free checking

Wells Fargo stopped offering free checking to new customers in 2010, but if you already had it, they didn't take it away. Now, it's introducing a $7 monthly charge in six (thus far, unidentified) states for customers with those formerly free checking accounts.

As many as 60 million Americans have limited or no access to banking services, and many of them will get tax refunds this spring. Typically, this is where payday lenders come in, cashing the checks for big fees, but now there's a new cashier offering to do it for much less: Walmart.

Credit unions, mid-size banks and online institutions are eagerly stepping up to capture banking customers who are fed up with increasing fees at the biggest banks. And so far, it seems, those big banks don't mind losing their business.

Big Wall Street banks haven't been winning many fans lately with their new fees and constant search for loopholes in the Obama administration's consumer protection laws. Bank of America's new fees on debit cards could be the last straw for some. The alternative many Americans are turning to -- credit unions.

Bank of America's announcement this week that it would start charging a monthly $5 fee for using a debit card to make purchases is the latest in banking industry upcharges. As fee-free options for banking dwindle, the bottom line is that consumers are paying more to use their own money.

Consumers' wallets are really getting the squeeze these days as banks continue to raise ATM and bounced check fees. Meanwhile, the percentage of free checking accounts is on a steady decline, according to a new Bankrate survey.

You might assume that free checking is one of those banking benefits on the way out, but that's not the case: More than a third of checking accounts charge no monthly service fee. But that doesn't mean that banks don't expect to profit from your checking business. Here are the fees that make "free" a highly inappropriate designation -- and how you can avoid them.

The concept of "free checking" has always been somewhat fraught with inaccuracies. Yes, you may have an account that doesn't have a monthly fee, but if you review your annual statements, you may discover that you have, indeed, paid for this, whether it's an amazingly high cost for checks (does it...

Despite a federal law requiring full disclosure of all fees, many banks continue to give consumers the runaround, according to a recent report from the national consumer advocacy group U.S. PIRG. During a six-month survey of 392 bank and credit union branches in 21 states (as well as 12 online...

Now that BB&T has become the latest major bank to announce the end of free checking, untold thousands of additional cash-strapped consumers are desperately trying to find a way to make ends meet without getting hit by usurious fees. A trade group representing the prepaid debit card industry...