The banks could easily reject the charge. I had overdraft protection and a savings account that funds could be transferred from and was still charged $32 when a purchase put me over .70. I switched to a credit union the day after I was notified. That nonsense doesn't fly.

Mommy if you don't have time to balance my debit account, that ok obama has someone that will do it for me!!!!

Those evil banks, doggone it!!!

The banks could easily reject the charge. I had overdraft protection and a savings account that funds could be transferred from and was still charged $32 when a purchase put me over .70. I switched to a credit union the day after I was notified. That nonsense doesn't fly.

If you would have managed your own account and transferred enough money to cover the $0.70 then you could have saved yourself the $32.00, The problem is that many people are too lazy and just expect their bank to do this for them, Your bank handles millions of transactions per day and should not have to manage your bank account for you.

OR... any bank who is unethical enough to charge ridiculous fees like that should lose their customer....THATS the way most normal thinking people would react. You must be a banker...

Somehow I think the customer that continually overdraws their account is not the customer that the bank worries about keeping, If you were talking to me I do not work at a bank, I own a small farm and have a construction business, If I write a check I make sure the money is there to cover it, If not then I do not write the check until I either borrow the money or wait until I have the money.

No they wont. They have no way of knowing who is poor. They will try and find another way to gouge customers. Huntington Bank in Oh was one of the worst. THey would switch the way transactions came in to make your account bounce and then put their fees on to bounce more transactions. They changed their policy to 24 hours because they lost so many customers.

yea thats what they are really investigating. people so quick to jump on obama. the banks and credit card companies work hand in hand when it comes to 35$ fees. i pay 40 at my bank once in a blue moon if i have any emergencies or what not that force me to drain my account.

If banks eliminate the fee then where would they get their money to buy every Republican in Congress?

I had the department of education change the date my automatic draft happened and I was short for less than 24 hours. I got the letter from the department of education two days later. I would have much preferred the charge be rejected, at the very least I should have the choice. Also I paid $140 in overdraft fees because they tried to take the student loan first and then charged me for everything else that would have been covered with my balance. I can't wait to have the choice!!!

The new "Consumer Protection Agency" answers only to The Fed. The Federal Reserve funds them directly, with no congressional oversight.

The Fed, a predatory financial institution, is going to protect us from predatory financial institutions?

If anyone believes that, I've got a bridge for sale, cheap, great location.

For all you that are against this, or think that the person holding the account should take more responsibility, you are not thinking this problem through. Let me give you an example from MY experience with overdrafts.

On a Saturday, I took my car in to the shop for inspection. Turns out I needed a LOT of work done. I realized I didn't have the funds in my account, but knowing that my bank offers overdraft protection, thought the $36 (yes, $36!) was justifiable for the $1200 worth of work I would need done. I knew I could transfer money around on Monday to cover it. I didn't use the card for the rest of the weekend.

Imagine my surprise when I had over $200 in overdraft fees! Why? Because they ran through everything, from close of business Friday up to the car bill, on Monday, and rearranged them all with the car bill first, putting my account in overdraft before any other transactions were counted!

When I told them that that was unethical, misleading, and a way for them to run up more money, they said their PR piece about how it's to help me. If you're going to approve all the transactions anyway, then there's no need to reorder so larger amounts come out first!

Somehow I think the customer that continually overdraws their account is not the customer that the bank worries about keeping

Did you read the article? The customers that continually overdraw their account are EXACTLY the customers that banks worry about keeping. This is a hugely profitable business. The fees charged more than make up for any money the bank is unable to collect. Banks don't make squat from the people who don't generate fees for them. Similarly, people who don't pay their credit card bills in full every month are more profitable for banks than those who do despite the write-downs that occur when people don't pay. Businesses exist to make money. This is what they do, and the day they give a damn about a customer is the day that they think giving a damn will make them more profitable.

While reading these comments, it's very easy to tell the "have's" from the "have not's;" that is, the people who would never overrun their account by $.70, and those who struggle to keep $25 (or $.70) in their account.

