The High Cost of Saving

Customers grow irate as banks relentlessly jack up service fees and demand ever larger deposits

Maryellen Gordon is still fumbling. When the Manhattan freelance writer opened a checking account at Manufacturers Hanover bank six years ago, she could keep as small a balance as she liked for a fee of just $5 a month, and there was no charge for using the automated teller machines. Then Manufacturers Hanover merged with Chemical Bank in 1992, after which Gordon had to keep at least $3,000 in the bank to avoid being charged each time she used the ATM system. Enough was enough. Earlier this year she took her money to a credit union where, for $2.50 a month,...

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