly steady for the past three years.
Of all accounts surveyed, nearly 12 percent
pay no interest and are free.
Internet
checking accounts
The average minimum balance
to open an interest-bearing account is $809.41. That's up
26 percent from our last study and is significantly higher
than the $695.10 required at traditional banks.
Average minimum balance to avoid fee is $1,010.90,
up 22 percent since the spring study, but less than half of
the $2,434.50 required by traditional banks.
Average monthly service fee on interest accounts
is $6.61, up from $5.25 in the previous study.
The average yield on interest accounts is 2.77
percent, a one percent drop from the previous study, but still
almost triple the 0.97 percent offered by brick and mortar
banks.
