This is the first bank I've experienced who has a $1.00 fee on our account disclosures for a balance inquiry made with a bank employee, either through the call center or at a teller line. Apparently, it came about because we were trying to discourage people who do this on a daily or near daily basis instead of using either our automated telephone inquiry line, or online banking. But we seldom collect this fee, not surprisingly. In updating our UDAAP risk assessment, I'm squeamish about this fee--I would not enjoy defending it actually. Does anyone else charge this type of fee and use it the way we do?

Many banks have such fees to discourage account abuse but are not regularly charged. Balancing assistance fees, research fees, etc.

Yes, I've seen balancing assistance (and research)fees before--that makes more sense to me because it is time consuming and pretty much has to be done by a 'desk-sitting' branch employee. But not a fee for giving someone a balance of their account which would routinely take a few seconds and be done by a teller or front line CSR in the call center. I'm probably overthinking discretion on fees.

Some of the bigger banks are charging a fee if you come in and use a teller to conduct a transaction. As long as any fee is clearly and conspicuously disclosed and is legal under State law, there cannot be a UDAAP.

^Agreed. If a customer doesn't like a particular bank's fees, they are free to shop around.

The trouble with these little nuisance fees is often that they are so small that it costs more to impose and collect them than they are worth. Customers ignore them and when the fees aren't collected, the view that the bank is "just kidding" is reinforced.

If a fee is that small, it doesn't make any sense unless its collection can easily be automated.