re: Just got charged $6 to cash check inside a bank (Iberia Bank)

how much was the check?

Well...they are paying a teller to provide a service to a non-customer. And you paid it.

So what's the problem exactly?

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how much was the check?

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Small, like $300 some odd...

A large majority of banks do this now. This is nothing new.

Here is why:
Let's take Iberia for example. These branches get cash shipments from a larger bank (Chase). That money is ordered and Iberia PAYS for that service. That money is kept on hand to service IBERIA customers. When a non customer comes in to cash a check they charge a "convenience fee" so to speak. Customers can choose to pay that fee ($6), cash the check at their own bank ($0) or deposit it into their own account ($0). If that check bounces it's $35. Some would rather have the peace of mind of it not bouncing and being charged $35. Some don't have that amount in their own account to be used as recourse to cash the check.

The more you know

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My roommate gave me a check and I wanted to make sure it was good so I cashed it at his bank instead of depositing it with the possibility of it bouncing. $6 charged. I was so livid standing there.

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You could have just called. You are allowed to inquire if a certain account has sufficient funds to cover a check.

A lot of this came about at banks when the government dropped the hammer on interchange fees (fee the banks get paid when you use your debit/credit card at point of sale). Banks lost a TON of revenue from this. So they started charging non customers to cash checks and now MOST accounts have stipulations to waive a fee.

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Capital One doesn't have that technology yet.

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When I worked at a bank in college, we got our cash from the Feds, which was where we put our order into. It didn't come from Chase or a larger bank (I worked for a mid-level bank). We could only keep like 200,000$ TOTAL in the vault unless it was during tax season when we would order a lot more money because we had some big clients that were check cashing places and just the fact that you are cashing a lot of large government checks around that time.

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Customers can choose to pay that fee ($6), cash the check at their own bank ($0) or deposit it into their own account ($0). If that check bounces it's $35. Some would rather have the peace of mind of it not bouncing and being charged $35.

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If the check is charged back it's only like a $3.00 fee to your account (but an NSF fee if you do have anything clear that you thought you had the money for).

I don't understand your reasoning. I'm sorry.

Banks have had to find other ways to make their profits after the Dodd-Frank banking law went into effect. That law limited some fees that banks could charge so banks just found different ways to make up the lost revenue.

The fee they charged you is a voluntary fee. You could avoid it by depositing the check into your account at your bank and withdrawing the cash. And the fee doesn't affect their customers.

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You could have just called. You are allowed to inquire if a certain account has sufficient funds to cover a check.

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Yeah, I know this. I have past banking experience. I also know I could have called and it would have said the funds were available and I put it in my account and 3 days later when it cleared his account the funds may not be there.