• Banks make crores of rupees by charging customers fees
• Common fees include for ATM usage, paper statements, or minimum balance charges
• Fact: You can avoid or minimize most bank fees

Here are three of the most common fees banks like to charge, and ways to avoid them.

1. ATM Fees

What is it: A fee for withdrawing money from an ATM machine.

Average Fees: Rs. 20 + 18% GST

How to avoid it:

Banks generally charge ATM fees in two instances

1. ATM of a different bank is used to withdraw money
2. Using your own bank’s ATM, you have exceeded the number of free transactions

The first fees can be easily avoided by not using some other bank’s ATM, or go inside and do it the old-fashioned way: Speak with a cashier. You can also get cashback when you make a purchase with your debit card to get cash or switch to a bank that refunds ATM fees.

The second fee is generally charged when you exceed the number of free transactions. Generally, banks offer 5 free transactions. So check with your bank on this and try to stay in that limit.

Alternate: Start using Liquid mutual funds instead of a savings account with Nivesh Mitr – and get online access to withdraw funds instantly – with no charges at all. Some liquid mutual funds come with the facility of debit cards too.

2. Minimum Balance Charge

What is it: A charge for not maintaining a monthly or quarterly average balance in your savings account.

Average Fees: The bank charges ₹5-15 for non-maintenance of the required account balance. While this seems nominal, some banks can charge as much as ₹200-500.

How to avoid it:

While maintaining a minimum balance in your bank account might not sound like a challenge, the trouble begins when you have too many bank accounts to keep track of. Think of all the salary accounts opened by different employers. These may cease to be zero balance accounts when you quit your job and may start accruing a compounding fee as your balance dwindles.

To avoid paying this fee, keep track of your account balance or open accounts that have no such requirement.

Alternate: Liquid mutual funds do not have any requirement of a minimum account balance. Switch now to save on it.

3. Printed Account Statements

What is it: Charge for issuing duplicate physical passbooks and account statements.

Average Fees:  Varying from Rs. 50/- to Rs. 150/-

How to avoid it: 

It’s wiser to keep track of your accounts using net banking. If you do need a printed statement, take a printout yourself and get it attested by the bank. But some banks charge for attestation too. For instance, SBI charges ₹150 for signature verification.

If you want to avoid shelling out unnecessary fees and charges, keep track of your accounts and cards, and use chargeable bank services only if you really need them.

Alternate: Switch to liquid mutual funds through Nivesh Mitr and get instant access to account reports & statements.

Know more about the advantages of liquid mutual funds over savings account here.