In the newsy trend to raise revenues and curb costs among big banks, Bank of America was reported in today's American Banker as adding another fee to encourage customers to shut off paper statements and copies of canceled checks. BofA now charges $3/month for cancelled check images with monthly statements. Although not a first among banks, it reinforces BofA's move last year to outright stop printing monthly statements for certain accounts in exchange for waiving the monthly fee. BofA customers can avoid the $3/month fee by accessing statements and checks online. BofA claims this is line with the rest of the banking industry. The article cites regulatory limits on overdraft fees and now debit interchange as the cause of urgency among banks to recoup lost fee income.
According to a Federal Reserve study from last December, electronic payments by plastic card or ACH now comprise the bulk of non-cash payment transactions. Paper checks now comprise less than 24%. Checks have fallen from 30.5 billion in 2006 to 24.4 billion in 2009. That's a compounded annual decline of 7.2%.
According to payment industry consulting firm The Strawhecker Group, the practice of mailing check images is "probably on its way to being obsolete."
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