Intolerance of those less fortunate than they are, for any reason, seems to be a strong thread among those who "have."

@ Kirigami -

Intolerance of those less fortunate than they are, for any reason, seems to be a strong thread among those who "have."

Not at all. What you are seeing is people who expect others to take responsibility for their own actions/mistakes. I've gone through a period of time in my life where money was very tight and I have overdrawn my account and paid some stiff fees because of it. The most important lesson I learned from those was to keep a closer tab on my account balance.

I'm sorry if I expect people to learn from their mistakes instead of expecting someone else to come to their rescue all the time. I don't think that's intolerance - I think that's common sense.

@Gneisenau

So you think it's ok for banks to enroll people in overdraft protection without the ability to opt out?

You think it's ok for banks to reorder transactions so overdrafters incur more fees as in what happened to me that I described above?

You do realize that we've only had the option to "opt out" from overdraft protection for less than two years now, and that option exists because of exactly what you are complaining about - the government looking into the problem.

How about blaming the public school system that obviously didn't teach these poor people basic math skills.

My son's on the autism spectrum. He knows basic math. He knows how to check his bank balance. What he doesn't know is why if he makes a mistake and forgets to write something in his register, he's required to pay $39 for that error. I believe that it why the lowest income pay the most in fees.

Shame on those who assume people are stupid, lazy or too poor to have an account. Without a checking account / debit card, he's prevented from making any online transactions whatsoever. Nor is he able to establish any type of credit history.

This is the most common sense post out there! READ IT again! If you don't want overdraft protection because the fess are rediculous, tell your bank to remove it from your account! It's no one's fault but your own if you allow your account to be overdrawn in the first place. By not having the overdraft removed you've now made two mistakes. Stop complaining about everyone else and take charge of your own finances. Don't spend money you don't have!

Jack Colton, you are incorrect. You've always had the power to have overdraft protection removed from your account (opt-out). What you are referring to is a change to banking Regulation E. The Feds mandated an opt-in for one time debit card purchases and atm withdrawals for Overdraft Protection. Do you think that if people subsequently opt-in for that service, that they should pay the fee if they decide to use it?????

Good advice, but sometimes it just happens. I do my best not overdraw, but very infrequently it does happen due to an error. The last one was because I mistakenly entered an online payment a utility company that was 10 times what it should have been - just an extra zero I didn't catch. That left me about $900 short without my knowledge.

@ BinNH - I did that once too. I meant to make a $1,000 credit card payment and instead made a $10,000 credit card payment. Ouch! I didn't even own more than $1,200.00 on that card to begin with. For several days afterward, I was in a total panic and went hungry a lot. I learned to pay much closer attention to my on-line transactions after that.

They will let the overdraft keep piling fees for days

Why are you so clueless about how much money you have that you keep buying stuff despite the fact you ran out of money days ago?

Most banks have an option to setup text message alerts when your account balance reaches a certain level.

And, I agree with the above comment. Its one thing to occasionally overdraft, but if you are spending for days without knowing how much money you have...yikes.

I have yet to have anyone at the bank explain to me why they insist on a phone number when you sign up for an account, but won't call it if you overdraft.

Maybe if you took a few minutes everyday in between posting messages to go online and check your bank account you would know how much money you have in it.

Sign up for online banking. You'll get an email that tells you to add money by the end of the business day. You can even have an alert sent to your phone. What I find interesting that is not in the article, I can only withdraw from my savings 3 times a month without incurring a $12 fee. That is why I have a low balance alert of $300 sent to my email account.

first off you idiots out there you don`t have to spend any more money for them to keep charging you an overdraft fee for days even weeks. they charge it everyday that you don`t cover the check and the fee so there for if you don`t know about the overdraft then they can keep charging the fee. and that means more profit for the bank HUH!. it amaze`s me how many flippin people come on here and fight about s**t when they don`t even know what the hell thier even talking about and its ashame that the poor and the youth are the ones that they target to make a flippin profit and that is exactly what the right has and always will do. thats why the teapubs hate reform of any kind. so you idiots can spin it anyway you want but the fact is thats part of the reason we`re in this mess. and if we keep letting the big banks do this then you will have a whole generation of people with no credit or any bank account i mean you teapubs already don`t want to educate them so i guess thats the plan anyway.

thats what i told the branch manager after i cursed him out

I think the idea behind the CPB looking into this is to make sure banks are completely transparent with the fees.

point is 35 bucks is too much! That is the issue.

