(MONEY Magazine) – You're not going to take this stuff anymore. That message came through clearly in the letters our readers sent in response to February's Scorecard about outrageous bank fees. In that article, we invited you to describe the worst fees you have ever encountered. More than 125 letters poured in from all over the U.S., as well as from Puerto Rico, Canada and Germany. You cited everything from having to pay $5 for a book of deposit slips to forking over a buck every time you use an ! automated teller machine (ATM) to check your balance. You slammed large banks and small-town credit unions and everything in between. Some typical protests: ''I'm charged 40 cents just to find out the balance in my account from a teller!'' writes Alissa Buonodono of Washington, D.C., a customer of American Security Bank. '' 'Yes, ma'am. Your balance is $1,000. Now it's $999.60. Thank you for your inquiry. Ha-ha!' '' Marilyn Nenninger was angry that Roosevelt Bank in Chesterfield, Mo. charged her $15 when she wired a deposit into her account. Writes Nenninger: ''Maybe you should've called your article (with apologies to David Letterman) 'Stupid Bank Tricks'!'' Maybe so. Bankers, however, say they're being anything but stupid -- or needlessly greedy. For example, some concede that they impose high charges to discourage certain transactions, like deposits of coins, that eat up the time of personnel. All in all, they insist, they are simply passing along their own costs of doing business. ''One isolated fee can seem like looting and pilferage,'' says Paul Schosberg, president of the Savings and Community Bankers of America, a trade group in Washington, D.C. ''But consumers have to look at all the fees and services they're getting from their banks before they decide to move their business elsewhere.'' Fair enough. But for many disgruntled customers, the problem was not the actual cost of the fees -- often less than $5 -- but the fact that they were imposed without adequate notification and often for services that customers considered integral to basic banking. Many were so annoyed, in fact, that they vowed to move their accounts to escape the petty fees. Here's a rundown of your major gripes, listed in order of the number of complaints we received: Paying for the sins of others. Many readers said banks should not penalize them for depositing a check that turns out to be bad. ''I innocently accept a check that bounces and I'm charged $4,'' writes John Burkins, a customer of Bank of Lancaster County in Strasburg, Pa. ''Can you top that?'' Yes, we can. Elko Federal Credit Union in Elko, Nev. docks you $6 for depositing someone else's rubber check. Banks that charge for change. By far the angriest letters we received came from readers who had to pay extra to convert coins into paper money. ''My wife and I recently spent an evening rolling about $57 in loose coins . . . only to be told by the teller that the first five rolls were free and after that we'd be charged 10 cents per roll,'' writes Russell J. Cox, a customer of HomeFed Bank in Encinitas, Calif. ''Please tell me, is this ridiculous or what?'' Yes, it is, especially if you're depositing 50 cents rolls of pennies, on which 10 cents equals a 20% levy. Hidden high-tech fees. Now that many customers are hooked on automated teller machines, some banks are zapping them with sneaky surcharges. At the urging of an on-screen message, Tom Ford of Campbell, Calif. used his Bank of America ATM card to get a list of his seven most recent transactions at the touch of a button. ''This could potentially be handy,'' writes Ford. ''But surprise! There's a $1 charge added each time you use this feature, and no notification of the fee until you get your monthly statement.'' Bank of America spokesman Harvey Radin admits that the cost does not appear on the ATM screen. But he says customers are notified of the rates for various services when they open their accounts and in monthly newsletters. Rules that change when a new bank takes over. Many readers complained that they were suddenly stuck with new fees after their bank was taken over by another. In October 1991, federal regulators seized Nashua Trust Co. of Nashua, N.H. and arranged for First NH Bank to assume its accounts. Shortly thereafter, former Nashua Trust customers were notified of a $25 maintenance fee on IRAs, plus a $10 closeout charge. Some angry clients had little alternative but to stay put and pay up. ''I can't withdraw the money today unless I pay the maintenance fee, the closeout fee and the penalty for an early withdrawal of a CD,'' writes Vilma Maddock. Paying to give them money. A half-dozen readers complained that they were billed from $2.50 to $5 for a book of deposit slips. ''I can understand charging for checks, but give me a break,'' writes a customer of First Fidelity Bank in Little Ferry, N.J. ''I'm now being charged to deposit my own money.'' Larry Roth, a customer of Bank of the West in San Jose, agrees: ''Three dollars for 20 preprinted deposit slips is like charging 15 cents per deposit.'' Paying the bank's insurance bill. Since 1989, when Congress began hiking the premiums banks must pay for Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation coverage (the average rate is 25 cents per $100 on deposit today, up from 8 cents in 1989), a growing number of institutions have introduced special insurance fees. Bank of Fresno in California, for example, imposes a $2 monthly ''FDIC assessment'' on checking accounts. Mark Twain Bank in St. Louis nicks customers for 23 cents per $100 on deposit in checking and savings accounts. ''We know that adding the charges makes some people mad,'' says Mark Twain's senior vice president Nancy Graves, ''but unlike other banks that bury these charges, we're just being open and truthful.'' What's next? You pay your share of the bank's heating bill based on how long you stand in line in the lobby? Paying for stuff you don't use. The most galling example we received: Zions First National Bank in Salt Lake City slaps a 50 cents fee each month on customers who do not use their ATM cards (there is no fee for using them). Edwin Bronsky, an allergist in Salt Lake City who had his ATM card for 59 months without using it, failed to spot the deductions, which were lumped in with other fees on his monthly checking statements. By the time he caught on, he had paid $29.50. The bank refunded his money, but Bronsky was so angry that he closed his account. Nickel-and-diming. The prize for the silliest fee should go to Country Hill Bank in Lenexa, Kans. When Mary Jo Jones missed her very last one of 36 auto- loan payments by just one day, she received a telephone call from a bank representative informing her that she owed additional interest -- of 7 cents. ''The bank teller couldn't understand why I was laughing,'' says Jones. ''I couldn't help but wonder, if I had been late by one more day, would they have repossessed my car?''

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