Did you know that your bank charges you for every little service?

New Delhi, Aug 26: Did you know that your bank charges you for every little service? Most banks do put up information on these charges on their websites, but people seem to pay little attention to them.

Also, perhaps the fact that banks debit the charges directly from one's account, the impact is not felt -- until one gets the statement and makes it a point to read through it!

But here are some services that you get charged for:

For not maintaining a minimum balance: Banks penalise you if you do not maintain a minimum balance in your account, except if it is your salary account. The minimum amount and the penalty for not maintaining that balance are specific to each bank. Private banks typically require you to maintain a minimum balance of Rs. 1 lakh and above. The penalty for not doing so could be as high as Rs. 500-600 a month.

For witholding cheque: If you ask for a cheque payment to be withheld, there's a charge for that, too, although this may not be applied to banks' preferred and long-standing customers.

Debit card fees: This varies from Rs 100 to Rs 500, depending on the bank. You are charged for even an add-on card for a family member.

For e-mail/SMS alert: Did you think all those email statements and SMS alerts from your bank come for free? They charge you for even these. Thankfully, though, these charges are negligible.

For bank statement: Although banks issue a stipulated number of statements for free, above that number, they start charging.

For standing instructions: Banks charge for standing instructions that you issue to pay regular bills, for instance. And if your account does not have sufficient money to honour the instruction on a particular date, the banks charge a penalty for that.

And if you forgot your password! Most banks also charge you to issue new Internet banking or ATM passwords in case you forgot those. A few banks provide the alternative of generating passwords online and do not explicitly charge for it.