Activity Charge
Categories: Accounting, Banking, Regulations, Company Management
It's a buck a check. The activity was you paying your electric bill with a check, and for that activity, the bank charges you a buck.
Next, you were in Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, and really needed their ATM to withdraw cash to use the bathroom. The activity charge there was $5, reflecting a vertical demand curve, given the live snake breakfast you ate.
Activity charges generally map one-to-one with direct and definable events, and are expensed on an income statement, not capitalized on the balance sheet as if they were some enormous expense, like a tractor smelting factory that had to be amortized over a long time.
