Citi hiking fees on checking accounts

[Agloco]

http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/04/pf/citi_fee/index.htm?iid=HP_River

First BoA now Citi. No surprises here. :wakeup


The fees keep coming. Citi is the latest big bank to slap customers with a round of fee hikes. This time, on its checking accounts.

Starting in December, customers who hold its mid-level Citibank Account will be charged $20 a month if they fail to maintain a minimum balance of $15,000 in their combined accounts. Previously, account holders had to carry a minimum balance of $6,000

Boutons rant incoming in 3..............2............1..........

[boutons_deux]

nah, nothing to rant about.

it's just the 1% screwing the 99%, yawn

they all will do it, aka, the herd instinct. They can't let the other banks get away with screwing more money of their customers that they don't get themselves.

[CosmicCowboy]

No big deal. If they can get a better deal somewhere else just close the account and move to another bank.

That being said, I can somewhat see the logic. When interest rates were 8% the banks could make enough money on a $6000 minimum deposit to cover the overhead of a checking account. With the Fed funds rate essentially 0% now there is not enough spread on $6000 to cover the cost.

[Jamtas#2]

Well, with the new regulations it has reduced fees banks could charge. I actually liked teh consumer protections that came as a result, but it did cause a decline in revenue so I'm not surprised that they are looking for other ways to recoup those losses.
That's one issue with changing the rules so late in the game. Unfortunately, to avoid them finding ways to make it up it has to be nipped in the bud before they get used to the revenue.

wonder how many consumers take their business elsewhere as a result and leave BOA and citi behind.

[ElNono]

No big deal. If they can get a better deal somewhere else just close the account and move to another bank.

That being said, I can somewhat see the logic. When interest rates were 8% the banks could make enough money on a $6000 minimum deposit to cover the overhead of a checking account. With the Fed funds rate essentially 0% now there is not enough spread on $6000 to cover the cost.

Really? They jacked up the credit card rates between 15%-25%, while they borrow at near 0%. That's the only reason they're penalizing you for using a debit card. They want you to use the credit card.

Credit unions are not having these problems. I don't see them jacking up debit fees. Which is why this shit is going to backfire on BoA, Citi and whoever follows suit.

[ElNono]

Just to add to this, sure, their revenue from debit transactions got capped and went down, but they still make a profit on them.

[Wild Cobra]

The solution is simple. Use credit cards once every 6 months to avoid "maintenance fees" for something cheap, and pay it 100% off as soon as the statement comes. Keep a high credit available for emergencies. Go to a credit union for checking and debit card usage, or use cash only.

[RandomGuy]

No big deal. If they can get a better deal somewhere else just close the account and move to another bank.

That being said, I can somewhat see the logic. When interest rates were 8% the banks could make enough money on a $6000 minimum deposit to cover the overhead of a checking account. With the Fed funds rate essentially 0% now there is not enough spread on $6000 to cover the cost.

The Feds rate is on loans *to* the banks. Banks don't make more money when the Feds rate is high.

Quite the contrary. The virtually free money from the Feds, means that they can borrow oodles of cash for free, then lend that out for a good spread.

Since they have an alternative to depositors' cash, i.e. the almost free money from the Feds, they don't need to suck up the costs.

That, AND, the recent banking reform bill has limited the amounts and ways they can gouge people on interest rates and fees.

Since recent profit gains in banks have been almost exclusively from the fees and so forth that they have garnered, they are under pressure from stockholders to make it up somewhere else.

All of which spells a lot of opportunity for smaller banks and credit unions to pick up customers.

[RandomGuy]

Really? They jacked up the credit card rates between 15%-25%, while they borrow at near 0%. That's the only reason they're penalizing you for using a debit card. They want you to use the credit card.

Credit unions are not having these problems. I don't see them jacking up debit fees. Which is why this shit is going to backfire on BoA, Citi and whoever follows suit.

Well we are getting ready to make the move.

.

[coyotes_geek]

:tu Credit unions are definitely the way to go.

[RandomGuy]

:tu Credit unions are definitely the way to go.

