Recently, I found myself accumulating a number of banking mistakes that created a good dose of bank fees for me. I also became worried about the now scrapped banking fee being considered to slap a levy of five bucks on debit card users, I began to look seriously at ways to avoid bank fees that are now in place by speaking with my friend, webmaster for my website and former bank employee Mr. Jim West. Here are some of the ways to avoid bank fees that he came up with right off the top of his head.
Read Bank Notifications
A lot of the mail that comes to you from the bank may seem like junk, however, it’s important to take time to read over those mailings. Banks always notify you ahead of time prior to implementing new fees, or increasing old ones. If these changes are about to occur, you need to be aware of them so that you can find out if these changes apply to you, and if so, what you possibly can do to avoid them.
Shop Around
Do your homework by looking into what other banks charge for fees, if they have as many fees as your current bank or if some of the fees that apply to you with the current bank are not in place somewhere else. It’s also worthwhile to look into credit unions. I ended up switching to one of these mostly because they generally have lower fees than banks and have a well known reputation for providing great customer service. I can confirm this in my own banking experience. I’m very happy with the recent switch I made and found that the customer service at my credit union is much better. I can access someone every time I call.
Exemptions
Maintaining a minimum balance will often times gain you some fee exemptions at a lot of banks, so it’s worth your time to check into that as well. Or there are those banks that forgo fees if you’re a customer of theirs that maintains a few different accounts with them.
It’s also helpful to check into whether or not there are charges that may be incurred from using counter checks or reactivating a closed account you may have had. Everything adds up.
ATM Usage
It’s imperative to be wise about ATM use, especially if you end up getting money from an ATM outside of your network because its more convenient. These fees add up in no time when you’re on the go and cannot find other ways to get your hands on your cash. Make a point of becoming aware of where all of your own networks have their ATM located and when you find yourself in those neighborhoods give that ATM a visit.
Source: Personal experience