Chime, Common Cents Launch New Consumer Tool

It’s easy to go a long time without checking bank statements as long as the balance looks all right from a glance. Every now and then, however, banking fees can add up and surprise consumers. From bank credit card fees to overdraft fees piling up, there are many ways in which these fees can creep up. But there’s a new solution to help take care of this issue.

Today, Duke University’s financial research lab, Common Cents, partnered with Chime to launch a new tool, BankFeeFinder.com, to help consumers discover hidden bank fees. The new tool seeks to help make consumers aware of their finances so that they can get a better sense of where their money is going.

The amount of potentially unnecessary money spent on banking fees each month ranges. Most people drastically underestimate how much is paid in banking fees. Common Cents’ research found people think they pay an average of $5 in fees a month however this doesn’t match the data on what’s actually paid.  TransferWise uncovered an astounding $25 per month per household spent on average, which equals nearly $300.

Common Cents’ founder and behavioral economics professor, Dan Ariely, commented on this new tool launch and shared what the research lab hopes to accomplish in today’s release.

“Our hope is to help consumers realize how much they are paying in banking fees and, if it makes sense for them, to switch to a low or no-fee bank,” Ariely said. “It’s shocking that in the last year alone, banks made $33 billion from overdraft fees.”

With that amount of overdraft fees alone not circulating into businesses or paying down debts, this is an untapped source of money for today’s consumer. With the use of BankFeeFinder.com, Common Cents and Chimes may turn the unnecessary fees around and feed them into tomorrow’s business revenues.