Changes in checking account offerings by frost bank

All the checking account offerings have been revamped by Frost Bank on the new accounts. However, it is too early to say if the customers will get a good deal or not, because it will all depend on how much of cash they manage to stash in the bank for a certain period of time.

Now, Frost Bank has reduced its offerings on checking accounts from 5 to 1. However, customers can still add on features by paying a $2 monthly fee and receive their monthly bank statements through the mail. There is a base monthly fee of $5 on single account offerings, but this fee may be avoided by customers if they keep a minimum of $25,000 in their combined accounts or if they have banked with Frost Bank for a period of 15 years. If customers have a deposit as well as loan balances of $50,000, then the fee would be lifted for customers.

Ericka Pullin, Senior Vice President at Frost states that most of the customers will not see extra charges due to their tenure or because of their balances.

The new checking accounts were unveiled in July and the changes will not be applicable to checking accounts that were opened before July, until the second quarter of the next year, stated Renee Sabel, spokeswoman for Frost.

The older checking account offerings at Frost range from the no-frills straight-fee checking accounts to the ‘Signature’ checking account that pays a monthly interest and also offers the overdraft facility as well as free traveler’s checks. This account carries a monthly fee of $12, but this fee can only be avoided if the minimum balance is maintained and if the card activity requirements are met.

These changes do not have anything to do with the new regulations that have taken effect on Saturday, where there is a cap on the swipe fees that banks can collect from merchants when the customer uses their debit card, stated Sabel. Instead, Frost customers have asked for checking accounts that are much simpler and more transparent. She also added that the bank had been working on these changes for over a couple of years.

The bank also does not charge any debit card fees.

The rest of the banks as well as credit unions in the San Antonio area have stated that although they have not added any fee to any of their checking accounts, they were contemplating if they should make any changes or not.