Chicago Fed · District 7

Bank fees in the Great Lakes

Overdraft and NSF medians are about the same as the national median. The deposited item return median is $5 below the national median.

of 1,265 banks and credit unions have verified fee schedules: 565
fee medians sit within the national middle range: 14 of 15

Data refreshed Nov 2, 2026Get the free district report

Against the U.S.

2 of 15 district medians sit above the U.S. median

Other notable differences from the U.S.

Stop payment: $29 median, versus $27.50 nationally ($1.50 higher, 5%).

Overdraft (OD)

$30

Median of 372 Chicago district institutions. U.S. $30.

Chicago district institutionsNational middle range

Dormant Account371 institutionsIn Hamilton
Garnishment/Levy370 institutionsIn Hamilton
Document Reproduction302 institutionsIn Hamilton
Check Image/Copy301 institutionsIn Hamilton
Money Order288 institutionsIn Hamilton

Plus 31 more Chicago district fees. See them in Hamilton

Method: Findings rank only fees with at least 10 Chicago district institutions. Fees with fewer appear in the list, unranked. The national middle range runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile of U.S. institutions.

Banks and credit unions

Credit unions have lower medians on 10 of 14 fees

Each tile is one fee. Pick one to see both medians.

lower at credit unions: 10
lower at banks: 1
about the same: 3

14 fees with both a bank and a credit union median in the Chicago district.

Lower at credit unions

Lower at banks

About the same

Fee

Overdraft (OD)

Credit unions $1 lower in the Chicago district.

$30

Banks

median of 159

$29

Credit unions

median of 213

One fee with a lower bank median

Deposited Item Return

Banks

median of 97

$15

Credit unions

median of 143

Every fee, banks against credit unions

Bank and credit union medians in the Chicago district; the lower median is shaded.
Fee	Banks	Credit unions	Difference
Overdraft (OD)	$30	$29	$1
NSF / Returned Item	$30	$28.50	$1.50
Monthly Maintenance	$7	$5	$2
Non-Network ATM	$1.88	$1.25	$0.63
Wire Transfer (Domestic Out)	$25	$25	Same
Wire Transfer (Int'l Out)	$50	$50	Same
Stop Payment	$30	$25	$5
Cashier's Check	$5	$3	$2
Debit Card Replacement	$10	$10	Same
Wire Transfer (Domestic In)	$15	$10	$5
Deposited Item Return	$8	$15	$7
OD Protection Transfer	$5	$4	$1
Paper Statement	$3	$2.50	$0.50
Minimum Balance	$7.50	$5	$2.50

State by state

Overdraft medians run from $28 in Wisconsin to $30 in Indiana

Each card shows the same fee on one scale; the short upright line marks the district median. Pick a state for its detail.

Chicago district median, $30

Illinois

Illinois fee report →

Banks 230 · Credit unions 167: 397
With verified fees: 38%
Bank deposit service charges, latest quarter: $229.2M
Credit union fee income, latest quarter: $55.2M
Branches: 4,240
Unemployment, Sep 2026: 4.6%
Median household income: $83K

Illinois median Chicago district

Overdraft$30 vs $30
NSF$30 vs $30
Maintenance$7.24 vs $6
Out-of-network ATM$1.25 vs $1.50
Outgoing wire$25 vs $25

Compare all five states


291	38%	$30	$29	$5	$28.9M	3.2%
397	38%	$30	$30	$7.24	$229.2M	4.6%
174	45%	$30	$30	$6	$39.4M	3.4%
210	62%	$29	$29	$5.98	$18.9M	5.0%
193	48%	$28	$28	$6	$40.7M	3.2%

Source: Fee medians from verified published fee schedules, one value per institution; a median needs 5 institutions. Fee income from FDIC and NCUA call reports, branches from the FDIC Summary of Deposits and NCUA, unemployment from BLS, income from the Census ACS. Fee medians, institution counts and fee income in each state count only institutions inside the Chicago district; unemployment, income and branches cover the whole state.

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District 7's headline fees against the U.S. in one free PDF, ready to share with your team.

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Fee income

Bank service charges rose 7.2% in a year

Credit union fee income is a wider measure than bank service charges, so the two charts stay separate and are never added together.

