Fees and Value
Seven Fees Your Bank Charges That We Do Not
None of these fees pay for anything you asked for. Here is what each one typically costs, and why a member-owned credit union does not need them.
The average American household pays a few hundred dollars a year in bank fees without ever deciding to.
Fee income is not an accident. At a publicly traded bank it is a line on the earnings call, forecast quarterly and defended against decline. That is not a conspiracy, it is just what a shareholder-owned company is built to do. Summit has members instead of shareholders, so there is no outside investor waiting on that revenue. Below are seven fees that show up routinely on bank statements, what they generally run, and what happens at Summit instead.
1. The overdraft fee
This is the big one. A typical overdraft or non-sufficient-funds fee runs about $35, and because it is charged per item rather than per day, a single bad morning can produce three or four of them. The fee is not proportional to the shortfall: a $6 coffee that overdraws you by $2 costs the same $35 as a $600 rent payment. Banks collect billions a year this way, and the burden falls hardest on the accounts with the smallest cushions.
Summit does not charge overdraft or NSF fees on consumer checking. If a transaction would overdraw your account, we cover it from your linked savings when funds are available, or decline it at no cost. You are not charged for the decline either, which is a distinction worth reading twice, because plenty of institutions charge for the privilege of being told no.
2. The monthly maintenance fee
The classic checking account fee, usually $12 to $25 a month, usually waivable if you keep a minimum balance, receive a qualifying direct deposit, or hold another product with the bank. The waiver conditions are the point. They are designed to be met most of the time and missed occasionally, which is when the fee lands.
Free Checking at Summit has no monthly fee and no minimum balance. Not waived with a balance, not waived with direct deposit, simply not charged. There is no premium tier that unlocks it, because there is nothing to unlock.
3. The out-of-network ATM fee
This one is doubly annoying because it is often charged twice: once by the ATM's owner as a surcharge, and again by your own institution as a foreign-ATM fee, typically $2.50 to $3.50. Withdrawing $40 of your own money can cost you $6.50.
Summit members have surcharge-free access to more than 85,000 ATMs nationwide through the CO-OP and Allpoint networks, which is a wider footprint than any single retail bank operates. On the rare occasion you use a machine outside those networks, we do not add a fee of our own, and we refund up to $15 a month in surcharges other operators impose.
4. The paper statement fee
Charging two to five dollars a month to mail a record of your own transactions is a fee that mostly lands on older members and anyone who does not bank online. We do not charge it. Paper statements are free, e-statements are free, and switching between them takes one click.
5. The incoming wire fee
Someone sends you money and you are charged $15 for receiving it. The bank has already been paid by the sending institution's fee. Summit does not charge for incoming domestic wires. Outgoing wires carry a modest fee that covers the actual network cost, and we will tell you what it is before you authorize it.
6. The card replacement fee
If your debit card is lost, stolen, damaged, or compromised in a merchant data breach, replacing it is free and we will expedite delivery at no charge when the situation calls for it. Charging a member $10 because a retailer got hacked has never made sense to us.
7. The early account closure fee
Some institutions charge $25 if you close a checking account within 90 or 180 days of opening it. It exists to discourage you from leaving, which is a strange thing to design for. If Summit is not right for you, closing your account costs nothing and takes about five minutes.
Where the money goes instead
A credit union is a not-for-profit cooperative. After operating costs and required reserves, earnings come back to members as better loan rates, higher deposit yields, and the absence of the fees above. Our 4.15% APY on high-yield savings and 4.09% APR on new auto loans are funded by the same margin a bank would have converted into fee income.
What we do charge for
Honesty requires a short list in the other direction. Summit charges for outgoing wire transfers, expedited card delivery when you request it for convenience rather than fraud, stop payment orders, and legal processing when we are served with a garnishment. These are cost-recovery fees for work someone actually performs, they are disclosed in the fee schedule, and none of them are triggered by a mistake.
If you want to know what leaving your current bank would save you, pull three months of statements and add up every line that is not a purchase, a deposit, or a transfer. Most people are surprised by the total. It is usually between $180 and $400 a year.
Rates current as of July 2026 and subject to change. Membership eligibility required. This is a demonstration website; rates, products, and figures shown are illustrative only.
Read the whole fee schedule
Every fee Summit charges is on one page, in plain language. Compare it against what you are paying now.