FDIC slams bank fees!
December 3, 2008 | USA Today, alternatives, industry | Comments (2)From USA Today:
Overdraft fees are boosting banks’ profits at the expense of consumers, especially young and low-income people, finds a new Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. study.The 18-month survey found that most banks automatically enroll consumers in overdraft programs — some don’t allow them to opt out — and then cover overdrawn transactions for a per-item fee of up to $38.
The survey excludes many of the largest banks in the nation, because it covers only FDIC-regulated banks. Still, it’s the largest study of overdraft programs by a bank regulator and helps “fill an important universe of information that has not been available to policymakers,” says Andrew Gray, agency spokesman.
Comments»
How come absolutely NO politicians will bash the banks and credit unions as freely as they bash payday lenders over usurious fees?
Maybe it would be political suicide to speak on behalf of the reviled payday loan industry. After all, sooner or later someone is going to blame payday lenders for reducing the fee incomes of the banks and credit unions…..and how that contributed to bank failures and the global financial crisis………..
After all, now that the banks and credit unions can’t rip off people on their mortgages, how can they survive if they can’t rip off their depositors????
Let’s also not forget that the competition created by the payday lenders will also force the banks and credit unions to keep their ‘reasonable’ fees from getting completely out of hand. All this consolidation within the banking industry is eliminating competition and opening up the way for banks and credit unions to freely exploit the public.
Now to get rid of those annoying payday lenders………
How do banks get away with charging whatever fees they want without even documeting the situations under which these fees will be assessed. I know that TISA requires that fee assessment procedures be explained in documents available to customers but what resource does the customer have when the bank fragrantly ignores this requirement?
My bank routinely debits my account on the day or day after it issues an electronically generated check; this date is often several days before the payee even gets the check. This practice is not documented in materials available to its customers although if you ask e-banking personnel or customer service reps, they act like you are an idiot to think that it should be any other way. On the other hand, Branch managers and Tellers are totally unaware of this practice.
So, they pulled this on me and it caused a string of NSF fees that I am trying to get them to refund.
Anyone help?