I think the issue is a couple things. Not being transparent about the fees. Up until recently, not giving customers the option to opt out. and Reordering transactions that help cause multiple overdrafts.

If someone keeps overdrafting, it may be their fault. but reordering so that a $35 mistake becomes a $105 mistake is unethical! Especially if someone is taking a calculated step where they may NEED to overdraft, and understand they will overdraft, to pay a bill and are willing to accept the fee, but then get hit with more because of reordering transactions. That's just wrong!

Re-ordering is unethical. I've yet to see that explained to me in a reasonable manner. When I spoke to the bank about it (hypothetically - I was not overdrawn), the answer was they do it because they can, it was not illegal. That was their explanation! The real answer - THEY DO IT 'CUZ IT MAKES 'EM $$.

I own a small business; I'm not against making money! However, I can look myself in the mirror and sleep at night knowing I've used fair business practices.

thats exactly what we need our (sane voices) cus there isn`t anybody on the right using any so far.

I had the same thing with my now-ex-bank and didn't have a problem with that particular overdraft policy. If you've signed on the dotted line, it's your responsibility to read the fine print.

It's the policy changes, and checking and savings account transfers and fees that came out of nowhere and threatened my low balance, which made me leave my bank.

A $30 fee sound a bit excessive to me, but that's how banks make more money I guess.

The problem with these fees is that they are predatory on our weakest citizens. The average citizen can not keep up with banking regulations. We'd like to but we have lives to live. We have to put a certain amount of trust in our banks. However, it is up to us to cry foul when something starts to get that now familiar stench. It would be nice to have an honest government agency auditing this and other bank practices. It seems that a certain portion of our population can not be trusted.

When the company I worked for merged with another, they kept the same bank for direct deposits, and we were told that there would be no change whatsoever. I had automatic payment set up for most of my bills. So about 5 days after payday, I checked my account per phone (another $2 fee), and was appalled to have incurred 4 (!) overdraft charges. When I called the bank, I was told that my paycheck was put on hold for 10 days because my boss switched branches of the same bank. I disputed the charges, got them down to only one overdraft charge, and closed my account. This has nothing to do with responsibility, this is an intentional attempt at extortion by the bank.

When I called the bank, I was told that my paycheck was put on hold for 10 days because my boss switched branches of the same bank

Account numbers and routing numbers do not change from branch to branch, There is more to your story than you are telling or know.

The branch we used prior to the merger was located in Phoenix, and the new branch in Atlanta. They explained over the phone that they put 'out of state' deposits on hold. The bank was BofA.

Sotired-We have had my husbands checks held with no explanation too after years of not holding them. We hollered until they reversed all the charges. I feel for you, it sucks.

To all you people who like to pretend that everbody who gest overdrafted is a dumb loser who deserves $30-40 dollars in fees per transaction....just shut up. It must be nice to sit in your ivory throne and throw down pronouncements on the little people.

We have to regulate banks and corporations because otherwise they will screw people up, down and sideways for a nicke or 30 bucks. It's disturbing.

THIS is the one topic I will agree with when it comes to consumer protection on overdraft fees. There are times when we make mistakes, or maybe even overdraft on purpose, knowing there is the protection. But then when all the small stuff you bought 2 days ago hits your account AFTER the big purchase you made 1 day ago, that is total BS.

I agree with you both. If people are too stupid to keep money in their account deserve the fee, but there is a problem if the bank reorders the payments to create the maximum amount of over draft fees.

