Four ways to avoid being overcharged by your banks
Rupee continues bullish trend
The exchange rate of US dollar against Pakistani rupee weakened by Rs0.10 and traded at Rs154.56 on Friday against the last day's trading of Rs154.66, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reported.
In open market, the buying and selling rates of Pakistani rupee against dollar stood at Rs154.45 and Rs155.15 respectively.
The SBP further reported that in interbank, the price of Euro depreciated by Rs0.53 and was traded at Rs172.02 against the last closing of Rs172.55.
The exchange rate of Japanese yen remained stable at Rs1.40 whereas the decrease of Rs0.05 was witnessed in the exchange rate of British Pound which was traded at Rs201.86 as compared to last closing of Rs201.91.
Exchange rate of the UAE Dirham decreased by 02 paisas to close at Rs42.08 while that of Saudi Riyal decreased by 03 paisa to close at Rs41.19.
Many Americans - some more than others - are putting hard-earned money toward bank fees, according to research released this month.
Millennials, racial minorities and people living in the Northeast pony up more in bank fees than other groups, according to a survey by the personalfinance and credit-card recommendation site Bankrate. The American Bankers Association, the trade organization for the banking industry, was not immediately available for comment on the report.
Millennials with checking accounts, who tend to be less experienced customers than older Americans, paid bank fees of $13 a month, on average, versus $9 for Gen Xers and $3 for baby boomers. Northeasterners paid $10 a month on average, versus the $7 to $8 for residents from other regions. Of those people who paid checking-account fees, the average cost was $28.61 a month.
White checking-account customers said they paid about $5 on average in monthly bank fees, compared to $16 for Hispanic customers and $12 for black customers.
White consumers with checking accounts said they paid about $5 on average in monthly bank fees, compared to $16 among Hispanic consumers, $12 among black consumers and $8 among consumers of another race. White consumers (78%) were more likely than their black (60%) or Hispanic (59%) peers to report paying no monthly bank fees.
Overall, 73% of respondents with checking accounts said they didn't pay any monthly bank fees. The survey, commissioned by Bankrate and conducted by YouGov, polled 2,634 adults, 2,285 of whom had a bank or credit-union checking account. All of these fees add up, but they are relatively easy to avoid, Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst for Bankrate, told MarketWatch.
Separately, a report published this month by the Financial Health Network found that financially underserved people - those struggling to access "mainstream financial products" because of low-to-moderate or volatile incomes, credit challenges and/or being un-banked or under-banked - spent a collective $189 billion in financialproduct fees and interest in 2018.
With regulation restricting high-interest payday loans, under-served consumers continue to shift away from singlepayment credit toward longerterm and larger amounts of credit, added John Thompson, the chief program officer of the Financial Health Network. "The under-served consumer is paying more for access to financial services than their wealthier counterparts," he added.
But there are four hacks to avoid paying these fees:
Forget fiscal fidelity. Look for a bank that offers low-cost banking or no fees at all, and consider multiple banks or credit unions for different services, such as a checking account, savings account or auto loan, Hamrick said. The days of being tied to one financial institution are over. "We don't need to be monogamous with one bank or credit union," he said.