CRL’s latest release
October 6, 2009 | Center for Responsible Lending, alternatives, industry | Comments (1)Just hit the wires:
Banks and credit unions collected nearly $24 billion in overdraft fees last year, an increase of 35 percent from just two years earlier, a new study by the Center for Responsible Lending shows. [See the full report at
The explosion in overdraft charges has drained the wallet of as many as 51 million Americans whose accounts become overdrawn annually. It is particularly harmful to financially vulnerable families already hit hard by the recession.
“Banks and credit unions have become so sophisticated in driving up overdrafts that Americans now pay more in overdraft fees every year than they do for books, cereal, or fresh vegetables,” said CRL senior researcher Leslie Parrish. “These billions of dollars drained from consumers each year represent lost opportunities for families to save for a rainy day or buy necessary goods and services that could help spark the economy.”
The most common trigger of overdraft fees are small debit card transactions that could easily be denied for no fee. This is how things used to work, and according to a 2008 nationally representative survey, it’s what the large majority of people prefer.
Comments»
So now CRL is ok because they rip your “competition”? nice.