Richmond Fed · District 5

Bank fees in North Carolina

Name: North Carolina Bank and Credit Union Fees Compared
Creator: Fee Insight

Overdraft and NSF medians are $1 and $5 below the national median.

institutions with published feesof 95 headquartered in North Carolina: 49
medians fall within the national middle 50%: 12 of 14

Data refreshed Nov 2, 2026

Get the free North Carolina report

Local fee benchmarks

Charlotte's monthly maintenance median is $8; North Carolina's is $5.

Monthly Maintenance median by market, institutions with a branch thereNorth Carolina $5, 23 institutions

North Carolina's 8 largest markets by institutions with a branch there; marker size follows that count. Every North Carolina city on the map

Overdraft (OD)NSF / Returned Item Monthly Maintenance Non-Network ATM Stop Payment Wire Transfer (Domestic Out)Paper Statement Debit Card Replacement

Charlotte
32 institutions
$8
North Carolina
23 institutions
$5
Richmond Fed district
120 institutions
$7.25
U.S.
1,903 institutions
$7

Who each median counts

Charlotte: With a branch in Charlotte, wherever headquartered
North Carolina: Headquartered in North Carolina
Richmond Fed district: Headquartered in the Richmond Fed district
U.S.: Every institution in the index

Charlotte

Fee data available for 45 of 60 institutions

Compare Charlotte fees

Sources: Branches from the FDIC Summary of Deposits (banks) and NCUA (credit unions). One value per institution: its highest overdraft fee, the middle of its schedule for other fees. A median needs at least 5 institutions.

North Carolina's banks and credit unions

49 of the 95 institutions headquartered in North Carolina have published fees here, and 47 of them have fees that count toward the medians on this page. Figures here count those headquartered institutions, except branches and deposits, which count every institution serving the state.

Banks versus credit unions

Credit unions have lower medians on 9 of 12 fees, among institutions headquartered in North Carolina.

lower at credit unions: 9
lower at banks: 2
about the same: 1

12 fees with both a bank and a credit union median in North Carolina.

Lower at credit unions

Lower at banks

About the same

Fee

Overdraft (OD)

Credit unions $6 lower in North Carolina.

$35

Banks

median of 11

$29

Credit unions

median of 11

Two fees with lower bank medians

Debit Card Replacement

Banks

median of 8

Credit unions

median of 27

Deposited Item Return

$10

Banks

median of 9

$20

Credit unions

median of 9

Every fee, banks against credit unions

Bank and credit union medians in North Carolina; the lower median is shaded.
Fee	Banks	Credit unions	Difference
Overdraft (OD)	$35	$29	$6
NSF / Returned Item	$27	$25	$2
Monthly Maintenance	$12	$3.98	$8.02
Non-Network ATM	$2.50	$1	$1.50
Wire Transfer (Domestic Out)	$25	$15	$10
Wire Transfer (Int'l Out)	$45	$45	Same
Stop Payment	$32	$25	$7
Cashier's Check	$6	$3	$3
Debit Card Replacement	$4	$8	$4
Wire Transfer (Domestic In)	$15	$10	$5
Deposited Item Return	$10	$20	$10
Paper Statement	$3	$2.50	$0.50

Fee medians by peer group

Institutions under $300M in assets in North Carolina

Wire Transfer runs $5 below the North Carolina median.

Overdraft (OD)
Group median:
Too few to compare
of 4 institutions publishing
State median:
$29
of 22 institutions publishing
Difference: Not compared
NSF / Returned Item
Group median:
$29
of 19 institutions publishing
State median:
$25
of 35 institutions publishing
Difference: $4 above
Monthly Maintenance
Group median:
$5
of 9 institutions publishing
State median:
$5
of 23 institutions publishing
Difference: Within 1%
Non-Network ATM
Group median:
Too few to compare
of 7 institutions publishing
State median:
$1.50
of 19 institutions publishing
Difference: Not compared
Wire Transfer (Domestic Out)
Group median:
$15
of 14 institutions publishing
State median:
$20
of 31 institutions publishing
Difference: $5 below

Difference: the group median against the North Carolina median, up arrow above, down arrow below. Colour shows direction only: above or below the median is not good or bad.

Show all 14

Wire Transfer (Int'l Out)
Group median:
Too few to compare
of 7 institutions publishing
State median:
$45
of 20 institutions publishing
Difference: Not compared
Stop Payment
Group median:
$27
of 18 institutions publishing
State median:
$29
of 34 institutions publishing
Difference: $2 below
Cashier's Check
Group median:
$3
of 15 institutions publishing
State median:
$5
of 34 institutions publishing
Difference: $2 below
Debit Card Replacement
Group median:
$6
of 16 institutions publishing
State median:
$7
of 35 institutions publishing
Difference: $1 below
Wire Transfer (Domestic In)
Group median:
$10
of 9 institutions publishing
State median:
$10
of 22 institutions publishing
Difference: Within 1%
Deposited Item Return
Group median:
Too few to compare
of 6 institutions publishing
State median:
$12
of 18 institutions publishing
Difference: Not compared
Paper Statement
Group median:
Too few to compare
of 5 institutions publishing
State median:
$3
of 15 institutions publishing
Difference: Not compared
OD Protection Transfer
Group median:
Too few to compare
of 6 institutions publishing
State median:
$1.75
of 10 institutions publishing
Difference: Not compared
Minimum Balance
Group median:
Too few to compare
of 3 institutions publishing
State median:
$3
of 7 institutions publishing
Difference: Not compared

How groups are counted

Each institution counts once: its highest overdraft fee, the middle of its schedule for other fees.
Size bands come from FDIC and NCUA total assets, bank regulator from the FDIC registry and credit union charter from NCUA.
The North Carolina median counts every institution headquartered in the state that publishes the fee.

