US PIRG: Banks Hiding Fees Posted by AVCU on 9:18 AM

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) recently released findings of a survey of almost 400 bank branches across the country. Its study reports that fewer than 50% of bank branches obeyed their legal duty to fully disclose fees to prospective customers, while 25% provided no fee information at all.

The report, “Big Banks, Bigger Fees: A National Survey of Bank Fees and Fee Disclosure Policies,” which includes a bank fee tips guide for consumers, found that despite widespread stories about the “death” of free checking, free and low-cost checking choices are still widely available.

U.S. PIRG surveyors visited 392 bank branches in 21 states to compare fees and determine whether banks were complying with the 1991 Truth in Savings Act, which requires disclosure of all account-related fees to prospective customers.  In 2008, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report finding that researchers “could not obtain” complete fee schedules at 22% of branches visited. The number remains the same today.

Among the findings of the study:

• 38% of locations provided researchers with fee schedules as required by law on their first request.  After two or more requests, eventually a total of 55% complied with the law.
• 23% of branches never complied and refused to provide fee information, claiming they didn’t have it, or said to check the bank's website.
• A wide variety of free or low-cost checking options were discovered at more than 50% of branches surveyed.  Although the biggest banks have recently tightened requirements to obtain free checking, they have not eliminated it.