If you have enough money in your account, it shouldn't matter if the bank "reorders" any transaction. If you have $100 and you make four different transactions $15, $10, $65, and then $9.99 for example, you still have $.01 left in your account no matter which way you subtract the money or which order the bank makes the money land in your account. All this bellyaching about "boo hoo the bank reordered my transactions" is all baloney, if the money is there, you don't have anything to worry about.

You're right but sometimes stuff happens. Say someone spends $10, $20, $30 one day and the next day they spend $500. But they only have $510 in their account. Yes, they over spent by $50. But the bank would reorder the transactions. So the big transaction goes through and MAYBE THE $10 (it might bounced too though, depending on thr reordering).

Had the bank not reordered they would bounce the $510 and collect $35. By reordering they bounce 2 maybe 3 transactions for $70 or $105.

This is the problem. Now, rather than owe $35 extra the poor slob who messed up owes a bunch more. His fault, yes, but thr reordering is just over-the-top greed.

To all the people that say "if you have enough money.. you wouldn't have a problem" well let me enlighten you on some true situations in which even though you have enough money in your account, they will still screw you:

1. you rented a car in an emergency and there's a hold for ~$400+ on your bank card. Even though you returned the car and there's no damage to it.. THE BANK takes its sweet time releasing the hold on your account because ultimately they benefit from not releasing your funds (this happened at TD Bank and I hear BoA is worse). So now you're going on week 2 without access to your money and you have to buy food & pay bills. Well each one of those purchases will set you into overdraft.

2. Even if you opt-out of overdraft "protection", some banks will still overdraft you on credit card purchases. So there's really no way to get rid of it.

3. Ok in another situation (Fleet bank pulled this once upon a time).. they automatically bump you to a "better" checking account if you have over $1000 in your bank account. What they don't tell you is this new-improved version of your checking account may not have monthly fees, but if you drop below the $1000 threshhold.. they'll reassess monthly fees and also charge you an arbitrary finance charge. Then if you fall below $100, they'll just close your account and take everything that's left in your account -- just because they're that awesome.

The moral of the story is, banks are THIEVES. They are not helpful small town lenders looking to help Main St hardware stores make payroll. They make money on stealing from those who can least afford it and figure so long as they let you know (in legalese), then everyone's cool. Stop funding this industry. They produce nothing!

Then there is when you buy gas.. Chase only deducts 1 dollar charge then a week later the full amount of your purchase comes in, so if your not careful, and remember you bought gas with your debit card, and that it was not instantly deducted as other charges are...whoops 35 buck again! What ticks me off is the time when I had business checking and personal checking.. Chase cleared a business deposit,.as evidenced on the receipt as available, ... i paid myself , saw money available online, paid all my bills, only to have chase put a hold on the business funds, which not only bounced my business account , but my personal as well Costing me in the hundreds of dollars in fees. Customer service only refunded my personal fee, only one and said they had changed their policy on deposit availability. With my statement the following month, it was on the front page.. i.e. they make a policy change and then notify you a month later,, so if I check online at my available balance, on minute the money is available, the next it may not be, you cant even trust that system... needless to say I do not bank with chase anymore.

Hmmm ... another befuddled consumer that needs the government to explain that "availability of funds" sign the banks post on the wall and include with all that nasty paperwork that has to be signed when you open an account.

It does "befuddle" me as to how I can make a purchase, the seller make an error and correct it all in the matter of five minutes, but the charge is posted to my account right away while the reversal can take a couple of days.

Go back and wallow in the mud with the bankers Denver Bill.

So, Men,meh, the implication is that bankers are pigs and because I am smart enough to balance a checkbook and fortunate enough to have a checking account with a positive balance that I am a pig too? What a sterling example of clear, logical thought and incisive exposition. I am nominating it for the Poster's Hall of Fame.

Really, Bill, you are so erudite. I admire you. No, I don't really.

Yes, a lot of bankers are pigs and you are a pig for being a snide jerk to people who have made honest mistakes and get overly punished for it.

