Why Are Overdraft Fees Legal?

[Niels Bohr 72]

Geezes. I can also use the analogy that people are stupid enough to buy brand name computers over what goes inside that brand name computer or custom no name computers. Eventhough the outside of it looks good, and name sounds good, the inside doesn't mean it is more reliable as the other. The computer mobos (motherboards) across all manufacturers have the same components with suppliers in China. Dell, HP, Lenova, Gateway, Compaq all use supplies (capicitors, resisters, inductors, fuses) made by the same company or companies. Yet people question the reliability of which one is better. Where they should've asked "what I did wrong that caused the computer to break down?"

Same thing with bank overdrafts. Some people are dumb about it, and some people are not. I like to call everyone dumb for not knowing why their computer broke down.

Edited September 25, 2009 by Niels Bohr

[himher 634]

The fees are not legal? Well I will just ask for my money back. They owe me hundreds, maybe thousands, from my college days. Until I smarted up and quit doing it. But with penalties, and compounded rate of interest (same rate they charged me), the refund could run into the millions, even billions (Dr Evil tone)...

Wow Ima start spending it now!

<rummaging for the check card>

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

The fees are not legal? Well I will just ask for my money back. They owe me hundreds, maybe thousands, from my college days. Until I smarted up and quit doing it. But with penalties, and compounded rate of interest (same rate they charged me), the refund could run into the millions, even billions (Dr Evil tone)...

Wow Ima start spending it now!

<rummaging for the check card>

That college aint payin off to well huh?

[Gary and Alla 3,696]

I wonder what Gary's opinion is on cigarette sales in the 1950s and 60s, back when the cigarette companies were burying research that smoking causes cancer.

My mother knew cigarettes were bad in the 30's, she didn't need the government to tell her, and she told me. I didn't listen to her either

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Well I guess we'd all be better off in an economy completely bereft of business ethics. While we're at it we should do away with lending institutions as we know them and replace them with mafia loan sharks who will break your legs if you can't pay.

And those drug companies will be glad to know that they can advertise their products without having inform consumers about potential side effects.

Edited September 25, 2009 by Gene Hunt

[AlHayatZween 2]

i hate the big banks. i hate how every time i walk in to ask a question or make a minor change in one of my very basic accounts, they always try to sell me something or push me into opening another higher-risk, fancier account. It is a racket.

Don't get me started on the phone companies... i've gotten better service and a better deal in the Sahara, where there is nothing but sand for miles and miles.

yeah, and their immigration is probably better and faster too! So I guess you will be applying for a fiance visa to Morroco any day now.

CARE about your own business and Christopher Dodd won't have to. Good grief.

?? Okay?

[himher 634]

College never pays. You pay them. What you do with it is what pays or does not pay.

Thinking.....I could struggle by on my millions (millions in Dr Evil tone) in refunds. Maybe get some shocks and new tires on the pinto.....

The fees are not legal? Well I will just ask for my money back. They owe me hundreds, maybe thousands, from my college days. Until I smarted up and quit doing it. But with penalties, and compounded rate of interest (same rate they charged me), the refund could run into the millions, even billions (Dr Evil tone)...

Wow Ima start spending it now!

<rummaging for the check card>

That college aint payin off to well huh?

[Gary and Alla 3,696]

Well I guess we'd all be better off in an economy completely bereft of business ethics. While we're at it we should do away with lending institutions as we know them and replace them with mafia loan sharks who will break your legs if you can't pay.

And those drug companies will be glad to know that they can advertise their products without having inform consumers about potential side effects.

Please try to keep up at least. I said nothing about ethics. It is completely unethical to charge outrageous bank fees, it is SO outrageous, I REFUSE to pay them. I keep my bank records and spending strictly in control to prevent outrageous fees PLUS I "bury" $500 in an unlisted deposit in my account. This way I always have $500 more than the book says and the bank has YET to collect one of those outrageous and unethical fees from me. For someone who has been hit with even one or two fees the BEST thing they can do is deposit $500 and not enter it their checkbook. Even ONE fee of $35 represents far more than any interest they could expect to make in a year or three on a $500 investment. It is the best $500 investment you can make. I wonder if Dodd mentions that to anyone in his legislation? If you do not have $500, then you can do it for $100. Depends the level of "free (really FREE) overdraft protection" you want.

