Sick of egregious overdraft fees?

Tired of your bank jimmyrigging the order of posting deposits and withdrawals so they can charge you $200.00 on $20 in usage.

So is Congresswoman Maloney(D-NY). She has introduced a bill, cosponsored by 30+ reps to change the way banks treat their true stakeholders – the customer.  But its being preempted by The Fed.

The Fed is proposing a new rule governing overdraft fees, but it’s weak and they need our help to make it stronger.

So, let’s call the Banks(?) on the carpet by –

  I. Contacting the Fed by email at: [email protected].  Make sure the docket number Docket No. R-1343 is in the subject line.

Ask the Fed to beef up it’s proposal by including the following modest  characteristics of Maloney’s bill – HR 946:

   A. Require notice to customers when an ATM or point-of-sale debit card transaction is about to trigger an overdraft

   B. Give consumers a choice to accept the overdraft service, and the associated fee, or not. (You should be alerted at point of sale if you will exceed funds and incur an overdraft fee if you choose to continue.)

   C.Require an opportunity for account holders to choose to have an overdraft plan or not. (FDIC reports that over 75% of surveyed banks automatically force their customers into an overdraft program and some do not allow customers to opt out and that isn’t right.)

   D. Prohibit manipulation of the order of posting deposits and withdrawals so as to maximize overdraft fees. (Charging the largest posting first even if it was the last thing you purchased that day so thay you pay mulitple OD fees instead one on the big ticket purchase.)

  II. Contact your congressperson and tell them you support passage of HR 946 and let them know how you feel about the following:  

  a. The GAO released a report showing that consumers are not told about, and can’t avoid, many overdraft fees.

   b. In 2007, from the nonpartisan Center for Responsible Lending – Customers pay $17.5 billion annually in overdraft fees, up 70% from the $10.3 billion they paid in 2004.

  III. Get out of the big banks and get into a local credit union or bank.