Chime’s Inaugural Bank Fee Finder Summary Report Exposes Impact of Hidden Fees

The full report can be found here.

Among the findings from the report, nearly 9 in 10 users found fees, with annual fees averaging $329. Overdraft is by far the largest fee category, with banks charging Americans an average of $250 each year. While a small percentage of people paid no overdraft fees, among those who did, they were charged $412, which sheds light on how banks made $33 billion in overdraft fees alone last year.

Millennials Besting Boomers
In addition, the report found that fees increase with age. Average annual fees for Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers were $308, $401, $413 respectively. College students paid only $212 in bank fees annually (46% less than the $329 annual average), which likely results from many banks offering introductory no or low fee accounts until students graduate.

Big Banks Rack Up Big Fees
In terms of average annual fees by bank, those who paid the most in fees came from Bank of America accounts at $497/year, and represented 23% of all reports generated. That’s 50% more than the next highest annual average, which came from Wells Fargo customers who paid $302/year and nearly twice as much as the $265/year on average that Chase customers paid.

We’re Doing Worse Than We Think
Bank Fee Finder has helped many Americans uncover fees they don’t realize they’re paying. According to a study by Common Cents, most people drastically underestimate how much they pay in bank fees at $5 in fees per month on average, versus the $27 average Bank Fee Finder data shows. That $20 per month difference is huge considering more than half of U.S. households have less than $500 in total savings.

“Our mission at Chime is to help people to live healthy financial lives, and that starts with having a bank account that helps you avoid fees and save money,” said Chime co-founder and CEO Chris Britt. “We created Bank Fee Finder to shed light on how much people are actually paying in fees so they can take steps to avoid them in the future.”

The Bank Fee Finder Summary Report represents data from over 5,000 individual users with U.S. bank accounts. Five major banks (Bank of America, CitiBank, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and US Bank) made up 83% of all Bank Fee Finder users’ accounts.

Read the full report here. To learn more about Bank Fee Finder please visit http://www.bankfeefinder.com.