To the Editor:
A senior citizen friend has had a checking account with a local bank for over 40 years and never paid any
fees or extra charges. Last May and June, they charged her $25 each month for her checking account. The
bank told her the $25 related to the type of checking account that she had, so they changed her to a
different account with no fees. In September and October, they charged her $5 for receiving paper
statements. We decided it was time to change banks.
I have an account at another bank were I pay no fees, get paper statements and get free checks (I was
grandfathered in on the “free checks” deal). My friend now pays no fees and gets paper statements each
month. Outside of her initial checks, she will have to buy checks. Because she might have some
outstanding checks at the old bank, we got a bank check for most of her account and left a small amount
to cover outstanding checks. The bank charged her $8 for getting a bank check. With her new bank, she
can get one bank check each day at no cost. When we closed the account at the old bank, she was charged
$7 for closing her account.
Old bank: $25 each month for having a checking account; $5 each month for getting paper statements; $8
for getting a bank check and $7 for closing her account.
New bank: Free checking, free paper statement and one free bank check each day.
Another friend who is not a senior citizen has a checking account with another bank. She writes one check
a month and gets a paper statement. The bank charges her $11 each month.
I checked with my bank and they told me that her checking account would be free if she got paperless
statements. If she got paper statements, the charge would be $3 per month and she could get one free
bank check every day.
Another person I know went on vacation for two months. Note: Banks typically will not forward bank
statements. When they got home, they discovered that they had been charged a $5 monthly “return
statement” charge.
In summary, banks may be friendly, but they are not your friend. They are in business to make money using
your money. There are banks in the Bowling Green area that are not “FEE CRAZY.”
Dick Conrad
Bowling Green
