"These fees are like germs."

by Kathy Chu, USA Today (May 28, 2009)

But the aggressive fee increases, consumer advocates say, underscore the need for regulators to crack down uniformly on bank practices that are pushing consumers deeper into debt - whether on credit cards or checking accounts.

"These fees are like germs. They have a tendency to spread," says Gail Hillebrand, senior attorney at Consumers Union, which publishes Consumer Reports.

The fees are "all based on the same bad business model," she says, in which consumers are promised one price and then later are loaded up with back-end fees.