What do you expect checking accounts to be like 5 years from now?

-Mine is also starting to charge me $5 a month if I dare touch my debit card.

I can only use it at the ATM for free



What else besides minimums, direct deposit requirements, etc

What else are they coming up with - or will come up with?

A fee for using an ATM?

A fee for payments over $500?

A fee for using a teller?

With an extra over DRAFT fee if you fart in line - I could not resist

Sorry, I'm a bit frustatedIf the government keeps trying to make them 'fair', they won't exist in 5 years. If the government REPEALS the regulations banks are trying to recover from, they will be a lot like they were 5 years ago. Middle ground doesn't really exits.We passed a law a few years ago that changed altogether how banks do business. Before this law, banks were allowed to charge fees only to cover actual expenses. If you used a teller or bounced a check, banks were only allowed to charge about what it cost them. But after the law, fees were unhooked. Banks could basically charge just whatever they wanted. Before the law, banks made their money from the 1 or 2 percent difference between the interest they gave depositors and the interest they charged borrowers--which is how a bank should work. But after the law they made more on the fees than on interest.



You just have to shop around. I belong to a credit union and they have a much more friendly fee structure. I can use any credit union's ATM for free. Tellers are free (though I seldom need one). I simply refuse to pay a fee to use an ATM so if I'm away from home sometimes I have to find the nearest local CU (this is easy now with a GPS-equipped smartphone! Just say 'credit union' and it will guide you to the nearest one!)
You need to find a better bank. None of mine charge any fees for a checking account, nor using ATM