Survey: Banks Charging You More For Handling Your Money

A new survey shows that banks across the country, including Oklahoma are charging more to handle your money.

Everything from ATM to checking account fees are going up, but there may be ways to you can get around them.

A new study released by www.money-rates.com shows that everything from bank overdraft fees, to ATM fees and checking account charges are up over the first half of this year.

The biggest numbers have to do with free checking.

Nationally, 35 percent of banks don't charge a monthly fee for holding a checking account. But those that do require an average of $4,400 in your account to get that fee waived, that number is up almost a thousand dollars from last half of 2011.

The survey also found that it will likely cost you more to do business with larger banks. The list includes maintenance fees and minimum account balances are higher with bigger banks versus smaller ones.

Moneyrates.com offers some suggestions for beating rising bank fees.

• Shop around.
• Consider an online bank..
• Think small..
• Match your needs with a bank's fees.

New legislation is being blamed for these higher fees. Banks are limited on how much they can charge stores every time customers swipe their debit cards.