Bank stops charging wire fees on IOLTA accounts

Phillip Bantz//April 13, 2011//

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Brookline Bank will no longer charge customers for wire transfers to and from their IOLTA checking accounts, joining a small number of local banks that have dropped such fees.

Other banks that have eliminated incoming and outgoing wire transfers on IOLTA accounts include Leader Bank and Sovereign Bank, said IOLTA’s director, Jayne Tyrrell.

Brookline Bank is also a so-called “Safe Harbor” bank for IOLTA because it offers members a rate equal to the higher of 55 percent of the federal funds target rate or 1 percent, Tyrrell said.

“We have very few banks in the Safe Harbor category that also waive wire fees,” she said. “This is important to IOLTA as it allows us to give more money to legal aid in extreme times.”