I am beginning to think so. We have a lot of things hooked up to our current checking account, like paypal and so forth, that will need to be changed over, and we will have to set up all of our automatic bill pays again.

it is a pain in the ass, but I am pretty fed up with Frost Bank at this point.

[admiralsnackbar]

:tu Credit unions are definitely the way to go.
+1 (unless you're elligible for USAA)

[CosmicCowboy]

The solution is simple. Use credit cards once every 6 months to avoid "maintenance fees" for something cheap, and pay it 100% off as soon as the statement comes. Keep a high credit available for emergencies. Go to a credit union for checking and debit card usage, or use cash only.

I can even one up that one. I use a Chase Freedom card (no fee) that gives me 1% back on all purchases and 5% back on selected purchases that change every couple of months. I pay that card off completely 2-3 times a month (it's not unusual for me to charge 4K+ a month) and have never paid a dime to Chase.

[MannyIsGod]

I am beginning to think so. We have a lot of things hooked up to our current checking account, like paypal and so forth, that will need to be changed over, and we will have to set up all of our automatic bill pays again.

it is a pain in the ass, but I am pretty fed up with Frost Bank at this point.

Make the switch over the course ofa few months and move everything over slowly but surely.

[MannyIsGod]

I can even one up that one. I use a Chase Freedom card (no fee) that gives me 1% back on all purchases and 5% back on selected purchases that change every couple of months. I pay that card off completely 2-3 times a month (it's not unusual for me to charge 4K+ a month) and have never paid a dime to Chase.

I do the same thing with a capital one card that gives me cash back. I don't spend as much as you :lol but I don't pay any interest and I get some free money.

[Spurminator]

I'm just going to leave this here. Hooray for competition.

http://i.imgur.com/8rlA6.jpg

[MannyIsGod]

Wonder what those people on Wall St are protesting...

[Yonivore]

I'm just going to leave this here. Hooray for competition.
Hmmm....I don't see Frost Bank or, for that matter, any of the hundreds (if not thousands) of other banks and credit unions that provide all the same services as the four major banks you listed.

By the way, I don't have an account with any of the four.

[Yonivore]

Wonder what those people on Wall St are protesting...
So do I.

[MannyIsGod]

So do I.

Thats only because you can't be bothered to read the very threads you post in but would rather spread your idiocy over more of them.

You're an intellectual sloth.

[hitmanyr2k]

One of the great benefits of being from a military family is I've been with a credit union my whole life. My father told me banks are for suckers and from what I've been seeing he's absolutely correct. I've been trying to get my wife to jump to my credit union for awhile to take advantage of low interest rates and no fees. Every time I hear her complaining about her bank I just shake my head.

[boutons_deux]

Yoni, who digs deep against the Dems, claims ignorance of why they are protesting, with the implication that, and because that, they don't know what they are protesting.

[scott]

Credit Unions and Mutually Owned banks have long been the way to go, this only futhers that.

[Yonivore]

You're an intellectual sloth.
This place is an intellectual cesspool. That I prefer to throw rocks on the surface and watch them slowly sink instead of mucking around in the shit, with you, is, I believe, to my benefit.

[MannyIsGod]

You can keep telling yourself that you're better than everyone here but not one person here believes it. Your history of being wrong and lazy is well documented in these very pages.

You're quick to discount great posts from people such as Scott, Agloco, FWDT, ElNono and others who provide great insight on subjects in which they are experts in because its provides you with cover but the problem is that I doubt anyone is buying it. You can keep trying to convince yourself, however.

Its much like your epiphany post where you made a public post saying you were going to be a better poster (at which you've failed - miserably) while simultaneously trying to claim you didn't care what anyone thought about you. It was a rather funny dichotomy not unlike you constantly visiting here yet complaining about it being an intellectual cesspool.

There are bad posters and not every thread is created equal but to act as if you have nothing to gain by being less lazy is flat out laughable; especially when viewed in light of how often you're simply factually incorrect. For someone who's above it all, you sure do get simple shit wrong quite often.

[Yonivore]

You can keep telling yourself that you're better than everyone here but not one person here believes it. Your history of being wrong and lazy is well documented in these very pages.
What are you, a girl?


