(February 21 – 08:30 ET) – Industry Canada’s Office of Consumer Affairs released its third annual Financial Service Charges Report yesterday. The report tracks the service fees charged by banks and other financial institutions.

The report benchmarks the cost of service charges on an annual basis, identifying which institutions’ charges are going up and which are going down. It shows that while on average fees remained stable in the last year, the averages masked significant changes at individual institutions. Costs for low volume (typically low income) consumers generally remained stable in the past year.

The report examines the effects of the Toronto Dominion/Canada Trust merger on fees. It also focuses on the offerings of the new virtual banks.

“This year’s annual report again highlights the fact that consumers can make significant savings in the cost of banking by shopping around for the service charges package which best fits their needs,” said Brian Tobin, Minister of Industry. “The process of shopping around has never been easier. Consumers can find the lowest cost account package for their own banking habits in five minutes using the Financial Service Charges Calculator on Industry Canada’s Web site.”

The calculator is designed to enable individual consumers to identify the lowest cost service charge package for their needs from over 100 different accounts offered at 16 Canadian financial institutions. The Financial Service Charges Calculator was launched in December 1997.

The annual report, calculator and other consumer information products can be accessed through Consumer Connection on the Strategis web site at http://consumerconnection.ic.gc.ca.
-IE Staff