Strategy to Combat Bank Service Charges Under Attack

/in , , , , , , /by

Bank fee income has come under attack once again by the regulators and what can you do about it? Four fee income producing products that all banks offer will be curtailed with recent changes to regulatory guidance.

  1. The banking industry has charged fees for returned checks on consumer accounts for as long as most of us have been in banking. Some regulators don’t like banks charging for second presentment of a returned check even though that practice is fully disclosed. Since it is difficult to determine if an item is being presented a second time, some banks have discontinued charging for NSF items.
  2. Getting consumers to opt in for debit card caused overdrafts has been around since July 2010 as required by the Federal Reserve. The nearly 15 year old regulation requires banks to send a confirmation when a consumer opts in. Now the regulators want you to a) get a signature on the A-9 form or b) record all calls where the consumer opts in for the service. Reducing the number of opt-ins will substantially decrease your bank’s fee income.
  3. Now the CFPB wants to limit what your bank can charge for an overdraft or NSF item. The maximum fee is $5 or whatever it costs you to process the item. Most community banks charge $25-$35 per NSF item so this will once again substantially reduce fee income.
  4. Lastly, six months ago there was a Federal Reserve proposal to cap the debit card interchange that your bank receives. Likewise, there is a Credit Card Competition Act that the Senate is currently looking at. The result of these actions would reduce interchange and or swipe fees for banks.

Since 2011, Strunk’s Secure Checking program has helped hundreds of banks provide features to their consumer checking accounts for a small monthly fee. Consumers like the benefits offered and they don’t mind paying for them. In many cases those same consumers are paying quite a lot more elsewhere. Much like the Overdraft Privilege strategy, Secure Checking generates a considerable amount of customer loyalty and goodwill while the bank increases fee income by at least $50 per account per year.

Contact Strunk at 800.728.3116 or info@strunkaccess.com to find out more about our proven strategies to increase income. Have a great 2025!

An independent certified public accountant has examined Strunk’s operations and found them to be in compliance with the AICPA’s Trust Service Principles. It was determined that Strunk meets the Security, Availability, Processing Integrity, Confidentiality, and Privacy criteria for SOC 2 established by the AICPA.