Banks collect fees from almost all transactions. Consumers might be confused by this system, especially when waiving off these charges will result in luring more depositors. However, you do not have a choice since everywhere you go, you are likely going to encounter the same scheme.
These fees make up a significant portion of the total revenues of the banks. Government regulators do not prohibit them, so you would not likely see them waived soon. However, the good news is that you can get a bank fee refund from counterfeit bills and overcharges.
A CNN report in 2015 revealed that three of the country’s biggest banks collected a total of $6 billion from penalties and fees on the ATM. For instance, Bankrate claimed that people pay an average of $4 for each withdrawal transaction from the machine. On paper, the amount is supposedly just $2.50 or $3.00.
Meanwhile, overdraft fees will be imposed when you withdraw more than your remaining balance. The penalty ranges from $30 to $40 for each transaction.
Can you refund the bank fees?
At the outset, you can talk to your bank on the possibility of waiving the transaction fees. It is possible, especially if you have a long relationship with the bank. In exchange for your loyalty, the company will agree to help you save on the cost of managing your account.
However, even if you are new to the game, you can still get some of the bank fees refunded. There are several apps and websites available, which make use of artificial intelligence to scour your accounts and spot spurious fees and hidden charges.
You will then be handed a comprehensive report if the AI finds an anomaly in your payments.
Creating an account
The process is quite straightforward. For instance, you sign up for a Harvest account by filling in your personal details. For example, you will input your account numbers, your logins, your credit or debit card numbers, as well as your signature. Do not worry. The website is encrypted so that your confidential data is protected.
When you opt-out of the service, all your information will be scrubbed clean to prevent hackers from mining your data.
Then you will link all your accounts with the website. The app will then automatically comb through your account to make sure that the bank did not wrongly charge for a particular transaction.
The process of monitoring your account activity is fully automated. It will look at your account maintaining balance, banking statement fees, balance transfer (international and local), withdrawals, credit card annual fees, deposits, overdrafts, ATM transactions, and others to spot for banking errors.
Once the system spots an anomaly, it will then automatically bargain for a bank fee refund. The claim will be addressed to the manager, who will then review the accuracy of the information. The review process will take days, weeks, or about a month. However, if the manager will not act on the claim, it will be elevated to a higher department.
The best part is that you do not have to do anything while the process is ongoing. You just need to wait for the money to be reimbursed to your account once the claim is approved.
