Citizens Bank increases fees on checking account

Citizens bank is all set to hike the fees on its checking accounts as well as bring about other changes to various accounts in the following month. The Green Checking account, which is one of the most prominent offerings of the bank to customers, will see its fee increase to $9.99 effective April 23^rd as compared to $4.99 where it stands currently. This is nearly a 50 percent increase from the current fees. Customers, however, can avoid these fees if they continue to maintain a balance of at least $1500 in their checking account and perform at least 5 qualifying transactions every month, which include using the debit card as well.

The fees for the Personal Checking with Interest account which currently stands at $2 will be increased to $11.99 effective the following month. In order to avoid these fees, customers will need to ensure a daily minimum balance of $2500 or make 5 qualifying transactions every month.

In addition to these increases in the fees, the bank also proposes to make many changes to the other accounts it offers and operates as well. The bank plans to remove the free checking account and more other types of business checking accounts. Customers with basic checking accounts will now be classified under Green checking account. The customers with business checking accounts will now be classified under the latest Business Advisor checking account. This account will carry a monthly fee of $25 which customers can avoid if they maintain a minimum balance of $10,000.

The bank is also pondering over either eliminating or discounting the fees for the Circle Checking accounts, but they have not yet arrived at any decision. The bank however says that the fees on this account will surely be different from the existing one.

This move from Citizens Bank has come right at the time when many other leading banks all over the country are bringing about radical changes to offset increasing costs and bring in more revenue.

Lauren Geronimo, the spokesperson for Citizens Bank, said that these changes are a part of the process that began about a year and a half ago in order to standardize the offerings of this bank across the country and also increase profits.