Just realized my bank's 'free' checking was costing me $15 a month in fees I never noticed

I was looking over my Chase statements from the last 6 months and found $90 in monthly service fees that I thought were waived because of direct deposit. Turns out my deposit of $800 a month wasn't enough to meet their $1,500 minimum requirement. Has anyone else caught their bank sneaking fees like this on a basic account?

4 comments

4 Comments

robin62823d ago

Might just be a simple misunderstanding, not really a hidden fee.

murphy.aaron23d ago

Has anyone actually read the fine print on these things lately? I feel like companies hide stuff in there on purpose, knowing people will just scroll through and agree. A misunderstanding would be if it was stated clearly somewhere, but half the time they bury it in a paragraph that's got the same font size as the disclaimers on a shampoo bottle. I've caught stuff before where the "free trial" automatically signs you up for a monthly subscription unless you cancel within 48 hours. That's not a misunderstanding, that's designed to catch people off guard. If it was truly an honest mistake, they'd make it right without you having to fight for it.

tessa_murray23d ago

Yeah exactly. I've seen that trick so many times. The 48 hour thing is a dead giveaway they know what they're doing. Most people don't check their email for two days after signing up for something, especially if it's a weekend. They count on you forgetting. And the part about making it right - that's the real test. If you call customer service and they immediately refund you without any pushback, then maybe it was a mistake. But if they give you the runaround or say "it's in the terms you agreed to," they knew exactly what they were doing from the start. That's not a misunderstanding, that's a trap.

mark_carr723d ago

But doesn't that just prove the point that they're banking on nobody reading it? lol If it was really a simple misunderstanding, they'd put the important stuff in plain sight instead of hiding it in the fine print. Companies know exactly what they're doing when they bury the "you're signing up for a subscription" part in tiny text.