Quelle surprise !: Biggest U.S. Banks Aren't Reducing Overdraft Fees, Survey Says

U.S. Consumers Want Overdraft Fee Limits, Survey Says (Update2)
By Jeff Plungis


Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Consumers want legislation limiting overdraft fees, as the largest U.S. banks maintained charges ranging from $19 to $39, according to a survey.

“Changes to bank overdraft programs announced by some of the largest banks last fall have not cut the steep cost of overdraft fees or provided consumers real control over their checking accounts,” said Jean Ann Fox, director of financial services for the Washington-based Consumer Federation of America, in a statement today.

Sixty-five percent of 1,015 consumers surveyed in January said they favored requiring bank overdraft fees to be related to the bank’s cost of providing the service, and 86 percent supported requiring banks to disclose on an ATM screen when a withdrawal will cause an overdraft, according to the survey. The telephone survey was conducted by Opinion Research Corp. for the CFA.

Fed rules announced Nov. 12 will prohibit banks from charging overdraft fees at an ATM or on debit-card transactions unless a customer has agreed in advance to pay for exceeding account balances. Those rules take effect July 1.

Twelve of 15 banks surveyed in January charged at least $25 for an initial overdraft, the CFA said in the statement. Thirteen of the banks charge at least $32 for a second overdraft, the group said. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20603037&sid=aguuWab9fHcs

Those bloodsuckers need to go.

and a bunch of other fees too - including adding fees for all overdraft protection transfers.

They did relax how quickly they'll charge you, making exceptions for small dollar OD's and debit card OD's, but the fact that they jacked the amount pisses me off. This is a credit union I worked for back in the 80's and it used to be all about doing the best thing for it's customers. I knew then that not all credit unions were the same. It appears they've now gone over to the dark side, too.

When I worked in banking lo these many years ago, they were just starting to get on the fee income band wagon.

But back then, they also posted deposits first and debits second.

Now, they post debits to accounts first, overdraw and charge, then post deposits.

This helps maximize fee income by overdrawing accounts even if they have the funds to cover checks.

Ah, yes, deregulation is such a beautiful thing.