No More Sneaky Fees
Companies collect billions by nickel-and-diming you. It's time to stop letting them get away with it.
From Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, July 2008
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Think you've never been charged a sneaky fee by your bank, broker, credit-card issuer or cell-phone provider? Then you haven't looked at your bills very closely. The Internet has made it easy to comparison shop with a few clicks, so companies find it tougher to raise prices. As a result, they've taken to boosting revenue by adding fees on the back end.
In 2007, Americans paid almost $30 billion in fees to credit-card issuers,reports R.K. Hammer, a bankcard advisory firm. "Companies figure they'll throw in as many fees as they can and a large percentage of people won't complain," says Bob Sullivan, author of Gotcha Capitalism.
SAVE MONEY ON FEES | |||
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SLIDE SHOW: Save $5363 a Year | ||
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How We Beat the Fees | ||
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SLIDE SHOW: Pesky Fees We Can't Stand | ||
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Share Your Most Annoying Fees | ||
Don't be one of them. If your bank, for example, suddenly slaps a $5 monthly fee on your checking account, you're not necessarily bound to pay it. In fact, you can save thousands of dollars a year if you pick your battles and fight smart. Sullivan has his own tactics:
Call during business hours. Few managers are available on weekends, and you won't get the cream of the crop among lower-level representatives. At Gethuman.com, you can find codes that let you circumvent company phone trees.
Do your research and flex your muscle. Tabulate how much money you've spent with the company, which can boost your bargaining power. If you think you've been treated unfairly, don't hesitate to say you're considering a letter to the state attorney general.
Don't waste your time. A $2 fee may get your goat, but you can't afford to fight every charge. Your chances of winning are directly correlated to how much leverage you have. With financial services, such as banking and credit, "consumers ultimately hold all the power because they can vote with their feet," says Greg McBride, of Bankrate.com. In fact, a survey for Sullivan's book found that customers who complain to credit-card companies get results 65% of the time.
Below, we show you how to avoid the most annoying fees -- and save $5,000 (or more) a year.
Reader Comments (7)
Posted by: Dan Draper at 06/21/2008 08:41:44 AM
well call me simpleminded but . . . normally when someone takes money without permission it is called Theft. it seems that in this electronic age "NO BUSINESS" can be conducted except by accepting terms and conditions... often spelled on pages not associated with the cursory acceptance form(another part of the required agreement) it takes so much time most just click and go on thus agreeing (to the added charges without full knowledge)...many are Laughing as they read this and More than a few will be outraged by my Opinion. Most will probably just ignore the problem and suffer the loss un-knowingly. In the end Honest Hard-Working Citizens of today and the Retired folks Like Myself Don't want to fight to keep what we have already earned as it is supposed to be ours...now the problem is apparent only the Aggressively Decietful ("CREATIVE") are allowed to be in charge to collectively take the "hardearned" Property and money from those who can be Bullied into submission...
Posted by: brian at 08/26/2008 03:29:53 PM
was there a point to that rant, Dan?...
Posted by: Nats at 09/20/2008 12:11:56 PM
AOL charges me $7.00 per month to automatically take out their monthly fee from my checking account. Nice.
Posted by: Paul Guimond at 11/06/2008 04:44:39 PM
I work at a bank and I understand some people's frustration. Yes there are ways to avoid the ATM fees like at the grocery store. As for the terms and conditions length, you are right they are long only because consumers force the regulators to micro manage banks to disclose every little thing so that you now feel overwhelmed and are willing to anything in order to speed things up. I encourage you to do the reading because when it comes to your money, you should be aware of what is going on.
Posted by: Lisa at 12/17/2008 10:30:50 AM
I was attempting to pay off First Equity in full and they informed me I would still get a bill for the 30 day cycle for cash advances. How is that?
Posted by: done with big banks at 01/15/2009 09:18:30 PM
Chase Bank offered me 3.99% life of the balance on a transfer years ago. I accepted and kept up my end of the deal. Just before it was paid off at the end of 2008, they issued "change of terms" and informed me that they'd be slapping me with $10/month maintenance fee on my account. When I asked, it was because the cost of doing business on my accout was too high so they were changing the game. As of the first of 2009, my balance was $0 and they still charged the fee. I closed the acct promptly. Isn't it enough that my government takes so much of my money and gives it away?? Does my bank have to victimize me because they loaned money to people that can't/won't pay it back? "We reserve the right to change your terms any damn time we feel the need no matter what. We really don't care about how we treat our customers." Ah, the big bank mantra.
Posted by: Done with Chase too! at 01/19/2009 06:17:18 AM
My husband and I received our Chase statement recently with the additional $10 monthly service fee and our minimum payment went from $125 to $300. We got the same response as the other posting...the cost of doing business. To which my husband told them that we will not be paying for thier financial blunders. We will be paying this card off asap and closing this account!