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submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

The cost to overdraw a bank account could drop to as little as $3 under a proposal announced by the White House, the latest effort by the Biden administration to combat fees it says pose an unnecessary burden on American consumers, particularly those living paycheck to paycheck.

The change could potentially eliminate billions of dollars in fee revenue for the nation’s biggest banks, which were gearing up for a battle even before Wednesday’s announcement. Exactly how much revenue depends on which version of the new regulation is adopted.

Banks charge a customer an overdraft fee if their bank account balance falls below zero. Overdraft started as a courtesy offered to some customers when paper checks used to take days to clear, but proliferated thanks to the growing popularity of debit cards.

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[-] nutsack@lemmy.world 64 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

overdraft fees only affect people who don't have a lot of money. I remember being ruined by them as a college student several times. they should be illegal. let them figure out how to get the operating revenue from people with more capital.

[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 53 points 9 months ago

I dropped Wells Fargo after they re-ordered my pending payments to maximize overdraft fees.

I'd actually overdrawn like 25 bucks after making a couple 3-5 dollar purchases followed by $50 purchase. They moved the big payment up front so each of those little payments incured a 30 dollar fee.

Fuck them.

[-] spyd3r@sh.itjust.works 16 points 9 months ago

This, never do business with Wells Fargo.

[-] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago

I had that happen too with BoA, a long time ago. My initial reaction was "how in the fuck is this legal?!"

Then I nearly blacked out as a torrent of un-forgotten media, of all the jokes, comedic hate, and disparaging sentiment towards banks, flooded back to my minds eye.

Sadly, my only answer to this problem was "make more money", which really isn't an answer at all. Later, I switched to a credit union, which I would have done earlier had I known that was an option.

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[-] Stowaway@midwest.social 8 points 9 months ago

I dropped them when they charged me an overdraft fee because I over drafted because they charged me an overdraft fee. Then they charged me an over draft fee for over drafting because if the second overdraft fee. Most expensive $5 in gas I've ever paid for.

[-] jaschen@lemm.ee 7 points 9 months ago

I worked as a banker there in the early 2000s and those OD fees was brutal. I remembered when it went from $24 to $35 and how much it completely devastated people's lives.

Right before I quit, ANYONE with an OD fee that I saw, I just reversed it without question. Then I got in trouble for reversing thousands of dollars before I was written up. I put in my 2 weeks after and in those 2 weeks kept on reversing charges.

I would tell people to not bank here when I worked there unless you have at LEAST 25k cash or investments or a mortgage over 250k. Otherwise, you're going get FUCKED by fees.

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[-] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 53 points 9 months ago

Why are overdraft fees even allowed?

If the account doesn't have the funds, don't allow the withdrawal.

If someone needs to borrow money, they will use a credit card.

[-] fidodo@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago

I don't know if all banks allow it but you can turn overdrafts off and get that exact behavior. It's hard to believe but overdraft protection was originally advertised as a feature.

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[-] Lesrid@lemm.ee 10 points 9 months ago

My credit union isn't great, but one time I was $600 short on my tuition payment and they let the transaction through and gave me a call later that day and asked when I expected to pay it back. I told them two weeks and they said "okay". I'm not even sure I was charged anything.

[-] Daveyborn@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago

Credit unions be cool like that, at least mine is. Still glad my parents made my account for me, I joke with them that the account is older than me (it actually is)

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[-] Etterra@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago

How will the executives and top shareholders afford their private jets if you start taking away their cruelly excessive fees?

For real though, overdraft fees are fucking evil. "Since you are now out of money, you will have to pay back even more of the money you don't have" is just evil.

[-] skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 9 months ago

I believe it's a holdover that originated in the limits of technology in the past. Before the Internet or even dial-up card verification, purchases were made "on faith" if writing a check or paying with a card. The fees were there to prevent banking customers from abusing the pretendness of pretend pretend money. Without the discouragement, a person may go try to buy something at multiple places, and even if a vendor called the bank to verify funds were available, each time the bank would say, "oh yeah, funds are available," until all the paper came back to the bank.

That being said, it's the future, accounts can be verified and mathed upon instantly, and these fees have no place anymore, although I'm sure the banks will try and sell them as, "we're just trying to help out the poor by allowing them needed money when they might not yet have it available, for a small convenient fee."

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[-] HubertManne@kbin.social 51 points 9 months ago

I still don't get how folks don't love this president. All these things are great for typical folks like me.

[-] Brokkr@lemmy.world 41 points 9 months ago

Well the repubs stopped him from doing all the things that would have made him amazing, so he obviously totally sucks.

