Bank fees: How does your bank rate?

Source-Cleveland.com- Many local banks in the past routinely raised fees almost every year for things like cashiers checks safe deposit boxes and bounced checks. But the latest Plain Dealer survey of bank fees found that banks have completely eliminated fees for some services and reduced fees or kept them steady for most of the rest compared with the last PD survey three years ago. At the same time its becoming more difficult to avoid a monthly checking account fee because increasingly banks expect customers to pay a few bucks if they dont maintain a minimum balance or have other accounts or loans. The PD surveyed this regions 14 largest banks those with at least 1 percent of local deposits in Greater Cleveland. The survey included 11 fees both avoidable fees like non-sufficient funds and using another banks ATM and fees for everyday services such as cashiers checks and safe deposit boxes.