Customers hate bank fees. But they love subscriptions. Neobanks have figured this out, but traditional banks have been slow to follow.
By Lindsey Choo | protocol.com
For consumers, casually checking their bank account and seeing a monthly maintenance fee or overdraft charge is a frustrating experience, and fees are a major factor in banks’ low satisfaction ratings.
The challenge for banks is that their efforts to reduce their fees aren’t making a significant dent in improving customer dissatisfaction, according to a recent J.D. Power study. And banks are caught in a financial bind: A study by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau showed that overdraft and insufficient-fund penalties made up two-thirds of reported fee revenue. A wobbly earnings season for big banks has made cutting a key revenue source even trickier.