10 things your bank won't tell you

The problem? Mounting credit card debt among college kids, for one.

"Universities don't negotiate on behalf of students," Manning says. "They're negotiating the best deal for the university."

A representative for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities says not to blame schools, as banks would market to students anyway, and universities at least try to get the best rates they can for students.

5. "In debt? The courts won't help."

Since the late 1990s, banks have been including mandatory-arbitration agreements in their contracts for many of their products, including auto loans, checking accounts, home-equity loans and credit cards. Such agreements prohibit you from suing and instead require you to use an arbitrator -- someone picked by the arbitration firm named in your card contract to hear the dispute and decide the outcome.

Though these clauses were originally designed to thwart class-action suits, the banks have also been using them for debt collection, says Paul Bland, an attorney with consumer-advocacy group Public Justice. There are even times when consumers, often victims of identity theft and unaware of the debt, aren't present when awards are handed down against them.

A recent suit against an arbitration firm brought by the San Francisco city attorney noted that arbitrators ruled in favor of banks in 100% of the 18,045 California cases brought against consumers from January 2003 through March 2007.

"From the consumer perspective, it's a nightmare," Bland says. If a bank brings arbitration against you, hire a lawyer and request a hearing in person.

6. "We're excited about your trip to Europe, too!"

It's bad enough that the dollar has struggled in recent years against most major currencies, but when you travel overseas, every transaction comes with big fees attached. Take out cash from an ATM in London, and you'll get hit with a foreign-transaction fee, plus a fee for using a competitor's ATM. All told, it can cost up to $7 just to withdraw $200.

Credit card purchases aren't much better. Visa and MasterCard charge 1% of the purchase price for converting currency. And the issuing banks may take another cut, which can bring the total to 3% of your purchase price, says CardRatings.com's Arnold. "If people don't travel overseas very often, they just don't think about it," he says.

The best thing to do is determine which of your cards charges the lowest overseas-transaction fee. For people who travel a lot, Arnold recommends a Capital One credit card, which charges no overseas-transaction fees (and even declines to pass on Visa and MasterCard's 1% fee to customers).

Also, ask your bank about partnerships with foreign banks. Bank of America, for example, partners with Barclays Bank, saving its customers $5 per withdrawal from Barclays' ATMs in the United Kingdom.

7. "For all the fine print, we don't disclose very much."

Bank documents come loaded with small type detailing terms and conditions. But good luck finding out exactly what you're signing up for when you open an account.

In 2007, the Government Accountability Office sent investigators to see how well banks explained their fees and other conditions to potential customers. Though banks are required by law to make this information available, the GAO said one-third of the branches it surveyed didn't provide the required information. Worse, more than half didn't have any fee information on their Web sites.

Nessa Feddis, a senior counsel at the American Bankers Association, questions the report's methods -- banks failed the test if investigators waited more than 10 minutes for the information -- and defends the lack of data online. Banks are afraid of leaving old, inaccurate information on their sites if terms change, she says. But without details on fees, consumers can't make informed choices.

"Banks are not complying with the law," says Ed Mierzwinski, the consumer program director with the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. "People need more information so they can shop around for the best deal."

Continued: A better place for your money?

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