Retail fees of depository institutions, 1997-2001

Since 1990, the Federal Reserve Board has reported annually on changes in the availability of retail banking services and in the level of the associated fees. The most recent report, covering the Board's survey conducted in 2001, was released in June 2002. Information on selected fees for each of the years from 1997 through 2001 is presented in this article. Analysis of the data for the 1997-2001 period shows that for the various types of checking and savings accounts tracked, monthly fees tended to rise by statistically significant amounts, as did the minimum balances that depositors had to maintain to avoid the fees. Fees associated with special actions, such as those imposed on checks returned for insufficient funds, also exhibited increases that were statistically significant. Fees imposed for withdrawals by an institution's depositors from other institutions' automated teller machines (ATMs) and for the use of the institution's ATMs by nondepositors became much more common by the end of the period, and average levels increased by statistically significant amounts. Finally, comparisons of the fees charged by institutions of different sizes in 2001 indicate that, in general, the incidence and level of fees were higher at larger institutions.