How do banks generate much of their revenues? It often goes unnoticed but banks benefit greatly from bank charges posed on account holders. Actually, many account users often feel as though they have been charged for the thing they never saw coming.
One big pain is the understanding of your bank’s special charges and under which circumstances they may be levied against you. The basic principle behind bank charges is simple. It is the way for banks to charge you for all the extra services that you may or may not be aware that you are receiving.
These can unfortunately be quite unfair for some consumers as bank charges can be very difficult or impossible to reverse except under the most extreme of circumstances. This means that an innocent error can compound into charge after charge until the user is losing significant sums of money.
The worst thing that a bank user can do is assume that many of their banks “services” are free. It is not unlikely for some banks to levy bank charges for relatively small errors. These include problems as simple as using your ATM card more than your contract allows in a year or using more cheque books than you were allocated for the full year. One very serious problem is if you are forced to use an ATM from another bank.
In this case you will probably be charged fees by both banks. These can build into large sums quite quickly. These are just normal services that many people would assume were just part of any package. Unfortunately, this is not much of a defense when talking to a representative. Ignorance is not always bliss.
The best way that you can possibly defend against unexpected bank charges is to fully look through all the papers and contracts describing every service for your account. Reading the fine print can really pay off in money saved through careful banking.
If you want to have a bank account then you need to understand the many charges that banks can levy. Remember that there is no free lunch anywhere. Your bank is not your enemy, but it is not going to be your best friend either. They have little incentive to not charge a fee when they do you any favors that they do not have to do.