You're quick to discount great posts from people such as Scott, Agloco, FWDT, ElNono and others who provide great insight on subjects in which they are experts in because its provides you with cover but the problem is that I doubt anyone is buying it. You can keep trying to convince yourself, however.
scott, Agloco and, to some degree FWDT, but ElNono? Give me a break; he's nothing but a troll. As for the others, I've engaged them in a back and forth, in this forum, just because I don't always agree or that they're unsuccessful in persuading me doesn't mean I discount their opinions.

I think scott has put me in my place, several times, on matter concerning the petroleum industry. Agloco is new to me so, we don't have much of a history. And FWDT being an "expert" in the law is subjective...there are plenty that are schooled in the law that aren't "experts." He could be another.


Its much like your epiphany post where you made a public post saying you were going to be a better poster...
I've tried and, except for the cadre of trolls that have taken up following me around, I think I've been rather civil.


...(at which you've failed - miserably)...
Agreed.


...while simultaneously trying to claim you didn't care what anyone thought about you.
I don't.


It was a rather funny dichotomy not unlike you constantly visiting here yet complaining about it being an intellectual cesspool.
Well, I took a rather long break, not too long ago, but ventured back out of boredom. And, I remember the cesspool out behind my grandmother's house; It was fun to throw stuff in and see how long the muck would keep it afloat. That didn't mean I wanted to jump in and swim around in it.

If you don't think this place is an intellectual cesspool, just look at some of the crap that gets thrown around in here.


There are bad posters and not every thread is created equal but to act as if you have nothing to gain by being less lazy is flat out laughable; especially when viewed in light of how often you're simply factually incorrect. For someone who's above it all, you sure do get simple shit wrong quite often.
Give me a demonstrable fact on which I've been wrong and didn't admit it, and I'll admit it; probably for the second time. But don't get butthurt if I disagree with what you claim is fact, just because I happen to dispute it.

[Wild Cobra]

I can even one up that one. I use a Chase Freedom card (no fee) that gives me 1% back on all purchases and 5% back on selected purchases that change every couple of months. I pay that card off completely 2-3 times a month (it's not unusual for me to charge 4K+ a month) and have never paid a dime to Chase.
Credit cards are great if people use them for convenience, rather than racking up debt. Just wish I didn't let my debt grow to where it is. I'm paying almost $50 a month in combined interest now. That is may fault though. Not theirs. Shit, my ex pays is over $10,000 in debt worth credit cards, and I use to think she was better at budgeting then me.

[MannyIsGod]

I never said you wouldn't admit it. I just pointed out that for someone who claims to have no reason to read the things posted here (especially when they are answers to the questions you ask :lmao ) you sure are wrong a lot. Someone who thinks they have nothing to gain shouldn't be wrong so often. And I'm not even talking about ideas that are subjective.

You can think this place is a cesspool if you want. Once again, no skin off my back. I just find it ironic considering you're one of the ones who does nothing to elevate the place and does the exact opposite. I guess its one way of justifying how vile of a poster you are.

[Wild Cobra]

I'm just going to leave this here. Hooray for competition.

http://i.imgur.com/8rlA6.jpg
Looks incomplete. Where's US Bank? Probably missing others.

[Yonivore]

I never said you wouldn't admit it. I just pointed out that for someone who claims to have no reason to read the things posted here (especially when they are answers to the questions you ask :lmao ) you sure are wrong a lot.
That's a mischaracterization. I said I have no reason to dig around the pages I've missed (because I don't spend every minute in here following a thread) to find out what YOU say on a topic. If you can't repeat something, for the benefit of some that are just joining a multi-page thread, fine. It probably won't prevent me from asking you to repeat it.


Someone who thinks they have nothing to gain shouldn't be wrong so often. And I'm not even talking about ideas that are subjective.
Disagreeing with me often doesn't make me wrong often.


You can think this place is a cesspool if you want. Once again, no skin off my back.
Well, it's certainly not a think tank.


I just find it ironic considering you're one of the ones who does nothing to elevate the place and does the exact opposite.
I would think my characterization of this being a cesspool would be consistent with your characterization I do nothing to elevate the place. What am I missing?


I guess its one way of justifying how vile of a poster you are.
Vile? Tell me how you really feel, Manny. (not that I care, of course).