[-] Coasting0942@reddthat.com 18 points 9 months ago

Because it’s all tiny changes that don’t effectively help people. No big structural changes cause the billionaires managed to put a stop to that with their agents in the Senate. And so the average citizen is left to blame the person they see as the cause of it all, cause he’s the big boss obviously.

Citation: gestures at everything

[-] snooggums@kbin.social 17 points 9 months ago

The things he has done do effectively help people, but since he doesn't constantly brag about it people don't notice.

[-] HubertManne@kbin.social 9 points 9 months ago

yeah still. I have never had so many beneficial things come out of a presidential term in my life.

[-] Coasting0942@reddthat.com 8 points 9 months ago

Trump got us “free cash” and virus test kits. Bush got us “free cash”.

Obama got us crappy healthcare. Which he stole from Republcain Mitt Romney cause Obamacare is literally Republicans dream healthcare system.

Nobody remembers the starting circumstances of the Democratic presidents brought in to clean up Republican messes.

From my interactions with co-workers, it can be that simple. And also the trans trans trans are coming to steal your kids and wife. Diabolical

[-] HubertManne@kbin.social 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

yeah in particular obama was just getting the economy going at the end of his term by slowly raising interest rates and it was trump that railed for lower interest rates to overheat the economy just before covid and is the main reason rates had to be raised at break neck pace under biden. Democrats are burdened with stabilizing the situations that republicans have intentionally destabilized. Like right now they will only allow 2 month budget extensions keeping us on the edge of shutdown constantly. That is no way to run a government.

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[-] aew360@lemm.ee 9 points 9 months ago

I would argue that the insulin thing was not tiny at all. Biden has been a good President.

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[-] admiralteal@kbin.social 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The IRA is a big structural change that puts us on a path where we might actually escape global armageddon. It doesn't get us there, but it puts us on the path and buys us just a little bit of time. And its entire philosophical approach builds constituencies massively, which means the longer it exists, the more it will go into a virtuous cycle. So long as Trump doesn't get in next cycle and dismantle it from within, it will be incredibly sticky.

It's almost certainly the most important bill passed in any of our lifetimes. Not just climate-wise, but legislation-wise. It's very technical and kind of boring, which makes it not as exciting, but it's still absolutely huge.

I don't give a fuck if people hate Biden for whatever reasons they have. But at least this one piece of major progress, somehow passed through an uncontrolled congress, must not be denied. If we deny it, that's probably it for our civilization. If we let the achievement be ignored, climate policy will probably be over and the ecosystem will be allowed to die. Any other issue is petty next to total collapse of the global climate and if passing this bill was ALL he could achieve -- even ignoring some of the other stuff like filling departments with the most diverse crowd ever in American history -- it would still have been a good term for a president. Better-liked presidents have achieved less.

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[-] Chainweasel@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

But he won't stop a war between 2 countries that he isn't in charge of so I can't see myself voting for him /s

[-] FenrirIII@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

That's the media fueling their usual bull. Bernie put up a vote on the issue and 72 out of 100 said 'Yes' to allowing Israel to keep their genocide going. It's crazy

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[-] Neato@ttrpg.network 47 points 9 months ago

Overdraft fees should just be illegal. Bank knows how much money is in there. Don't allow withdraw if it's insufficient.

[-] Trollception@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

What happens if you have $5 in your account and visit two stores and purchase something for $4 in each store? Not all stores process transactions immediately. Is the store supposed to just accept the loss and the bank doesn't honor the transaction? I think if it's a credit based debit card overdraft has to be a thing in order for this to work.

[-] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago

Frankly, yes. The company should just absorb that.

When you accept a credit or debit card, and decide to process the transaction later on, you are incurring a risk. Sometimes that risk will be realized. If you don't like it, don't incur that risk.

[-] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 9 months ago

Exactly. They can always just take cash.

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[-] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 5 points 9 months ago

Not all stores process transactions immediately.

They can, if they choose to do so. You say not all process transactions immediately, but I don't know of any that process offline card transactions.

Is the store supposed to just accept the loss and the bank doesn't honor the transaction?

If they choose not to process the transaction immediately, yes, pretty much. They can retry the transaction periodically until it goes through, or they can use the payment information they have to identify the buyer and demand payment.

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[-] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 5 points 9 months ago

Brazil, 20 years ago, I was a student on a shoestring budget. I set my debit card so that I'd get an SMS after any purchase so I'd be on top of things in case shenanigans happened. I go to the small grocer on the corner, slide my card and type my pin. Before I can put my wallet back in my pocket, my phone dings. My bank was telling me where I purchased, when, how much it was, and how much was left in my account.

