After noting that some customers were racking up hundreds of dollars in overdraft and returned-check fees, NewBridge Bank has designed a tiered-fee schedule and two retail products to help those customers, the bank announced recently.

One product is PaySound checking, which charges the account holder $14.95 a month but levies no fees for overdrafts or returned checks.

“One of our guiding principles as a bank is ‘Do what’s right,’” said Spence Broadhurst, NewBridge’s chief banking officer and senior executive vice president. “We spent a great deal of time looking at NSF [insufficient funds] and other unexpected fees for the families we serve. It became crystal clear that it was a tremendous challenge to our clients to have unexpected fee expenses in their lives. It can be a budget buster.”

The Greensboro-based bank has also introduced a tiered-fee structure on regular checking accounts.

Customers who very occasionally overdraw their checking balances will be charged $14.95, Broadhurst said. Fees for more frequent occurrences will rise, and people who have a perpetual problem managing their balances will be encouraged to consider the PaySound option.

Prior to the changes, NewBridge charged $35 for each overdraft or returned item presented to clients’ accounts, according to a news release from the bank. 

“We’ve got clients that are getting $300-$500 a month in fees,” said Nicky Casteen, retail banking manager for NewBridge’s nine branches in the greater Wilmington market. “Our main focus is our clients and their well-being. [The lost] income will come back to us in good will. We are doing the right thing.”

The second new product is NewBridge’s Zero-G (short for “zero grief”) reloadable debit card. A customer who wants to stay within a budget can load the card from his or her account and manage the card by checking the declining balance online, at an ATM or by calling or visiting a NewBridge branch, Casteen said.

“The beauty is that you can’t overdraw your account,” she said. “It’s teaching [customers] budgeting and money management. Or, if you are traveling, you put your funds on the card. It’s a secure way to carry money.

“We’re getting a lot of questions and good response” as a result of the new products and tiered-fee program, Casteen said. “It’s opened the door to good conversations with our clients. We want to get them in the appropriate account that’s right for them.”