I am against LEGISLATION that would prevent banks from charging fees to stupid people that overdraw their accounts and then whine about it. Legislation and ethics are two different things, by definition. Once something is legislated, there is nothing ehtical about it anymore, it is LAW.

Actually ethics would go a long way to reduce legislation, at least in theory, though I doubt Dodd will ever be happy to leave well enough alone. One of those ethics is "taking it like a man", when you mess up and overdraw your account and get slapped with a fee. Ethics go both ways.

[Niels Bohr 72]

I am against people who seriously don't know what Engineering is about. I hate the morons who have no idea how to determine clock cycles within the CPU, the different paths to different flip flops, gate delays, parasitic capacitance, time delays, time skew, base width channel modulation in a MOSFET chip, MOSFET signal amplification, the different layers of integrated circuits, how RC circuits can use to filter different signals, etc...

I just hate people who hate one group whereas they themselves are also stupid.

Edited September 25, 2009 by Niels Bohr

[Nizzy 1]

I worked for a bank up until 2 months ago. There was a client who came in to see me because he had two overdraft fees. When I looked into his account I saw that he only had 20 dollars in his account. On Sunday he took out the 20 via ATM. The next day he stated that he needed 60 bucks and knew he would be charged a fee but was desperate. The ATM allowed for the withdrawal and the bank debited the larger amount first so tht he could be charged twice. Working for a bank made me lose faith in all banks. It's all about the money they can make.

If you are a big money client they will refund whatever fees you have no questions asked. But those poor avergae people who struggle financially and have a valid reason for getting a refund get nothing. I was actually given a warning because I was refunding too much...lol...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Well I guess we'd all be better off in an economy completely bereft of business ethics. While we're at it we should do away with lending institutions as we know them and replace them with mafia loan sharks who will break your legs if you can't pay.

And those drug companies will be glad to know that they can advertise their products without having inform consumers about potential side effects.

Please try to keep up at least. I said nothing about ethics. It is completely unethical to charge outrageous bank fees, it is SO outrageous, I REFUSE to pay them. I keep my bank records and spending strictly in control to prevent outrageous fees PLUS I "bury" $500 in an unlisted deposit in my account. This way I always have $500 more than the book says and the bank has YET to collect one of those outrageous and unethical fees from me. For someone who has been hit with even one or two fees the BEST thing they can do is deposit $500 and not enter it their checkbook. Even ONE fee of $35 represents far more than any interest they could expect to make in a year or three on a $500 investment. It is the best $500 investment you can make. I wonder if Dodd mentions that to anyone in his legislation? If you do not have $500, then you can do it for $100. Depends the level of "free (really FREE) overdraft protection" you want.

I am against LEGISLATION that would prevent banks from charging fees to stupid people that overdraw their accounts and then whine about it. Legislation and ethics are two different things, by definition. Once something is legislated, there is nothing ehtical about it anymore, it is LAW.

Actually ethics would go a long way to reduce legislation, at least in theory, though I doubt Dodd will ever be happy to leave well enough alone. One of those ethics is "taking it like a man", when you mess up and overdraw your account and get slapped with a fee. Ethics go both ways.

But you said earlier that people should somehow know when they are being subjected to unfair to deceptive business practices - therefore there is no need for legislation to force pharamceutical companies to reveal the side-effects of their products, you should just know. Remember, consumer law is silly - you said.

As I said to you earlier (and which you continue to ignore or deride) I don't see what is wrong with ensuring that companies are forced by law to provide consumers with all the information they need to make informed buying decisions. Do you honestly think that if there was no law that forced Pfizer or Glaxosmithkline from revealing in those glossy TV ads that their product has been known to cause seizures and liver damage, that they would reveal this information to the consumer?

