[ad_1]
Discover, which runs an online bank in addition to its credit cards, announced Monday that it would not charge any more fees for its nearly 1 million banking customers.
Discover claims that it will no longer charge fees for insufficient funds, excessive withdrawals, balances below minimum balances and stop payment requests on its chequing, savings, money market and CD accounts.
"Removing all fees from deposit accounts was an easy decision for us because of our commitment to providing the industry's most profitable banking products," said Arijit Roy, vice president of deposits at Discover, in a statement. .
This latest announcement builds on Discover's already inexpensive offerings. For example, Discover already offered account verification customers an account that did not charge a monthly maintenance fee and offered 1% cash back on debit purchases of up to $ 3,000. In addition, Discover customers have access to 60,000 free ATMs in the United States.
Discover's savings accounts also have no maintenance fees and offer 2.10% of APY, which, according to the company, is five times higher than the national average.
Prior to Monday 's announcement, Discover charged clients an insufficient fund fee of $ 30 when they overflowed their current account or their savings account. But Discover has limited the number of fees charged to one per day, unlike the other big banks that charge 3-4 per day.
Bank charges can be added
The fees you pay to your bank may seem small, but they can add up over time. In fact, current accounts generally cost Americans nearly $ 100 a year, according to an badysis by Nerdwallet in the 2014 Data Protection Bureau's "Data Override: Account Control" report. the most recent available. That can be close to $ 2,000 over 20 years.
It is more likely that you can avoid these charges if you use an online bank. MoneyRates found that 63% of online check accounts did not charge a monthly maintenance fee, compared with only 25% of accounts offered by traditional banks.
Overall, banks charge an average of $ 13.58 per month in maintenance fees, according to a survey conducted in February 2019 by MoneyRates.com. ATM and overdraft fees are also included in these expenses.
Most banks offer free ATMs to their customers, but if you use an outside box, you will be charged two fees, one from your bank and the other from the bank or company. operating the ATM that you used. The ATM fees charged by your bank rise on average to 1.76 USD, while the costs badociated with the use of the machine are 2.90 USD on average, according to MoneyRates.
The overdraft can be particularly expensive
While Discover already had a policy of undiscovered, his announcement Monday also eliminated a similar expense: insufficient fund charges. Both charges are a bad surprise when you spend too much on your accounts.
Banks generally charge overdraft fees when you use your debit card and the balance in your account is $ 0. Instead of seeing your card declined, your bank will cover the difference and charge you an overdraft fee, usually around $ 30.
But what many consumers do not realize is that you can deny the overdraft protection of your bank without paying fees. Instead, your card will simply be rejected. You can only disable overdrafts on single transactions made with your debit card. Therefore, if you use checks, or if you have recurring payments in place and you exceed your current check balance, you may be subject to insufficient fund charges.
It should be noted that these fees alone generated $ 34.5 billion in revenue for financial companies last year, according to financial badyst Moebs Services. And not surprisingly, these fees are one of the most charged bank charges. About 1,200 customers have filed complaints about overdraft policies in the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection database so far this year.
Representative Carolyn Bosher Maloney (D-N.Y.) And other Democrats want to change that. In 2017, Maloney introduced the overdraft protection law. The legislation would require overdraft fees to be "reasonable and proportionate" and limit the number of overdrafts to once a month and to a total of six per year.
The congressman said last month that she was considering re-introducing the bill. A Maloney press officer told CNBC Make It that Maloney "has not yet introduced this bill, but plans to do so soon".
Do not miss: The new federal rules are designed to protect investors, but here's how to find a financial advisor who is already doing it
Do you like this story? Subscribe to CNBC Make It on YouTube!
Justin Govender | Twenty20
Source link
