My bank doesn't do this and I can't recall any bank that I've banked with for several decades now ever doing this. I do see some banks saying they do this and I wonder why anyone would choose to be their customer because there's plenty of market choice out there in banking.
Likely they do it because they can and it's a vendor lock-in mindset from their customers. People have banked with them their whole life or their parents banked with them etc.. so they feel like this is the better deal. I've seen credit unions doing this. Credit unions talk about how great their services are and how much better it is to be with a credit union but I see them charge all kinds of horrible fees as well. It's also much more difficult to get a hold of someone 24/7 with a credit union if you have banking needs.
I think there's still a lot of legacy banking attitudes like you need to go into an office and sit down and talk to somebody. Which usually necessitates you having to take a day off of work because banker's hours are called bankers hours for a reason. I myself choose to bank with someone who will be available on my schedule not on their schedule.
Slightly unrelated, but in the interest of those who are with one of the banks that charge fees, which bank is it that you use? Would you generally recommend them?
I use USAA now, and have for quite a while. Yes, if you can qualify for a USAA account I absolutely recommend them. They are one of the best banking institutions I've ever had.
But there are several national banks that have similar no fee accounts. Just looking around online at some deals and the one that stands out to me is really good deal is Charles Schwab offers a no fee account. Yes you have to open a brokerage account but that also has no minimums with it as well. Plus it seems they have unlimited ATM rebates.
Some of it may come down to your needs as I haven't had the need to access a local branch in many decades now. I don't deal in large sums of cash and needs a deposit it. I primarily look for a bank that has excellent online access and telephone access.
Likely they do it because they can and it's a vendor lock-in mindset from their customers. People have banked with them their whole life or their parents banked with them etc.. so they feel like this is the better deal. I've seen credit unions doing this. Credit unions talk about how great their services are and how much better it is to be with a credit union but I see them charge all kinds of horrible fees as well. It's also much more difficult to get a hold of someone 24/7 with a credit union if you have banking needs.
I think there's still a lot of legacy banking attitudes like you need to go into an office and sit down and talk to somebody. Which usually necessitates you having to take a day off of work because banker's hours are called bankers hours for a reason. I myself choose to bank with someone who will be available on my schedule not on their schedule.