“The surprise is, no matter how much government tries to regulate and legislate away this small loan market, it keeps coming back,” says Moebs. “People want and need a funding safety net.”

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“Regulators should get out of and stay out of the short term money needs of consumers — they cause more problems than solutions. Instead of trying to tell consumers what they need and how to manage their money, let the market do it,” says Moebs, whose clients include banking and savings institutions.

“The huge mistake that many make when looking at overdrafts, payday loans and pawn loans, is trying to measure it by large loan standards — namely APR. It’s like bringing a baseball speed gun used to measure the velocity of a pitch to measure the speed of a college or NFL football player. Overdrafts are measured by fee amounts, not rates.”

“The Fed’s rule cut the number of people who participated in these programs, but for the people who do opt in, there’s no limit on the size of fees or the number of overdraft fees (banks) can charge,” says Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director with U.S. PIRG.

The median overdraft fee is $35, unchanged from last year, and customers can incur anywhere from three — at JPMorgan Chase (JPM) — to 10 — at Fifth Third Bank (FITB) — of these fees in a single day, according to the study. In the last year, BB&T (BBT) doubled the number of overdraft fees it charges per day to eight, while Regions Financial (RF) raised its daily limit from four to six per day, the survey found. Only TD Bank (TD) reduced the number of fees per day from six to five.