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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

When To Pay Up, Negotiate Or Walk Away

When To Pay Up, Negotiate Or Walk Away

It’s 2009 and you’re ready to open a new checking account. Chances are, you scored one for free. These days,,Bears football jerseys cheap, not so much.

According to a Bankrate.com annual checking study, only 45% of non-interest checking accounts are free, down from 76% just two years ago. “We define free checking as completely free—regardless of balance or activity,” says Bankrate’s senior financial analyst Greg McBride.louis vuitton handbag wholesale “We’ve seen the availability of these accounts on a steep decline in recent years, along with record-high ATM and non-sufficient fund fees, making it a not-so-wallet-friendly time to be looking at your banking statements.The North Face Jacket

Add these rising charges to the mounting debate over Bank of America’s recently announced debit card fees and it’s easy to feel like the banking system is working against us at a time when every penny counts. But while there are some new fees (debit card charges) and others are rising, it might be that we’re really no worse off than we were years ago.

According to Joel Ohman,china jewelry store a certified financial planner and founder of the website Credit Card Chaser, while overt fees are on the rise—those that we notice every time we hit the ATM or check our monthly statement—in many cases we’ve been paying them all along. “Recent regulations have clamped down on the less obvious fees associated with banking,,Nike shox shoes,” he says, “Fine printed fees that were easily overlooked. It’s become harder and harder for banks to make money, and the result is the rising costs and fees that are now out in the open.”

“Five years ago it was just the CPAs and engineers who like to dig for numbers in the banking system who were outraged over these charges,” says Ohman. “But with the forced transparency, Joe Schmo is seeing the charges. And Joe Schmo is getting angry.”

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