One of the realities of banking is that there are fees involved. And, interestingly, the bigger the bank, the bigger the fees. It is rather frustrating to read about bailouts of big banks, only to find that very large percentages of their profits come from fees. So, not only are your taxes going to help prop up these big banks, but you also prop them up through the fees you pay. The Service Employees International Union estimates (since banks don’t reveal it) that J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America all make more than 70% of their profits from …read more

One of the ways that banks make a great deal of money is through overdraft charges. When you exceed the amount of money you have in your checking account, the bank charges you an extra fee. This can be anywhere between $25 and $45 per transaction. That’s right per transaction. Consider that you have $20 in your account, and you make the following transactions:

$15 for a book.
$6 for coffee and a pastry.
$3 for parking.

Now, that $6 transaction put you $1 over your limit. You will be charged, on average, $39 for that transaction. And, of course, you will also be …read more