Banks: service charges on deposit accounts

$357.0MQ2 2026

+7.2% from Q2 2025

Credit unions: all fee income

$326.2MQ2 2026

+6.5% from Q2 2025

Source: Banks: service charges on deposit accounts, FDIC call reports. Credit unions: all fee income, NCUA call reports. Credit union year-to-date income is split into quarters; a quarter shows once most institutions have filed.

Who serves the district

The five largest banks hold 38% of bank deposits in the district's five states

1,265 banks and credit unions, with 10,295 bank branches and 3,588 credit union branches.

JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association14.7% · $234.2B across 631 branches
BMO Bank National Association8.4% · $134.7B across 394 branches
Fifth Third Bank, National Association6.0% · $96.1B across 565 branches
Bank of America, National Association4.8% · $77.0B across 213 branches
PNC Bank, National Association4.0% · $63.4B across 375 branches
Every other bank62.1% · $991.0B

68% of the 696 banks hold $100M to $1B in assets

FDIC asset-size groups

37% of the 569 credit unions hold $10M to $100M in assets

NCUA asset-size groups

Source: Institutions tracked by Fee Insight. Total assets from FDIC and NCUA data, grouped the way each regulator reports them: the FDIC asset-size groups for banks and the NCUA groups for credit unions. Bank deposits from the FDIC Summary of Deposits, 2026, counted for each whole state, even where the district line splits one; credit union branches from NCUA. Leading banks count banks with 10 or more branches here.

Economic context

U.S. prices for bank services rose 1.0% in a year

Bank services prices, 12 months to Sep 2026: +1.0%
U.S. unemployment, Sep 2026: 4.2%

“Economic activity in the Seventh District was flat on balance in late August and September, and contacts expected a slight pace of increase in the coming year.”

Federal Reserve Beige Book, Chicago district, October 2026 Read it beside your fees in Hamilton

Bank services prices, change over 12 months

Sep 2021 to Sep 2026

Unemployment and income by state

State	Unemployment	Median household income
Iowa	3.2%	$75K
Illinois	4.6%	$83K
Indiana	3.4%	$72K
Michigan	5.0%	$73K
Wisconsin	3.2%	$77K

Source: BLS CPI for checking accounts and other bank services and BLS unemployment; Census ACS 2024 median household income; Federal Reserve Beige Book.

More district data: fee complaints and fee changes

Fee complaints to the CFPB, 2025

Per $1 billion of deposits.

U.S.1.1

8 district institutions are matched to CFPB records, under the 10 a rate needs.

Source: CFPB Consumer Complaint Database, fee-related issues. Only institutions matched to their CFPB company record count, and a rate needs 10 of them.

Where does your institution sit?

Hamilton, the Fee Insight workspace, sets every fee you charge against institutions your size and in your district.

See Hamilton plans Or ask for a demo

From 565 Chicago district banks and credit unions' own published fee schedules, one value per institution; a median needs at least 5 institutions. Data as of Nov 2, 2026. How we build it

Bank fees in the Great Lakes

Overdraft and NSF medians are about the same as the national median. The deposited item return median is $5 below the national median.

of 1,265 banks and credit unions have verified fee schedules

565

fee medians sit within the national middle range

14 of 15

Fee

Banks

Credit unions

Difference

Overdraft (OD)

$30

$29

NSF / Returned Item

$30

$28.50

$1.50

Monthly Maintenance

Non-Network ATM

$1.88

$1.25

$0.63

Wire Transfer (Domestic Out)

$25

Same

Wire Transfer (Int'l Out)

$50

Same

Stop Payment

$30

$25

Cashier's Check

Debit Card Replacement

$10

Same

Wire Transfer (Domestic In)

$15

$10

Deposited Item Return

$15

OD Protection Transfer

Paper Statement

$2.50

$0.50

Minimum Balance

$7.50

$2.50

State

291

$30

397

$30

174

$30

210

$29

193

$28

State

Unemployment

Median household income

Iowa

3.2%

$75K

Illinois

4.6%

$83K

Indiana

3.4%

$72K

Michigan

5.0%

$73K

Wisconsin

3.2%

$77K