For their Op-Ed piece “Healthy Credit,” The New York Times enlisted the directors of Design for Democracy, a “nonprofit group that promotes accessible and transparent civic communications,” to design a Credit Card Facts box much like the Nutrition Facts Box made standard with the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990. Here are the results:

While a Nutrition Facts box doesn’t tell us everything we should know about a food product, we, similarly wouldn’t expect a Credit Card Facts box to tell us everything. But requiring credit card companies to highlight the most important aspects of a credit card agreement would pair nicely with the recently signed legislation designed to protect consumers against unfair fees and penalties (recently described in the article “What the Credit Card Holder’s Bill of Rights Means to You” over at Mint.com). We at FABB support the NYTimes and Design for Democracy’s “Credit Card Facts” box design, and hope that this design or a similar one will help both the consumers with credit cards and the companies who offer them by clarifying the contractual agreement before costly misunderstandings occur.
 

(via Paul Michael at WiseBread.)

 
Not only does Karney paint a great picture of the problem with overdraft fees in today’s banking system, but he also demonstrates how a little bit of push-back by you, the account holder, can make a difference.

We’ve seen this push-back at a larger scale with the class action lawsuit against Bank of America filed on behalf of many of the bank’s customers. The Consumerist describes the case and provides a link where you can claim your $78 share here (must be completed by May 1). Overdraft fees are a huge problem for us and have only gotten worse (see our FABB Snapshot: Overdrawing Accounts Rises As Economy Worsens). Consumer Union estimates consumers were charged $7.8 billion last year in overdraft fees related to debit cards and ATM withdrawals, while the FDIC reports that in 2006, 74% of service charges on deposit accounts were overdraft-related fees (pdf). Still, what we as consumers want isn’t a way to get overdraft fees reimbursed–we want a fair culture within banks that results in reasonable fees and easy-to-understand procedures.

Of course, there are two sides of this coin–the banks’ fees and the consumer’s negligence. Because we consumers as a whole haven’t paid enough attention and given properly organized criticism to these policies, these fees were introduced and became standard over time. Now we can call the practices “unfair,” but unfortunately rhetorical consonance alone need not result in literal payback. As more of us pay close attention to our finances, we begin to wonder: how do they get away with charging $38 for a latte…really? (video) Will social networking sites like Twitter help people organize to change practices by large banks? (For examples of consumer frustration, see the results of a search for “#BofA” or, even worse, a search for “#BankOfAmerica” on Twitter.)

But Not ALL banks charge terribly high overdraft fees; in fact, there are many banks that charge no fees or fees comparable to the inconvenience of the overdraft. Here’s a(n incomplete) list of banks that offer no-fee overdraft protection through a savings account or a line of credit with at least one of their accounts. We don’t intend this list to be our recommendation or stamp of approval, only the facts–if you have an account at one of these banks or are thinking of opening one, make sure you pick the right form of overdraft protection. You could save yourself hundreds of dollars and a whole lotta stress.

Many banks today advertise ‘bonus options’ for their accounts that are already industry standard. If you’ve been the customer of only one bank for sometime, you may not know that other banks already offer account features that advertise as ‘new and free!’ or ‘coming soon!’ Here’s a list of features that are virtually industry standard. If your bank doesn’t offer these features, or if they advertise them as “NEW FREE” features, you may benefit from checking out a new bank. Chances are if your bank is behind the times with that feature, they’re are a number of other features that a better bank could offer you.

 

“Free Debit Card!”

This was a great discount when debit cards were first issued in the 70’s, but at this point, so many bank customers use ATMs and commit electronic transactions that most banks will lose customers if they don’t offer these. Still, many major banks charge card holders for debit cards. Make sure they’re not slipping in that $1 monthly fee without you knowing!
 

“Free Online Banking…!”

While initial skepticism about the safety of online banking kept many away, online banking now has an unprecedented amount of security. But it isn’t free for banks to offer online banking, so the question is: should it be free? Again, the bank wants to keep your service, and to do so, it must offer great features. Most major banks at this time do offer online banking where you can check your balance, transfer money between account, and export your account data into tools like Quicken or MSMoney. And all of this for FREE.
 

