Clevelanders are better off buying a pack of gum and asking for cash back at a convenience store than they are using an ATM, as a new report from BankRate shows that Cleveland charges some of the highest fees in the country for out-of-network ATM use.
Cleveland is tied for the 6th highest out-of-network charge with the D.C. metro area, with an average charge of $4.92. The high fees are combined by a double-dip in charges, as there’s a surcharge from the ATM owner for non-customers and a fee from the user’s personal bank.
The national average is $4.68, a full 36 percent higher than it was in 2008. ATM surcharge prices have increased 19 times over the past 20 years, reaching a record high for the 14th year in a row.
Cleveland isn’t solely to blame for the high fees, but our surcharge fees are still higher than all but five metros in the country. Luckily, the average overdraft fee took a slight dip, but it’s still the second-highest that it’s ever been in history.
We’re tied with Miami in 11th place for highest overdraft charges, at a whopping $33.42 for going over.
Enrolling in overdraft protection programs can help alleviate the charges, but many banks only offer the protection as a one-time assistance, and will charge fees if an additional overdraft is drawn.
Despite the political pressures for banks to eliminate overdraft fees, a huge source of bank revenue is sourced to those fees. Bankrate predicts that overdraft fees won’t be going away any time soon.
This article appears in Oct 10-16, 2018.
I’ve mostly had no overdraft coverage for my checking accounts after a hacker attack cleaned out both my Key Bank Checking Balance, and the $1,500 in automatic overdraft protection which is essentially a ‘line of credit’, without recourse or reimbursement.
Now I avoid overdraft protections on my other fee-free different checking accounts, but always make sure leave $1 in ‘reserve,’ so I can get a $65 gas tank fill up free loan, by paying at the pump with my Checking Debit Card.
(The pump pings your debit card account for $1, then settles up through VISA or MC at day’s end.)
Since it is technically the bank’s “payment system error”, you’ve got a fee-free loan for almost as long as you need it, or if the branch gets pissed, and closes the account, a timely complaint to the Federal Credit Protection Bureau, or US Comptroller of Currency brings a quick apology from the Bank’s Office of the Chairman, and a restoration of your checking account to active status.
Like most taxes fall on the poor who dont have the leverage to stop them, (sin tax, capital gain cuts), cleveland is like a poor citizen who pays and pays because it is weak.
The failure of our city and its leadership to do anything aside from higher taxes to improve the lot of the region is shameful.
We get what we voted for.