With Hurricane Harvey causing life-threatening floods in Houston, some major banks are cutting bank fees for customers as a small form of hurricane relief.
According to news from CNBC, JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in Houston with more than 200 branches in the area, will automatically waive or refund ATM fees on deposit accounts through September 10, 2017, for customers in the greater metropolitan area. JPMorgan Chase’s service will also apply to overdraft and monthly service banking fees on deposit accounts and late fees for mortgage, credit card, business banking and auto loans.
Dallas-based bank Comerica said all its branches in the greater Houston area are closed, and that it is “waiving ATM fees for our customers who might need to use other ATMs and non-customers who use our ATMs. We’ve activated our crisis response team, and we’ve been closely monitoring the situation.”
Bank of America announced that its ATM network is “currently active” in the greater Houston area, but that its financial centers are closed through the end of the day on Wednesday in eight counties in the region and at selected areas near the southeastern coast of Texas: Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Jefferson, Montgomery, Nueces and Victoria.
In addition, Bank of America will “automatically refund fees incurred by our consumer and small business customers in the areas impacted by the storm.”
Regional bank BB&T also said all its branches and offices in the greater Houston area are closed. “We will continue to work alongside our clients in the area to meet their needs in this difficult time and address any fees or charges related to the storm,” BB&T said in a statement.
Hurricane Harvey has dumped more than 20 inches of rain in parts of Southeast Texas since last week, and another 15 to 25 inches of rainfall is expected. JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo are each donating $1 million to hurricane relief efforts, while BB&T is donating $100,000 to the American Red Cross of Greater Houston and delivering several truckloads of bottled water and supplies.
The storm has also had an impact on the stock market, with financial stocks the second-to-worst performer in the S&P 500 on Monday. Insurance stocks were the greatest decliners within the stock industry sector, while shares of Comerica closed 1.5 percent lower, and JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and BB&T each closed less than a third of a percent lower.