The pressures are too much.
A lengthy recession, an extended period of low interest rates, new and costly regulations, and the effect of two years of bank and credit union failures mean the idea of free banking services such as free checking likely is going the way of the free toaster.
The loss of free checking means that unlike in the recent past, more customers will have to maintain minimum balances, agree to write only so many checks a month, or receive their monthly statements electronically to avoiding paying monthly fees on their checking accounts.
Up until recently, the elimination of free checking services has been mostly at the hands of the nation's largest banks, such as Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase.
But that development is working its way to the Wichita area.
And local bank and credit union executives and industry experts said it's a development that's likely to become a trend, though there probably will be some holdouts.
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