M&T Touts $5 Add-Ons to Checking Accounts

M&T Bank (MTB) in Buffalo, N.Y., is offering customers the ability to tailor their checking accounts with a series of add-ons.

The $83 billion-asset company this week introduced five features that customers can add to their accounts. Each feature carries a monthly charge, though customers with premium accounts can choose up to four without charge.

Add-ons include no M&T fee at other banks' ATMs, refunds of other banks' ATM fees, no fee for overdraft protection transfers and standard checks and safe deposit box, each for $4.95 a month, and online access to a credit score, for $2.99 a month.

"We want to provide M&T customers with more options so they can customize their account to fit their lifestyle and their needs," Darren King, executive vice president for retail banking at M&T, said in a press release. "We understand that it's important to customers to be able to select the features that are most useful for them."

M&T's move comes amid a push by some banks to let customers select the services they use. Union Bank has introduced Banking by Design, which the bank says lets customers pay for features they want. Other banks, including Wells Fargo (WFC), PNC (PNC) and Fifth Third (FITB), will recommend checking accounts to customers based on needs the customer identifies.

In November, M&T rolled out a service that lets customers select their own images for the front of their check cards.