There's a debate to be had about "no such thing as free banking" - I'm very familiar with the world of prepay in the UK and retail banking practice is a big headwind here.
This was ruled to be illegal and banks had to set up whole departments to process return claims. I suspect this is the main cause of the big headwind.
https://www.fca.org.uk/news/commitment-high-street-banks-ret...
They also charged a fee for standing orders that didn't go through because of limited funds in your account. Instead of just ignoring them.
I was flabbergasted to hear about overdraft fees when I first saw them feature in social justice documentaries (e.g. Spent: looking for change).
My interest is low, but that's normal in 2016. .5% to .9%
Any CC payment I make is deducted from my checking acc 30 days later, no interest. It's essentially a normal debit card with 1 month free credit. After that it's 12-14% interest per year. That's very high of course, but it's not exploitative like a payday scheme. Further, keeping CC debt is quite uncommon here. And I can borrow up to $25k at 8.9% say for buying a car. That's pretty steep but not high compared to other countries, it's also not a very popular product. Mortgage interest is currently 2.9% fixed for 30 years.
As for my bank account, I pay about $15 a year for it. There's no costs to depositing or withdrawing money, putting it in or taking it out of a savings account. I mostly bank via an app on my phone, and payments arrive in minutes or hours. I don't pay anything for the shared acc with my gf either. For the CC I pay an extra $15 per year or so I think.
Now if this was a new startup in a growth phase where it's burning cash and offering free services, sure, but this bank was founded in the 1880s and has had roughly this pricing scheme as long as I can remember.
All in all I think I've paid maybe $250 for all by banking in the past 10 years.
Normal in the EU and other place unfortunately. Oz is still at 3.5% in saving accounts.