Bankrate.com Study: Checking Account Costs Rise.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 1, 2003

That isn't just a checkbook in your pocket: It's a money drain. Checking accounts cost more to open, require higher balances to avoid fees and pay less in interest than they used to, according to Bankrate.com's semiannual checking survey. Even checking accounts from virtual banks, once the fee-free haven for cost-conscious consumers, aren't the bargains they used to be, according to the survey, released today. To see the full survey, go to www.bankrate.com/checkingstudy

"Bankrate is committed to helping consumers make informed personal finance decisions," explained Elisabeth DeMarse, President and CEO of Bankrate, Inc. "Our checking account study is one tool that we offer where users can research banks and search for better rates. With checking accounts getting more expensive all the time, it's more important than ever for consumers to shop around to get the best deal."

Bankrate's semiannual Checking Account Pricing Study is the most comprehensive in the industry. It looks at what the 10 largest banks and thrifts in each of the 35 largest U.S. markets offer in consumer checking accounts. Researchers from Bankrate.com gathered comprehensive rate, fee and policy information from 350 institutions and 1,235 separate accounts. We also surveyed 54 online checking accounts at 28 Internet banks.

Consumers can use that information to search in their individual markets for checking accounts that best suit their needs. In addition to the market-based checking account data, Bankrate presents the survey data through a series of stories that summarize its findings.

Bankrate found in its spring 2003 survey that:

-- Costs to open an account are rising. While the rest of the

world has been in an economic slump, banks have been squeezing

more money out of people who want to open checking accounts.

The average minimum balance required to open an account and

earn interest is $832.09. That's a 25 percent jump since

October 2000 and 14 percent higher than the $727.62 minimum

just six months ago.

-- Minimum balances to avoid fees are up. Opening an account is

one thing, keeping enough cash in it to avoid fees is another

hurdle. On average, it requires a minimum balance of $2,964.10

to avoid fees in an interest-bearing checking account and

$409.79 in a noninterest account. That's a 14 percent increase

in both account types since last fall.

-- Yields are down. The average yield on interest checking

accounts dropped from 0.57 percent to 0.47 percent since last

fall's study. More interest accounts than ever, 84 percent,

have an annual percentage yield of less than 1 percent.

-- Monthly service fees now average $129 a year. The average

monthly service fee for interest accounts increased a bit to

$10.73 from $10.59 -- that comes to an average of $129 a year

for the privilege of writing checks. On noninterest accounts

it remained unchanged at $6.18.

-- Internet banks are losing their edge. When virtual banks

began, they wooed customers by sharply undercutting the fees

of their brick-and-mortar competitors. They're still charging

lower fees and paying more interest, but the differences are

less than they used to be.

-- ATM surcharges for noncustomers rise. The average noncustomer

surcharge now runs $1.49 at traditional banks and $1.35 at

Internet banks. Most institutions also charge an additional

fee to their own customers who use another institution's ATM.

The total ATM fee, for the surcharge and the fee charged by

your own bank, is most often $3 for a non-bank withdrawal,

which is 6% of a $50 withdrawal.

-- Bounced check fees keep going up. The bounced check fee now

averages $25.82, up 1% since last fall, but has increased

every time we do the survey.

One of the few bright spots for consumers in the checking survey is that more banks are offering free checking accounts, which do not charge a monthly fee or per-item charges regardless of the account's balance or the number of checks written on it. Bankrate found 133 free checking accounts in this survey. That's just 11 percent of the total, but it's up from 6 percent three years ago.

To see the full survey, go to www.bankrate.com/checkingstudy

About Bankrate, Inc.

Bankrate, Inc. (Nasdaq:RATE) owns and operates Bankrate.com, the Internet's leading consumer banking marketplace. Bankrate.com averages 4 million unique visitors per month, according to comScore Media Metrix, which ranks Bankrate.com first in unique visitors in the "Financial information and advice" category. Bankrate.com reviews more than 4,800 financial institutions in more than 170 markets in 50 states. Bankrate.com is a destination site of personal finance channels, including banking, investing, taxes and small business finance. It is the leading aggregator of more than 100 financial products, including mortgages, credit cards, new and used auto loans, money market accounts and CDs, checking and ATM fees, home equity loans and online banking fees.

Bankrate.com provides financial applications and information to a network of more than 80 partners including Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO) , Wall Street Journal (NYSE:DJ; dj.com), America Online (NYSE:AOL) and Smart Money. Bankrate.com's information is also distributed through more than 100 national and state publications.