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Monthly Maintenance Fees

Have you ever been in a situation when someone charged a fee from you without preliminary warning? It can happen when you have a lack of information about a service or the company or person providing this service does not want to warn you. This case is common when you use the services of banks or other financial organizations.

The monthly maintenance fee is a payment you have to make if you do not comply with the requirements of the financial institution. Usually, the company does not tell you the detailed requirements and then asks you to meet them. For instance, you may need to pay a monthly maintenance fee if you did not pay back a certain amount of money for the loan in the determined period.

You have to learn the basic details about monthly maintenance fees to prevent situations described earlier. In this review, we will tell you more about this type of fee and the ways you can avoid paying it.

What is a Maintenance Fee?

The maintenance fee is similar to the monthly servicing fee as banks charge them both from your account as payment for their services. For instance, if you are required to have a certain amount of money in your bank account until a certain date, and you do not have it, the bank will take the fee. It works like compensation for the lacking money that your bank wants to have access to.

The financial organization “maintains” your budget in order not to lose its money. It is necessary for you to be aware of all the conditions made by a bank to not be punished with a monthly fee at the end of the payment period.

Ways to Prevent Charging of Monthly Maintenance Fees

No one wants to pay an unexpected fee monthly, and what is more important, pay it not knowing about the transfer. There were a lot of cases when people did not notice that they paid the monthly maintenance fee and figured it out later. You have to check your bank account regularly to be aware of all transfers made from your card.

Also, do not forget to keep the required sum of money in your bank account. If you do not know the exact size of this requirement, you have to contact your bank or track the transactions on your account.

1. Monthly Maintenance Fees in Big Banks

The important notion is that maintenance fees are not used by all the banks and financial organizations. However, even the biggest and most popular American banks charge monthly maintenance fees. Let’s have a look at this type of fee implemented by several well-known banks.

2. Chase Bank

Chase bank requirements require you to have at least $1,500 daily in your bank account, and the minimum monthly direct deposit is $500. Moreover, there is another option that requires you to have more than $5,000 in your qualified bank accounts.

If you do not meet the requirements described above, the bank will charge $12 from your bank account every month.

3. Bank of America

Having an account at the Bank of America, you have to keep $1,500 every day in your bank account or make at least one deposit for no less than $250 every month.

The size of the maintenance fee in Bank of America equals $12 as well.

4. Citibank

Bank service charges in Citibank are equal to $12 if you do not correspond to the determined requirements. You have to save $1,500 in a qualified account to avoid paying monthly maintenance fees. Another way to do it is to make deposits of acceptable size every month and use the account for bill payments.

5. US Bank

Requirements of the US Bank are higher than in previously described ones. You have to keep $1,500 in the bank account or make deposits of $1,000 monthly. In case you do not do this, the bank will charge $6.95 or $8.95. The size of the maintenance fee depends on the type of statement: electronic or paper, respectively.

6. Wells Fargo

There are three methods of preventing the charge of monthly maintenance fees from your account. The first one is to make not less than 10 transactions with a qualified debit card. Another one is to make $500 deposits to your bank account monthly. And the last one is to keep the threshold sum of money in your bank account — $1,500.

If you do not comply with any of these criteria, the bank can charge $10 from you every month as the monthly service fees.

7. TD Bank

The requirement of the TD Bank is easier to meet as you need to keep not less than $100 on your balance daily. What is the maintenance fee at TD Bank? The size of this fee in TD Bank is equal to $15, which is more than the average size of maintenance fee in other banks.

As you can see, there is no universal rule on how to avoid monthly maintenance payments. We recommend you learn the terms of your agreement with the bank before starting using its services.

Conclusion

It is no secret that banks vary in their policies regarding additional fees their clients must pay for certain types of monetary transactions. B9 is a convenient and easy-to-use banking service that offers subscribers no hidden costs, absolutely clear pricing – $9.99/monthly, advances freed from extra fees, and ACH transfer opportunities.