“…And Free Bill Pay!”

While bill pay is more complicated and expensive for banks to offer, there plenty of banks that allow you to schedule bill payments for free online.
 

“Free Introductory Checks!”

That initial offering of free checks is benefitical to you and to the bank because it familiarizes you with and gets you into the habit of using checks (which you’ll later have to buy). You shouldn’t have a problem finding a checking acconut that offers a free introductory box of checks. And many premium accounts come with free checks for the life of the account!
 

“Free Rewards Program!”

Many banks offer rewards programs for items like digital cameras, airline milage, and cash back, but the benefits of the program don’t need to be great. ANY sort of rewards program, (even one where you could earn points only toward porcelain toasters) can be called a rewards program. Make sure you know what you’re getting into with a free rewards program–while they can be good advertisement for the bank, a bad program is easy for a bank to offer.
 

There are two ways you can get your account information into these tools–

1. You can manually download the information through your online banking site.

2. You can establish a ‘direct connection’ or ‘web connection’ and download the information automatically.

The second is easier for those who aren’t internet-savvy. Yet many banks will charge if you want your account information automatically imported, while the manual download is free.

So how can you avoid this fee?

First–Contact your bank or look at their site to find out if they offer the account information for free manual download. If you reach them by phone, they can often walk you through this process. Be sure to record what you do. It may seem arduous at first, but after doing it a couple times, your muscle memory will take you to the right page easily, and downloading the information will be as easy as clicking on an ‘import’ button.

Second–if they do offer manual downloads, log into your online banking account.

Click on the account you want to download.

Then, find the ‘download’ link.

Double check you’re getting the information for the right account, the right time period, and for the right money management software.

Then open up your money management software and import the account information (usually found by clicking on ‘File’ in the menu bar and then ‘Import’).

While it’s not this simple for every money management tool, these are the basics. And this import process could save you the cost of ‘direct connect’ or ‘web connect,’ programs (up to $15 a month, depending on your bank).

Additional Link:

- About.com’s video titled “Set up an online bank checking account in Quicken” shows both the automatic import set up instructions as well as manual download instructions (which start at 1:40).

]]> http://blog.findabetterbank.com/fee-watch-dodge-the-cost-of-money-management-software-imports/feed/ 0 http://blog.findabetterbank.com/fee-watch-over-the-phone-money-transfers/ http://blog.findabetterbank.com/fee-watch-over-the-phone-money-transfers/#comments Wed, 04 Mar 2009 12:34:32 +0000 Andrew http://blog.findabetterbank.com/?p=94

via allposters.com

Many people use online banking to transfer money between their bank accounts, but sometimes when you’re running around, it’s easier to make the transfer over the phone.

When you move money from your checking to your savings account, no real money travels anywhere. It’s only a change in the bank’s records, and their only expense  is tracking that change. With computers automatically recording those transfers, it’s pretty cheap. That’s why most banks offer free transfers through online banking. There is little costs to them because you tell the computer what to do.

But when a customer service agent tells the computer what to do, it’s a different story. The bank is paying that person to answer phones. And now that you can make the transfer yourself through online banking, they figure the cost for their employee to make the transfer should go to you:

“You want me to transfer the money? Done! Just so you know, there’s a five dollar charge for that.”

It’s not ideal, but it’s a reality.

But there are solutions.

First, it’s not impolite to ask the agent if the bank charges you for over-the-phone transfers. Query before the transfer, or, better yet, before you even open the account! (If you search for a new bank with FindABetterBank.com, you can find out if a bank will charge for this by reading the “assisted telephone banking” notes.)

Your other option: Check if your bank offers mobile banking. With most mobile banking programs, you can transfer money between your accounts using your web-enabled phone or through text messaging. At the end of the day, this might be a better choice anyways: you avoid waiting on hold and you receive quick confirmation that the transfer occured.

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