@Men,meh

First, I am not the person calling other people names.

Second, who gets to decide what is "overly punished"? Certainly there are bankers who are piggish. I know a few. If the banks do not let the customers know beforehand what fees they are going to incur for over-drawing their account, then they are clearly wrong and should be stopped. However, if the fees for a loan (which is what overdraft protection really is) are known to the customer, then taking the loan implies acceptance of the fee, no matter how much it is. If you don't like the fees, find a different lender or don't take the loan.

Last, if you are in the jungle, and don't pay attention to what is going on around you, you get eaten by mister tiger. It's called natural selection, and it strengthens the gene pool. People who don't pay attention don't reproduce as often as people who do. Natural selection works in the financial jungle as well. And, while I have some sympathy for those who are stung by the realities of the jungle, I'm not as sure as you are that it is a bad thing.

Wow. I try to stay out of the fray on these issues, but if Financial Natural Selection was the way to go, your Big Game Hunter friends will all be cleaning their own hotel rooms and fixing their own air conditioners. I'll bet it can get hot and dirty in the jungle!

19624U---
I disagree. They would be paying hotel maids enough so that the maids could have bank accounts that didn't get overdrawn. ;)

Hey mj, that thing you're typing on is called a computer and yes banks have them too (GASP). They can find out in seconds if a check is NSF. My wife works in one. They don't bother checking because there's always the possibility that it will be returned and, with any luck on their part, you will have written several checks to pay for stupid things like the rent, groceries, gas and things like that. Then, not only can they charge you for all the bounced checks, the merchants can charge you as well, and the payor's bank can rape him as well. The only one that loses in the deal is ... oh yes, you. I have to ask, are you a bank troll?

Yep, they do batch processes. But those batches have to be rectified at the end. It actually takes extra programming to go in and reorder the transactions. Especially if they run the batchs by transaction times. Nope, this is a purposeful action with one idea in mind, more fees.

Hey mj, that thing you're typing on is called a computer and yes banks have them too (GASP). They can find out in seconds if a check is NSF

No...They can not, I do not care if your wife works in a bank or not, One bank can not access another banks account balances they must wait for the other bank to clear the check, Even then there can be problems especially if they clear it and inbetween accessing the funds that account then goes into negative balance because of pending charges.

If you do not want to pay for overdarafts then either make sure that all checks/payments into your account have cleared before spending on them or pay in cash.

Lost, the banks have admitted that they deliberately would debit the larger amounts FIRST and then the smaller amounts in decreasing order. So if you have a check for $100.00 you wrote on Thursday, a check for $250.00 you wrote on Monday, a check for 50.00 you wrote on Saturday and then Check Card transactions for $10.52, $25.99 and $75.98 ... ALL of those transactions could conceivably come in and "hit" your bank on Monday night. The banks would debit the $250.00 FIRST, then the $100.00 THEN the $75.98 and the last debit would be $10.52. ALL of the major banks admitted they did this. The checks may be "processed in batches" but the software to do the electronic subtraction would be purposely set up to take the debits in DECREASING order. SO yes, you could have different checks in different "batches" ... but they are all bound by the SOFTWARE that does the debiting and automatic processing of overdrafts to add the fees and spit out the notice that then gets tossed in the mail with JUNK MAIL postage rates so it takes longer to get to you.

In addition ... the banks give you a "credit" towards checks that are in town or in state on your account BEFORE those deposits in check form clear the other bank. That is standard operating procedure in ALL banks and credit unions. If the other account is NSF then you get that amount debited from your account when it is confirmed NSF and you get charged the NSF fee. Then you get to try to collect from the other person (and are entitled to be reimbursed the NSF fees that your bank charges).

And it isn't my spouse who used to or currently works in a bank ... *I* did.

The credit on EVERY deposit is officially called a "ledger credit". It stems from the gold old days when everything was done on accounting ledgers.

