My bank account has never seen $1,000 at any one time, and I pay absolutely no fee's except for check printing, but then I had them print 500checks when I opened the account 5 years ago and I still have over 450 of those.

To my complete suprise, they don't even charge me an ATM fee, when the ATM I use cleary says there is a $1 charge.

If I were to go into the overdraft protection I would have to pay a $2 fee for the first 30 days, then 5% of the unpaid balance until the overdraft is paid off. (overdraft is capped at $5k max.)

I get no annual fees, no monthly fees, no maintenance fees, no teller fees or any other fees and I have 24/7 telephone access, and I can even reach a real person 24/7 if I opt to do so,,imagine that.

I bank with a credit union, and am well satisfied. No surprises or extra fees so far.

Me too, Petaloid. No surprises but no interest either. We don't even pay for checks since we're senior citizens.

Yep, credit unions are the way to go.

I'd high tail it out of there and withdraw my funds and put them in anothe bank lots around who will want your business JMHO

I am also in a credit union. There are far better ways to stash your money than at that bank, paleblue. Do yourself a favor and jump ship.

No fees and free checks on ours. I'd be moving to another bank, too.

Our bank doesn't charge a lot of extra fees, but when it starts we are gone to a credit union.

I bank at a few different banks--none of which charge fees for the usual account stuff.. Of course, I tend to stick to savings banks which almost always are MUCH more consumer friendly (fewer fees, higher interest rates) than commercial banks.

I have a small, local bank - no fees are charged.

Love our credit union! We belong to 2.
Kathy G back in MI

The fees my bank was charging (after about 4 name changes over many years it had become Key Bank) became so ridiculous, I pulled everything including safety deposit box and went next door to a smaller bank where I had only kept a savings (and at one time a mortgage). Only in 12 locations but fully FDIC insured - Now my IRAs, Money Market, household checking, business checking are there. I pay no fees at all, none, not even for checks on any of the three accounts I'm writing checks on. The household checking does have a $500 minimum, not that hard to maintain. Call them, if they don't forgive the $10 and credit it back, shop around - there are better banking deals to be found.

Go to a credit union. I love mine! No fees for anything, I earn interest on both my checking and savings account, always helpful, no minimum balance requirements (except to be part of the credit union you agree to keep at least $5 in your savings account that you get back if you close your account).

At least call them to have the charge reversed, stating that you feel that they should not have charged you a fee due to the amount of money you keep in their bank most of the time. Then look around for another bank, finding out first what their minimum amount is to prevent a charge. If the person refuses to do so, just go up the chain of command. People in the main offices do not like getting complaints regarding their branches.

When we moved from TX to FL 5 months ago we found a terrific credit union (Fairwinds) and dumped Compass. Free checks, no fees, etc. I'm happy.

paleblue, fees are posted automatically via the parameters set up by the banking institution. No one "looks" at accounts on an individual basis anymore to see whether or not a fee should be charged. Call your bank, or speak with someone at your branch and your fee should be reversed. If not, then would be the time to move your money to a different institution.

We keep a $400 minimum balance and get free checking. Our bank is wonderful, they know your name when you walk in and in fact, just sent us a $25 gift card to my choice of 4 places, as a thank you for banking electronically as much as I do, which is most of our banking, but not all. This is the 2nd time they have given us a gift card.

We love our bank. They gave us a loan to build our house, not knowing us at all, just on the say-so of our builder and an excellent credit report. We'll never change banks as long as they stay so friendly and good.

Go and talk to the bank personnel. My bank has many different types of accounts. I never pay a service charge.

Any Canadians who bank with TD/Canada Trust had better check the new service fees very closely - and continue to do so. If you have a Select Account some things will still be provided without service fees provided you maintain a minimum balance - but that is likely to change. We did not switch to the 60 Plus Seniors' Account because you do better with the regular Select Account.

I had an individual saving-for-retirement account (granted, with a stockbroker) that had had no fees, carried forward from another institution which had been bought out, years earlier.

When it changed from the "paying in" mode to the "no-more-paying-in, must-cash-out-at-least-a-certain-(increasing)-amount-annually" mode, they notified me that, since this wasn't the same ongoing account, that there'd be a certain annual fee to maintain it.

After talking to a couple of other institutions, I came back to them with the message that the others'd run my account with no fee (and didn't mention that I'd be unenthused about using the other institutions) ...

... and they allowed as how they could do it that way, also.

So - for the past 12 years or so - there've been no fees to pay on that retirement account (which hasn't been fully "retired" - even though I have).

ole joyfuelled ... with a little help from (usually negotiatedly) saved fees, here and there

I hate our banks. They don't do a thing for the customer.

A few years ago, hubby and I opened a new joint checking account at a certain bank. Read the literature and discussed with bank officer, there seemed no way to get truly "free" checking. Then bank officer said "If you open a savings account and keep a balance of $10,000 we can get you free checking." DH had some money set aside and put $10K in savings. We've had good experiences with our checking account, forgot he had that $10K salted away. Now flash forward to 2012. I'm getting a kidney transplant and DH's multiple sclerosis is getting worse than ever. We decided he needs a home health aide. But how can we pay? Well, we got a tax statement for the hidden savings account, it now has $15,000 available. So we can draw out 5 grand and use it for his care! The home health aide is starting April 9, the day after Easter. She'll be with him three days a week, 4 hours at a time. She will help him dress, shower, get around. She'll even do light housework and shopping for us! So we must say we're happy with our bank.

How did a $10,000 bank account grow to $15,000 in "a few years"?

Holy cow, Jannie! Quick, tell us the name of your bank. I want to transfer my money there immediately!

Our bank in our tiny community is very good, no fees for senior citizens. Bank president tells us when we want to purchase something, do it and he'll okay the loan. Have had multiple loans and most all paid off ahead of time.

First of the month they have donuts for everyone and any other time there is always free coffee, sodas and popcorn on a daily basis.

Some credit unions in this area - quite a few of them, I think - used to have a system in place that, on your death, they'd give a bonus of the lowest amount that had been in your account, to add to it.

I don't know (remember) what time frame was involved.

(Forebear suggesting, please, that that policy could give folks the impression that they were being paid to die).

A local credit union has been offering billboards asking what would you if you owned a bank ... with the suggestion that one visit www.myownbank.ca. Going there took one to information about their credit union.

With credit unions - it's the users that are the owners ... and they share the profits in proportion to the amount of business that they do there.

ole joyful

My credit union was OK, but no better than the (now) bank (former "Saving and Loan") that I was using and they charged me a fee for having under $200 in it, wouldn't reverse it so I closed the account. He credited one month since I didn't use it. Credit unions aren't always the greatest. But I didn't need two checking accounts anymore since the one account was for a business I didn't operate anymore so I didn't keep as much in there.

The bank I deal with now is great AFAIC. If I were you I'd check with them to see if they'd cancel the charge. Often they will. No sense getting upset and ranting about them without giving them a chance. They're not looking at you and scheming how they can get a few dollars out of you. They have policies and the charges are automatic. And many if not most can be waived under the right conditions. Long-time customers and those who don't cost the bank money usually will get benefits the others won't. Why not give them a chance before ranting or storming off? I have news for you, the same thing could happen at *any* bank and yes, even the oft-worshiped credit unions. They can't do anything about it if they don't know there's a problem. They probably have no-fee account options and you might find a better way to handle your money too if you give them a chance. Take a deep breath and relax. If they refuse to work with you, *then* get upset, storm out and rant! :D