New Reforms Have Reigned in Bank Fees, BUT….

New regulatory laws are lessening excessive bank fees, and that helps the consumer. But, banks are not taking this reduction lying down. Pennypinchinghints.com warns you to watch out for new bank fees coming along.

Here are some areas that can help bank consumers but some warnings for those consumers, too.

Interest rates on credit card late payments will be regulated, BUT know you can lose rewards. It will require more shopping around to get reward deals now.

On July 1, 2010, all new customers for ATM and debits card transactions will be able to pick whether or not they want overdraft protection. Before, overdraft protection was added automatically. Older customers will also be able to opt-out of overdraft protects as of August 13, 2010. Opting out of overdraft protection saves you money. Debit card overdrafts often result in $30-$40 fees for each transaction. BUT, now that banks can not charge fees on debit card and ATM overdrafts, do watch out for extended overdraft fees. If you keep running your account in the minus column for 10 consecutive days, banks are considering charging you a $25 extended overdraft fee, and after 20 consecutive days, they will levy another $25 fee. Read the fine print of your debit card contract.

Consumers gain with debit cards and ATM transactions, BUT checking accounts will not have regulations on overdraft fees. Banks can still charge high fees for overdraft checks. Make sure you compare overdraft fees from bank to bank on checks or ask for low balance alerts or ask for a blocking service which will disallow any transactions from going forward on a $0 balance. It is also wise to keep enough money in your checking account that will cover monthly bills and then provide a cushion. Or, you can also make a link from your checking to other lines of credit like you savings account or credit card account. Transfers from one account to another are usually much lower at $5 to $10 versus overdraft fees.

There will be new regulations to keep retailer costs for interchange fees for customers buying with their debits cards at more reasonable rates. As a result, retailers will not be charged exorbitant fees. BUT, banks may now try to charge costumers who do not keep certain balances pay fees. Banks are also thinking about charging $10 or more to the debit card holder for debit card transactions.

New laws will tamper down bank charges to consumers, BUT one thing that will be gone is the free checking account, especially for those basic checking accounts that do not have a lot of activity. What can you do? Besides shopping around from bank to bank for competitive savings, you should also consider using credit unions that have lower banking fees and charges.

Perhaps the best thing you can do to protect yourself as banks feel the new regulatory pinch and try to recoup their losses is to read all the correspondence from you bank. They will not advertise their new fess and charges, BUT they must inform you of them. Look at each piece of mail that comes into your mail box. If you find a new fee or charge, start shopping around for a better banking deal.