In Brief: Feb. 5, 2001

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SET THEM FEE Air travelers prone to altering nonrefundable bookings no longer need to pay that $75 "change fee" to American, United or Continental. They will need to pay $90 (American) or $100 fees. Other airlines' penalties are expected to take off; as a Mission, Kans., travel specialist puts it, "They're like lemmings." Carriers say the fees replace money lost when they can't resell seats that customers have abandoned. Low-fare rivals, like Southwest, do not charge the penalty.

KNOW NEW TAXES Whenever you pick a mutual fund, don't forget you are trying to make money for Uncle Sam as well as yourself. Starting April 16, the Securities and Exchange Commission will require managers to disclose up front a fund's expected tax bite over one-, five- and 10-year periods. The sums will be calculated for the top bracket, 39.6%. Taxes account for an average 2.5% charge on fund returns overall--some more than 5.5%.

BANK ON IT Large banks tend to reach deeper into your wallet than their smaller rivals. Even when inflation and larger firms' greater capital needs are discounted, big banks' ATM surcharges, checking fees and stop-payment orders squeezed you harder than others' in 1999, Federal Reserve analysts reported last month. Similarly, they found, multistate banks' fees generally outweighed those of single-state banks.

--By Eric Roston