What is the basis for the following bank fees?

The transaction fee charged to your checking account when you use a non-proprietary atm.
When I withdraw from an atm, the atm operator already charges a fee (which makes perfect sense). However, why is my bank charging a fee too? Do they get charged by the atm operator as well?

The Quicken Direct Connect fee
Many banks charge you somewhere between 5 and 15 dollars per month to download your transactions into Quicken/QuickBooks . Are the banks getting charged by Quicken? That wouldn't make sense for Intuit's business plan.

The foreign transaction fee for debit cards/credit cards
Who could the bank possibly be paying this fee to. All other fees are the responsibility of the merchant, why is this one different?

Or do these fees not have any correlation to cost and the bank just uses them to pick up some extra money?

Not sure if your complaining, but they are all retail (sucker) fees.

Yes, the ATM owner charges the bank for a transaction, but it's cheaper for them then a teller transaction.
Yes, Intuit encrypts their QBF files and the banks need to purchase a license and passing on the fees.
Yes, the banks are paying the fees to Visa/MC.

As you know, most frugal banks are happy to rebate/waive ATMs fees, give reasonable CSV exports, and eat the Foreign fees too.

Edit: Your bank sucks. Get a new one.

No, your bank isnt charged a fee. They just want you to "stay within the family". Banks invest alot in acquiring customers, and dont like "traitors".

Licensing.

If you want to spend dollars in a location with a different local currency, why shouldnt you pay for the conversion? A merchant who sells in their local currency shouldnt be responsible to convert your money for you.

Citations:

Yes, the ATM owner charges the bank for a transaction, but it's cheaper for them then a teller transaction.
http://www.stopatmfees.com/newpage2.htm
A portion of the foreign fee is shared with the ATM owner and is known as the "interchange fee." Depending on the ATM network, your bank pays the ATM owner an interchange fee of 30-65 cents, and does so even if it is one of the few banks that does not charge you to use a foreign ATM. So, ATM owners have always been compensated when non-customers use their ATMs. That’s why, when they impose a second fee, called a surcharge, these owners are "charging you twice."

Yes, Intuit encrypts their QBF files and the banks need to purchase a license and passing on the fees.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quicken_Interchange_Format
Banks that support integrated online banking (i.e. as part of Money or Quicken) usually use OFX instead of QIF.

Some banks are objecting to this change, because Quicken (Intuit) charges licensing fees to use QFX. Other banks are passing on these fees, by charging customers for downloading QFX files. (QIF and OFX are open formats, free for anyone to use. Banks do not normally charge for downloading QIF and OFX files.) Microsoft Money imports either QIF or OFX format files, and Microsoft does not charge banks any licensing fees to use OFX for Money.

Yes, the banks are paying the fees to Visa/MC.
(Citation needed)

Banks' costs are, as economists would say, not fully separable. It costs a certain amount to pay for rent on the branches, electricity for the servers, bananas for the monkeys that answer the phone, etc.; they can't easily charge each customer for their "fair" share of all of that. They have certain bills they have to pay, including profit to stockholders (other than for mutual banks and CU's), and they have to raise that much from the customers collectively, without charging anyone more than they're willing to pay. Some of that comes from paying lower interest on deposits, and charging more on loans, than they otherwise would (if they could charge separate fees for all of the indirect services they provide), but they need to pass on significant costs to people with low balances, too.

A popular analogy is to a butcher, who buys a whole cow then divides it up into individual pieces to sell separately. He's not dictating prices to anybody: he sells brisket for whatever the market will pay for brisket, strip steak for whatever the market will pay for strip steak, tongue for whatever the market will pay for tongue. But, even if he's just breaking even, he's going to be charging a much higher price per pound to the people that want fancy steaks than to those who buy parts that are only good for grinding or sausage casings, or just aren't popular. You could say that he's gouging the steak-lovers, but he didn't mean to be; if he charged a flat price per pound, he'd be giving a gift to the steak-lovers and be left with a bunch of parts he couldn't sell.

doveroftke said: <rant> My least favorite fee is the one for too many transactions from a savings account that can't be refunded because it's "federally mandated". It is complete BS because the banks count types of transactions that the federal law does not (such as ATM withdrawals or transfers to checking accounts at the same bank) and the law requires the bank to prevent excess transactions or notify frequent violators or, at the very extreme, reclassify the account; there is nothing there mandating a fee. </rant>Do you have a citation about checking-account transfers? I've never seen a bank that did not count them (when done online). I have seen banks not count ATM withdrawals, though that's rare.

LH2004 said: Do you have a citation about checking-account transfers?

I should clarify that I mean in-person checking-account transfers. I knew once that I was up against my limit, so I made a transfer at a teller window to avoid the problem and still got hit and could not get the fee refunded. Closed my account because of it.

Here's the rule: http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/7500-500.html#fdicfoot3_3_link, Section 204.2(d)(2). It's hard to decipher, but I'm pretty sure it says that electronic transfers do count against the limit but teller and ATM transfers (and withdrawals) do not.

Intuit may charge banks a license fee but I highly doubt it comes anywhere near an amount that would directly cause a $5-$15 a month cost per customer. That really seems more like an excuse the banks are suing to justify gouging you OR maybe they just don't like dealing with Intuit or object to any fee so they jack up the fee rate to dissuade their customers from using it.