They could always let your check bounce and then the person you purchased the item from will file a criminal complaint against you for theft, You will end up with being on a no checks accepted list at the store you bounced the check and possible criminal charges and fines and court costs.

All in all the $35.00 fee is pretty reasonable , You could just make sure you have enough money before you buy something

Fees are okay. $39 for a mistake - excessive. How about $5 like it used to be?.

I own a business. If a customer bounces a check, which is rare, I call them and they pay the fee and give me cash. They're embarassed, apologetic and NOT prosecuted for theft or put on a list. If I as a merchant allow someone to do this to me repeatedly, shame on me. I believe in providing customer service, so I expect to receive it as well. Funny thing too - I have plenty of business and have hired two employees in the last 4 months. Greed is BAD; what goes around comes around.

Lost, your continued intolerance toward those who are less fortunate than you are--for any reason (education, lack thereof, financial status or lack there of, etc.) has run through this entire thread so far.

I've certainly gotten your point--you think all folks who make such errors are idiots. You think we should cheerfully accept the fees like sheep, and not challenge any of the procedures of the banks that we deem might be suspect (such as reordering of transactions). You feel a $30 or $40 overdraft fee is perfectly acceptable for a $5 dollar overdraft.

The "holier than thou" attitude is pretty clear, too.

I do not write the check until I either borrow the money or wait until I have the money

I also read:

Maybe if you took a few minutes everyday in between posting messages to go online and check your bank account you would know how much money you have in it.

So now it's okay to tell people how to manage their time, as well as their money?

Account numbers and routing numbers do not change from branch to branch, There is more to your story than you are telling or know.

And now you're calling us liars? Talk about intolerant!

I'm guessing that others reading your posts have gotten your point, too. Keep on talking/writing. Well, looking ahead. I see that you have. Boring.

My credit union also screws their "shareholders" that way, but at least they generally waive the $25 overdraft fee on a "one-time" basis.

All of which doesn't explain why, although we signed the "don't permit overdraft" provision a long time ago, they still allow us to overdraw.

So, Mr. Cordray and his crew will need to get into the credit unions' drawers too, and hopefully just as fervently as the TSA gets into the drawers of the flying public.

I'm tired of taking it up the rear from the banking industry; even the credit unions are screwing the people who provide them with their very well-paid jobs. There is something extremely rotten in that business.

But they didn't steal it from their customers. Their customers willingly entered into an agreement when they opened their account that stated that certain actions such as overdrawing the account would result in a penalty fee.

I've had my checking account open for nearly 20 years and I've never once paid a fee. It's not that hard to balance your checkbook or look at your online balance before shopping.

Their customers willingly entered into an agreement...

What's the alternative? Outside of changing banks or using a CU....they all do virtually the same thing. There really isn't a choice.

Do I want to live in a world where people accept responsibility for their actions and the resulting consequences? Absolutely!

Clearly many of the posters here defending the banks either work for one or are here on behalf of them.

That must be the stupidest comment I have ever heard, Do you really think "The Banks" care what is said on these boards.

Now I understand why you are having such a difficult time keeping your account balanced.

I am sure Oh So Perfect Denver Bill and your best banking friend LostInTHePine Barrens, that many people would act responsibly and pay the money they overdrafted for the item they bought, to the person they bought it from. How is it responsible to gouge people with 35 and 40 dollars fees for a mistake and then pile on charges for things htat weren't in the original erro to the tune of hundreds of dollars sometimes? It's NOT!

So you are against banks serving your needs? Merely considering they are there on a mandatory basis and you should be thankful for their existence and accept anything they throw at you?

I've got news for you, banks DO SERVE YOUR NEEDS. Without YOUR MONEY they don't exist. Somehow people have it in their minds that banks control our money or that its ok if banks want to charge us while they make interest from holding our money.

Get a grip people. Banks should hold just as much stature as a grocery store to you not a place of worship.
They don't care how long you've had an account, there is 0 loyalty towards you from them.

You need a divorce from your bank!

they didn't love you anyway...just use ya for the money...them gold diggers...