Source: Institutions headquartered in North Carolina with verified fees, Bank Fee Index; size, regulator and charter from FDIC and NCUA records. A group median needs at least 8 institutions. Data as of Nov 2, 2026.

Who serves North Carolina

The five largest banks hold 83% of bank deposits in North Carolina. 95 banks and credit unions are headquartered here; 2,012 bank branches and 701 credit union branches serve the state, wherever headquartered.

Bank of America, National Association43.8% · $304.7B across 109 branches
Truist Bank16.9% · $117.7B across 276 branches
First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company13.4% · $93.3B across 196 branches
Wells Fargo Bank, National Association7.3% · $51.0B across 217 branches
PNC Bank, National Association1.9% · $13.2B across 100 branches
Every other bank16.6% · $115.7B

45% of the 38 banks hold $100M to $1B in assets

FDIC asset-size groups

46% of the 57 credit unions hold $10M to $100M in assets

NCUA asset-size groups

Source: Institutions headquartered in North Carolina, 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, for branches in North Carolina; credit union branches from NCUA. Leading banks count banks with 10 or more branches in the state.

Fee income

North Carolina bank service charges rose 7.5% from Q2 2025 to Q2 2026. 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

$1.4BQ2 2026

+7.5% from Q2 2025

Credit unions: all fee income

$62.2MQ2 2026

+6.1% from Q2 2025

Source: Institutions headquartered in the state. 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.

Free report

Get the free North Carolina fee report

The North Carolina medians against the U.S., sent to you and updated as schedules are verified.

North Carolina versus the Richmond district

Lower in North Carolina: deposited item return −⁠$8, NSF / returned item −⁠$5, OD protection transfer −⁠$3.25 and 5 more. The other 6 fees are about the same.

Deposited Item Return
North Carolina $12 (18 inst.) · District $20 (139 inst.)
−$8
NSF / Returned Item
North Carolina $25 (35 inst.) · District $30 (208 inst.)
−$5
OD Protection Transfer
North Carolina $1.75 (10 inst.) · District $5 (76 inst.)
−$3.25
Debit Card Replacement
North Carolina $7 (35 inst.) · District $10 (208 inst.)
−$3
Minimum Balance
North Carolina $3 (7 inst.) · District $5.50 (46 inst.)
−$2.50

North Carolina median against the Richmond district median, by fee
Fee	North Carolina	District	Gap
Deposited Item Return	$1218 inst.	$20139 inst.	−$8
NSF / Returned Item	$2535 inst.	$30208 inst.	−$5
OD Protection Transfer	$1.7510 inst.	$576 inst.	−$3.25
Debit Card Replacement	$735 inst.	$10208 inst.	−$3
Minimum Balance	$37 inst.	$5.5046 inst.	−$2.50

What the Fed sees in the district

“The Fifth District economy continued to grow at a moderate pace this cycle.”

Beige Book, Richmond district, October 2026 Hamilton sets it beside an institution's own fees

Open the Richmond district report

Source: Both medians count institutions by headquarters; the district takes in North Carolina and the rest of the Federal Reserve's Richmond district. Medians from each institution's own published schedule, one value per institution; a median needs at least 5. A gap under 1% reads as about the same. Federal Reserve Beige Book, Richmond district.

North Carolina versus the U.S.

1 of 14 North Carolina medians sit above the U.S. median. North Carolina medians count institutions headquartered in North Carolina; U.S. medians count every institution in the index.

Overdraft (OD)

$29

Median of 22 North Carolina institutions. U.S. $30.

North Carolina institutionsNational middle range

Explore 25 additional North Carolina fee categories in Hamilton.

Method: Findings rank only fees with at least 10 North Carolina 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.

National context

North Carolina unemployment was 3.4% in September 2026, against 4.2% for the U.S.

North Carolina

Unemployment rate, against the U.S.

North CarolinaU.S.

Sep 2021 to Sep 2026

Median household income in North Carolina: $72K (2024).

United States

Bank services prices, change over 12 months

Sep 2021 to Sep 2026

+1.0% in the 12 months to Sep 2026, nationally.

Source: BLS unemployment and the BLS CPI for checking accounts and other bank services; Census ACS 2024 median household income. The CPI is national; it has no state figure.

More North Carolina data: fee complaints to the CFPB

Fee complaints to the CFPB, 2025

Per $1 billion of deposits.

Richmond district3.0
U.S.1.1

4 North Carolina 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 an institution's own fees beside institutions its size in North Carolina.

See Hamilton plans Or ask for a demo

From 47 North Carolina 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. Methodology

Fee

Banks

Credit unions

Difference

Overdraft (OD)

$35

$29

NSF / Returned Item

$27

$25

Monthly Maintenance

$12

$3.98

$8.02

Non-Network ATM

$2.50

$1.50

Wire Transfer (Domestic Out)

$25

$15

$10

Wire Transfer (Int'l Out)

$45

Same

Stop Payment

$32

$25

Cashier's Check

Debit Card Replacement

Wire Transfer (Domestic In)

$15

$10

Deposited Item Return

$10

$20

$10

Paper Statement

$2.50

$0.50

Fee

North Carolina

District

Lower in North Carolina Higher in North Carolina

Gap

Deposited Item Return

$1218 inst.

$20139 inst.

−$8

NSF / Returned Item

$2535 inst.

$30208 inst.

−$5

OD Protection Transfer

$1.7510 inst.

$576 inst.

−$3.25

Debit Card Replacement

$735 inst.

$10208 inst.

−$3

Minimum Balance

$37 inst.

$5.5046 inst.

−$2.50