Are you telling me first world banks can't do this today? Is it Brazil that's so ahead technologically or is it greed preventing the banks from getting such a basic system in place?

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[-] pjwestin@lemmy.world 32 points 9 months ago

This is an awesome proposal that 99% of Americans can get behind and I can't wait for our oligarchs to kill this legislation before it ever gets introduced to congress.

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[-] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 12 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Yeah, I've only wrote a handful of checks in my life, and I always saw straight through the "we offer to fuck you, for your benefit!" bullshit. Decline their "offer" whenever available, the only one who benefits is the bank. If I don't have enough money now, I don't want the transaction to be approved and get fucked with a $35 fee "for my benefit", and I don't want to be hit with a second fee "for my benefit" when that becomes an "extended overdraft" when - now I know this is hard to believe but - if I don't have money on day 1, I'm very likely to not have money on day 5.

Also, back when banks could more openly fuck you with a smile, BofA would process transactions in this order: debits, then credits. This would cause accounts to fall negative for minutes or even seconds as they processed the pending transactions, and BofA raked in fees. I was a very vocal pain in the ass for my local branch managers, and had that bullshit removed each time, but I had the time to go sit in a shitty crowded bank for an hour and bitch at whoever until I got my $35 back. Anyone with a 9-5 would be fucked.

Banks as a profit center can suck my ass. I've been a "member" of about 20 banks, and there are only 4 I like(d), one of which got acquired by a big bank and the fee list quadrupled while the features were slashed. Be very carefully about where you store your money - thieves are often eager to shake your hand.

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[-] dhork@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The issue isn't necessarily the amount. People shouldn't overdraw their accounts and it seems prudent for the banks to charge for giving you an impromptu quick loan.

The issue is how fees are applied. Let's say someone overdrew their account for $100. To get there, they had six miscellaneous debits totaling $75, and their rent check, which all hit their account on the same day. Rather then settle it in time order, they decide to settle the largest first, under the theory that customers want their largest checks to have the best chance of clearing in this situation. But the rent check puts them under, incurring a fee, but then when all six miscellaneous debits hit, they each incur a fee also! If the fee is $30, that's $210 just in fees! Even at $3, though, that customer is still paying $21 in fees. But if they processed the rent check last, the account would have only overdrawn once.

If used to be that if there wasnt enough money in the account, the check bounced. Maybe we should go back to that. But if people want overdraft protection, the bank should be limited to just one charge in a statement period. Then they can keep it at $30, but customers don't risk escalating fees just because of the order in which banks process charges.

[-] Cold_Brew_Enema@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago

How about no overdraft fees? You know what we should do to people who have no money? Charge them more money.

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[-] Wahots@pawb.social 7 points 9 months ago

This is good. What would be even better would be severely slashing APR on incurred credit card debt. Interest should be reasonable amounts that allow people to realistically pay back credit debt without barely being able to keep up with some financial mistakes.

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[-] CoolSouthpaw@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

Biden might be a senile old fuck, but this is a good thing.

[-] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The list of good things he's done is getting very, very long. Too bad most Americans have the political memory of a knat.

[-] Dark_Arc@social.packetloss.gg 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

He's not senile... He does have a life long stuttering problem though which makes him an easy target for such accusations at his age.

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[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Reposting this from below because I think more people need to see it-

If this works, making overdraft fees $3 is fucking huge.

Some points, directly from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau:

• Among households that frequently incurred overdraft/NSF fees, 81% reported difficulty paying a bill at least once in the past year.

• Among consumers in households charged an overdraft fee in the past year, 43% were surprised by their most recent account overdraft, 35% thought it was possible, and only 22% expected it. Consumers who overdraft infrequently are more likely to be surprised by a fee

• While just 10% of households with over $175,000 in income were charged an overdraft or an NSF fee in the previous year, the share is three times higher (34%) among households making less than $65,000.

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-issues-report-showing-many-americans-are-surprised-by-overdraft-fees/

[-] Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 9 months ago

The thing I don't see anyone talking about is how you can either go in and tell your bank to no longer allow your account to go in the negative making it so your funds just stop and can't spend more negating overdraft fees. Or, like I did go in and open a credit line specifically designed to withdraw when you overdraft. This also negates the fee. It does accrue interest like any credit if you are unable to pay it back when it's due but still you don't have overdraft fees. Like overdraft fees are just lazy people tax. Not even poor people tax cause it's super easy to get them to go away. 🙄

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this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2024
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