HispanicBusiness

About 45 percent of Americans have a free noninterest checking account, according to an annual national study by Bankrate.com.

That's down from 65 percent in 2010 and a peak of 76 percent just two years ago. The company surveyed checking accounts with the five largest banks and five community banks in 25 metropolitan statistical areas from Aug. 1-12, none in North Carolina.

Free checking accounts remain available to most consumers, the research group found, but primarily though attaching a direct-deposit service to it.

"The decline of free checking is in full swing," said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst with Bankrate.com.

"However, savvy consumers can take advantage of an increasing amount of fee waivers. Ninety-two percent of noninterest accounts are either free or can become free."

Consumers who don't have a free checking account have seen their monthly fees go up considerably in the past year.

The average monthly fee for a noninterest account is $4.37 compared with $2.49 last year. The average balance required to avoid a monthly fee is $585, more than double the $249 balance that was required in 2010.

The average monthly fee for an interest-bearing checking account is steeper at $14.14 a month, up 8.5 percent from last year. Avoiding those fees requires the average consumer to have a monthly account balance of $5,587, up nearly 44 percent from a year ago. Bankrate.com said more banks are allowing those balances to be held in other accounts.

Only 4 percent of checking accounts charge a point-of-sale fee when using a debit card, while fewer than 2 percent charge a monthly or annual fee for carrying a debit card.

However, those percentages are expected to jump considerably because of the debit-card interchange fee changes taking effect Saturday. On June 29, the Federal Reserve ruled that banks can charge retailers 21 cents each time consumers use a debit card. The average now is 44 cents a swipe.

For example, Wells Fargo said in August it would begin a $3 monthly debit card fee in October for customers in Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington state.

They will pay the "activity" fee for any payments, purchases or transactions with a personal or business debit card, check card or ATM card. It is in addition to the regular monthly service fee.

There is one potential catch for Wells Fargo's customers in North Carolina. Those who opened their accounts in those five states would have to pay the monthly debit card fee, the bank said.

SunTrust Banks Inc. introduced in June a $5 monthly fee for unlimited debit card purchases with its "Everyday Checking." There remains no fee for using a debit card at a SunTrust ATM.

The average ATM surcharge hit a new high for the seventh consecutive year at $2.40, up 7 cents from 2010. The average fee charged by one's own financial institution for going outside the network is unchanged from last year at $1.41.

The highest fees for having a nonsufficient fund transaction were $33.50 in Denver. The lowest was $27.59 in San Francisco.

Tony Plath, a finance professor at UNC Charlotte, said he thinks that some form of free checking will remain at most banks and credit unions because of public demand.

"You'll see minimum-balance requirements that pay a very low rate of interest so that lost customer interest can subsidize the delivery of a free checking account," Plath said. "It will depend on the depth of the relationship the bank maintains with the customer."