I didn't think so. But of course - you being you, of course you already know everything going in.

[Niels Bohr 72]

I worked for a bank up until 2 months ago. There was a client who came in to see me because he had two overdraft fees. When I looked into his account I saw that he only had 20 dollars in his account. On Sunday he took out the 20 via ATM. The next day he stated that he needed 60 bucks and knew he would be charged a fee but was desperate. The ATM allowed for the withdrawal and the bank debited the larger amount first so tht he could be charged twice. Working for a bank made me lose faith in all banks. It's all about the money they can make.

If you are a big money client they will refund whatever fees you have no questions asked. But those poor avergae people who struggle financially and have a valid reason for getting a refund get nothing. I was actually given a warning because I was refunding too much...lol...

Thanks for the insight.

If practices like these are allowed in banks, then it should be allowed in businesses everywhere as well. You know tell everyone that they're getting quality stuff, where in actuality that stuff is the most unrealiable thing ever.

[Nizzy 1]

I worked for a bank up until 2 months ago. There was a client who came in to see me because he had two overdraft fees. When I looked into his account I saw that he only had 20 dollars in his account. On Sunday he took out the 20 via ATM. The next day he stated that he needed 60 bucks and knew he would be charged a fee but was desperate. The ATM allowed for the withdrawal and the bank debited the larger amount first so tht he could be charged twice. Working for a bank made me lose faith in all banks. It's all about the money they can make.

If you are a big money client they will refund whatever fees you have no questions asked. But those poor avergae people who struggle financially and have a valid reason for getting a refund get nothing. I was actually given a warning because I was refunding too much...lol...

Thanks for the insight.

If practices like these are allowed in banks, then it should be allowed in businesses everywhere as well. You know tell everyone that they're getting quality stuff, where in actuality that stuff is the most unrealiable thing ever.

Your welcome. And I totally agree. They lie to get you in and then refuse to help you when you need it. It's all about how many products you can sell and not so much about cusotmer service anymore...sad...

[SCFsnoopy 0]

Only times I've ever been hit with overdraft fees, it was my fault.

First time was the most catastrophic - I earned over $200 in overdraft fees because after my J-1 year in the States, I was in such a fluster to get all my stuff packed and ready to go back to Australia that I completely forgot about closing the bank account I had in the US. This bank account was tied to my Paypal account. While in transit, I had put a fair amount of money into the Paypal account to pay for my online gaming subscription, but at some point it wasn't enough and the Paypal account overdrew (for the record, Paypal NEVER informed me of the overdraw, so I didn't find out till much later...). Paypal then tried to draw the funds from my now empty US bank account, and I was hit with the first overdraft fee. It continued to go upwards from there - the bank would charge me a "service fee" of either $3 or $5 (the account was a free account, by the way, I didn't have monthly fees for it) then immediately slap on a $34 overdraft fee. Months later, something made me check that account and I was horrified at what I found. Being across the other side of the world, I had to communicate with the bank via email - they waived ONE of the fees, and said they would not close the account until the rest was paid off. I just wanted the problem gone, so I deposited money into the account and sent them a snail mail, as requested, to close the account. Weeks later when the letter should have well and truly gotten there, I was charged another "service fee" and subsequent overdraft fee... I sent them an email and said I refused to pay that, and they finally closed the account.

Second time was Paypal again, but totally my fault - I selected the wrong bank account to withdraw $800 from (this was one of my Australian bank accounts). That wasn't a big deal, called them to tell them to cancel the transaction and I'd pay the overdraft, since it was my fault.

[Niels Bohr 72]

I'm a fighter. I will not tolerate them taking money whether it's my mistake or not. One reason, they are making money off of interests, and loans far greater. And, maybe you forgot or had alot on your mind. Maybe you expected the money to be deposited tonight, but there was delay in payroll on your direct deposit. Who knows. I will not tolerate them trying to exploit every mistake someone make.