Banks Roll Out New Check, Card Fees

George Bailey was right; Mr. Potter doesn't care about you or your family and neither do today's largest banks. The best prescription for the financial chaos of the past year, we believe, is to move your money to small community banks or credit unions.

New Charges Seek to Get Ahead of New Federal Rules Limiting Increases in Interest Rates


From The Wall Street Journal
By Robin Sidel

The nation's banks will be bombarding customers with new fees and products in 2010 as they try to replace more than $50 billion in revenue wiped out by new rules that clamp down on certain business practices.

So far, the changes are mostly concentrated in checking accounts and credit cards. In addition to attaching new fees to old products, banks are introducing new types of accounts that they hope will reel in new customers and reduce their funding costs.

For plastic, the new rules go into effect in February as part of the Credit Card Act of 2009. The rules will limit some interest-rate increases, require more disclosure to customers and prohibit banks from raising interest rates on current balances unless a customer is at least 60 days behind in a payment.

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