Citibank will charge some customers up to $20 per month for low account balances starting later this year. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
@WiL
Starting in December, the bank will charge customers of its Easy Checking Package, previously a free service, $15 per month if an account’s checking and saving balance does not total a minimum of $6,000, according to the LAT. Citibank also will charge customers of its mid-level Citi Account package $20 per month for a combined account balance of less than $15,000, an increase from $6,000, starting in November, according to the LAT.
These fees follow Citibank’s announcement in September that it would charge Basic Checking customers $10 per month on checking and savings accounts with a combined balance of less than $1,500.
Citibank emphasized in an interview with The Huffington Post that most customers can switch to Basic Checking if they would like to avoid fees, so long as they maintain a minimum $1,500 balance. The bank also noted that Basic Checking customers with less than $1,500 in their accounts can avoid paying the fee by making “one direct deposit and one online bill payment during each monthly statement period.”
These are the latest in a slew of new fees by major banks that say they are struggling to raise revenue because of new regulations that limit the amount of money they can gain from overdraft fees and debit-card swipe fees, among others.
Bank of America recently announced that it plans to charge its debit card users $5 per month starting early next year. Wells Fargo will start charging debit card users $3 per month this fall.
JPMorgan Chase tested ATM fees for non-network customers earlier this year, charging $5 in Illinois and $4 in Texas, but they ultimately ended the plan. The banks Regions Financial Corp. and SunTrust Banks Inc. have decided to charge $4 and $5 per month, respectively, for some of their debit card users, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
