The Government Accountability Office finds that one-fifth of banks don't properly disclose fees.
The Washington Post says:
The report by the Government Accountability Office also says that some of the invisible fees have climbed substantially in recent years. The average overdraft fee, for instance, increased 11 percent from 2000 to 2007.
GAO staff members made undercover visits to 185 branches of 154 depository institutions throughout the country and were unable to get comprehensive lists of checking and savings account fees at more than a one-fifth of the locations. The information was not available on the Web sites of half of the institutions.
The undercover workers were also unable to obtain account terms and conditions, such as information on when deposited funds are accessible and how overdrafts are handled, at one-third of the branches visited.
Read the Government Accountability Office's report:
Summary (HTML) Highlights Page [PDF] Full Report [PDF, 78 pages]
