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Our banks are in trouble, so let's...
November 13, 2009
...reward their worst customers:
The Federal Reserve today announced new rules that will ban banks from charging overdraft fees on debit card and ATM transactions unless a consumer opts in to an overdraft program."The final overdraft rules represent an important step forward in consumer protection," Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a statement. "Both new and existing account holders will be able to make informed decisions about whether to sign up for an overdraft service."
Apparently the government has decided that if they can spend money they don't have, everybody else should be able to.
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Comments
I don't think this is rewarding the worst customers. If you don't sign up for the overdraft service, then any requests for funds greater than your account balance will be denied. Sounds like they're just trying to make it so people don't accidentally overdraw their account if they didn't intend to (I would've liked that protection at age 17).
If there are people who still want to be able to go into overdraft, then they can elect to do so and incur the same fees as before.
Posted by: Brittney | November 13, 2009 12:49 PM
Joe I think you are mistaken about this one. As Brittney mentioned, those that do not explicitly enter into overdraft protection will just have the debit card and other transactions denied. Also, at $35 per transaction on average for going into the red, I'm not sure these are the bank's worst customers. In fact, based on an article I read not too long ago these unwise spenders may be a bank's best customers.
Posted by: Dave | November 14, 2009 3:43 PM
I am sure people who incur a lot of overdraft fees are not the bank's worst customers.
Posted by: Erich Riesenberg | November 15, 2009 12:02 PM