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> Here (Iceland) it's free to transfer money between individuals via your bank.

Yes, but what’s the average Icelander’s monthly bank account fee?

In the US, it’s a bit fat zero.



We don't have bank account fees.

Another fun fact: pretty much everyone here pays off their credit card every month.

The bank will close your account if you do not.

Of course there are exceptions, but this is the general rule.

(if you need money the bank will lend it to you and help you arrange payments)


I don't know if Iceland follows in lockstep with the rest of EU monetary policy but here in Denmark, they take your money another way: negative inflation applied to comically low limits (100,000 DKK) equivalent to $15,000 USD.


The average U.S. checking account incurs $9.87 in fees per month (2014 data):

https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201407_cfpb_report_data-... (PDF, page 9)

While there are fee-free checking accounts in the U.S., many of the largest banks only offer paid checking accounts that qualify for a monthly fee waiver if certain requirements (such as an average/minimum daily balance, an amount of monthly direct deposits, and/or a number of monthly debit card transactions) are met. However, U.S. credit unions tend to have more consumer-friendly offerings.


In Australia it's free to transfer money between individuals via your bank instantly, and most banks don't charge monthly account fees.


> In the US, it’s a bit fat zero.

It seems you get what you pay for.


Given alternatives for sending money do exist (and free), I'm fine with paying zero for a bank account.


My Swedish bank account does indeed incur monthly fees whereas my American bank account does not. That said, when comparing the quality of Sweden's system for digitaly sending money to the one in the US, I would gladly pay something similar if the US adopted a system like Sweden's. So I guess I'll just repeat what I said in my last post: It seems you get what you pay for.


I don't know, what is it?


I dunno, that’s why I asked.

Was hard to find any info. The Only Iceland bank I did find after searching “monthly bank account fees in Iceland” had a link to a PDF of their fees in Icelandic only (my phone won’t translate pdfs), and that was linked from their English page for newcomers.

https://www.islandsbanki.is/en/article/price-and-interest




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