Banks are responding to the troubled economy by jacking up fees on their checking accounts to record amounts.

Last week, Citigroup Inc.'s Citibank started charging some customers a new $10 "overdraft protection transfer fee" to transfer money from a savings account or line of credit to cover a checking-account shortfall. Citibank had already raised foreign-exchange transaction fees on its debit cards and added minimum opening deposit requirements for its checking accounts. Over the past year, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s Chase,...