<h1>Wells Fargo to charge $7 fee on more checking accounts</h1><span class="byline">By <a href="mailto:blake.ellis@turner.com">Blake Ellis</a></span> <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=cnnmoney" class="soc-twtname">@CNNMoney</a>
<span class="cnnDateStamp">March 7, 2012: 7:51 PM ET</span><div id="storytext"><p>NEW
YORK (CNNMoney) -- Wells Fargo will start charging $7 a month for
checking accounts in six more states, expanding on its efforts to do
away with free checking accounts altogether.</p><p>While Wells Fargo (<span class="inlink_chart"><a class="inlink" href="http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=WFC&source=story_quote_link">WFC</a></span>, <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/snapshots/2578.html?source=story_f500_link">Fortune 500</a>)
stopped offering free checking accounts to new customers in 2010,
existing customers were able to hold onto their free accounts. But then
last year, the bank transitioned a group of existing customers -- mainly
in Western states -- to the same $7-a-month accounts that it provides
new customers. And now existing customers in six more states are about
to be hit with the fee.</p><p>The
$7 monthly service fee will be assessed on the bank's Essential
Checking account. Customers can waive the fee by maintaining a $1,500
minimum daily balance or making direct deposits of $500 or more each
month. They can also get a $2 discount on the fee by opting to only
receive online statements.</p><p>The bank, which has branches in 39
states and Washington D.C., declined to comment on whether this will
mark the end of its rollout. It also wouldn't disclose which states
would be affected by the new fee. However, CNNMoney received a Wells
Fargo statement for a banking customer in New York that stated a new $7
fee would be applied to their account. </p><h2><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/17/smallbusiness/community_banks_kasasa/index.htm">Community banks team up to fight the megabanks</a></h2><p>The
new monthly fee will be effective May 4 in the six states, and will
begin showing up on June statements (if the requirements for getting the
charge waived aren't met), the bank said.</p><p>"This has been a
gradual change -- we've notified many customers that this change would
be happening, and this is another extension of that," said a Wells Fargo
spokeswoman. "We want our customers to come in and talk to us and make
sure they are in the right account and getting the options they need." <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/07/pf/wells-fargo-checking-fee/index.htm?hpt=hp_t3#TOP"><img src="http://i.cdn.turner.com/money/images/bug.gif" alt="To top of page" border="0" height="7" width="7"></a></p>
<div class="storytimestamp">First Published: March 7, 2012: 6:48 PM ET</div></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<br><a href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com" target="_blank">art.deco.studios@gmail.com</a><br>