Banking fees hit all-time highs, survey finds

NORTH PALM BEACH — Bankrate Inc. said Wednesday that banking fees have hit all-time highs in several areas, including ATM surcharges, bounced check fees and monthly service fees on interest checking accounts.

The research is compiled in Bankrate's fall 2007 Checking Study.

Key Findings of the study are:

— The average bounced check fee hits a record high of $28.23.

— The average ATM surcharge hits a new high of $1.78.

— The most prevalent ATM surcharge is now $2.00, up from $1.50 in previous surveys.

— The ATM surcharge is assessed by 99 percent of the banks in the survey.

— It takes an average of nearly $1,000 to open a checking account and earn interest.

— The average balance required to avoid fees on an interest checking account is now more than $3,300.

— 68 percent of non-interest checking accounts have no monthly service fee or balance requirement.

— Online banks are offering free checking accounts with yields as high as 5 percent

— The fee charged by banks when their customers go to another bank's ATM remains the lowest since 2002 at $1.25.

How much can additional fees cost you? Greg McBride, CFA, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com offers the following examples:

— Make one ATM withdrawal per week from another bank's ATM -- paying a $2 surcharge and $1.25 fee to your own bank -- costs a total of $169 over the course of one year.

—  Overdrawing your checking account or bouncing a check just 4 times per year is throwing away more than $100 annually — not including any additional fees the merchant might charge.

— Interest checking accounts can cost you dearly. Fail to maintain the required balance and you'll be docked an average of $11.72 each month. This adds up to $140 per year, and is completely avoidable by getting a free checking account.