If your consumer bank fees and debit card fees have not gone up recently, they will soon. Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act which significantly reduced the amount merchants pay banks for electronic transactions. The banks are offsetting the revenue loss by changing free checking to fee checking of a few dollars a month. Banks are increasingly also charging monthly fees when a consumer uses a bank debit card.

So what can you do?

Review the number of bank accounts you really need and eliminate ones you don’t need. See if you can avoid a monthly fee by maintaining a minimum monthly balance. My business checking was free and it was going to cost $5 a month as a maintenance fee. By maintaining a $500+ monthly balance I avoid the $5 monthly fee and forgo about $.20 monthly interest.

Cancel your bank debit card to avoid the bank fees and use a credit card.

Some banks will reduce the fees if you have direct deposit of your paycheck or government check. Some banks will reduce the fees if you maintain a certain minimum balance each month.