Comments on: Let’s opt out of “overdraft protection” http://www.bankaholic.com/finance/lets-opt-out-of-overdraft-protection/ Blogging about personal finance, foreclosures, mortgages, interest rates, and budgeting. Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:45:46 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: dan http://www.bankaholic.com/finance/lets-opt-out-of-overdraft-protection/comment-page-1/#comment-27595 dan Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:22:15 +0000 http://www.bankaholic.com/finance/?p=404#comment-27595 NSF fees only apply to bounced checks and similar. Going into a store and having your card denied does not generate an NSF. Having the transaction go through (if there was NSF) would generate a fee. Consider the following (real) case: There is 100$ in the account. 5 transactions go into "pending" state. 4 of these transaction are less than 10$. 1 is a 200$ check that was cashed early. Because they all occurred on the same day the bank is free to order them in any fashion that they like. They have the 200$ check go through first and then hit you with 5 overlimit fees (35$*5=175$). If they had denied the check you would have gotten one NSF fee. If they had posted the transactions in the order they occurred you also would have gotten one fee. As it is they hit you with 5 times that. The banks claim that it costs them money to cover overdrafts. This is certainly true, however, I was watching cspan this morning and a banking representative attempted to state that the cost to banks is in excess of 10$ for each overdraft. I find it difficult to believe that it costs the bank more than 10$ fund my $2.50 overdraft. Putting that aside it still doesn't add up to 35$! NSF fees only apply to bounced checks and similar. Going into a store and having your card denied does not generate an NSF. Having the transaction go through (if there was NSF) would generate a fee.

Consider the following (real) case:

There is 100$ in the account. 5 transactions go into “pending” state. 4 of these transaction are less than 10$. 1 is a 200$ check that was cashed early. Because they all occurred on the same day the bank is free to order them in any fashion that they like. They have the 200$ check go through first and then hit you with 5 overlimit fees (35$*5=175$). If they had denied the check you would have gotten one NSF fee. If they had posted the transactions in the order they occurred you also would have gotten one fee. As it is they hit you with 5 times that.

The banks claim that it costs them money to cover overdrafts. This is certainly true, however, I was watching cspan this morning and a banking representative attempted to state that the cost to banks is in excess of 10$ for each overdraft. I find it difficult to believe that it costs the bank more than 10$ fund my $2.50 overdraft. Putting that aside it still doesn’t add up to 35$!

]]> By: Randall G http://www.bankaholic.com/finance/lets-opt-out-of-overdraft-protection/comment-page-1/#comment-27433 Randall G Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:45:49 +0000 http://www.bankaholic.com/finance/?p=404#comment-27433 Cry me a friggin' river. People need to be responsible and know what they have or don't have in their accounts. In addition, what in the heck is the difference between an overdraft fee and an NSF fee? They're about the same from my experience. Would you rather go through the inconvenience of correcting your NSFs all over town or pay the same fee (or less) as the NSF fee and avoid the inconvenience? Take some dang responsibility and don't write checks if you don't have enough money in your account! Cry me a friggin’ river. People need to be responsible and know what they have or don’t have in their accounts. In addition, what in the heck is the difference between an overdraft fee and an NSF fee? They’re about the same from my experience. Would you rather go through the inconvenience of correcting your NSFs all over town or pay the same fee (or less) as the NSF fee and avoid the inconvenience? Take some dang responsibility and don’t write checks if you don’t have enough money in your account!

]]> By: Sam B http://www.bankaholic.com/finance/lets-opt-out-of-overdraft-protection/comment-page-1/#comment-20238 Sam B Tue, 07 Apr 2009 03:11:09 +0000 http://www.bankaholic.com/finance/?p=404#comment-20238 I have Bank of America and they used to charge $25 for overdraft. Then you could call customer service and link your checking to your savings and reduce the overdraft fee to $10. Now they're involved in a lawsuit because they somehow were "encouraging" people to overdraft more frequently. I'd rather just have my card denied. I have Bank of America and they used to charge $25 for overdraft. Then you could call customer service and link your checking to your savings and reduce the overdraft fee to $10. Now they’re involved in a lawsuit because they somehow were “encouraging” people to overdraft more frequently. I’d rather just have my card denied.

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