Why Are Overdraft Fees Legal?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

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.

[Niels Bohr 72]

People tend to overlook these things. Come on, how long have visa debit came into existence? It only became mainstream for consumption not that long ago, so, lawmakers did not question them. Until now, when the people are getting laid off back to back, and banks receiving stimulus funds (from taxpayers I'd might add), they are also double dipping by charging them overdraft fees.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

People tend to overlook these things. Come on, how long have visa debit came into existence? It only became mainstream for consumption not that long ago, so, lawmakers did not question them. Until now, when the people are getting laid off back to back, and banks receiving stimulus funds (from taxpayers I'd might add), they are also double dipping by charging them overdraft fees.

Indeed. Privatized profit, socialized loss. Doesn't seem quite fair does it...

[Gary and Alla 3,696]

You can't legislate responsibility, but you can certainly legislate against exploitative business practices.

To what end? If I can stop exploitive business practice myself, why would I need Dodd or any other lame politician to do it for me...and why should I wait? I guess in the UK people wait around to be saved from themselves...I DO NOT. Dodds legislation cannot possibly do me any good. I have never paid a bank fee because I am very careful never to overdraw my account.

The only thing his legislation can do for responsible people is to reduce services available to us...no thanks. I do not care what kind of exploitive business practices irresponsible people allow to be inflicted on themselves. I will laugh...al the way to the bank

Yes consumer law is just silly, isn't it

Yes. Glad to see you are coming around. NO ONE can protect yourself and your family better than YOU can. NOW you are getting the picture.

Individual responsibility, individual freedom!

That's only good in as far as you have all the information you need to make informed consumer decisions.

Exactly. and what do you (or I) have aginst informed consumers? Dodd's law will actually contribute to MORE stupid consumers. One less thing to worry about, eh?

Part of being responsible is getting information to make decisions and not making decisions without it! Every bank must already disclose their fees. I READ that piece of paper and did not find out the stupid (and expensive) way. Silly me. If you make decisions without information, it is STUPID. You have a RIGHT to be STUPID...I suggest you continue defending it, you are pretty good at it. It is one of our most precious rights. It means people that are NOT stupid have access to great benefits like ATMS, debit cards, free online banking and bill pay. I do not wish to lose those FREE benefits because STUPID people do not defend (and PAY FOR) their right to be stupid!

To which I say ONCE AGAIN - give people all the information they need to make INFORMED decisions. And do it without hiding the ####### in 10,000 words of fine print that you need a law degree in order to decipher.

You are coming along nicely. Now you see also the Dodd legislation is stupid as it does nothing to inform consumers. The information needs to be available (it is, and a more clearly worded version is fine with me, But Dodd does not address that) and then people can decide to be smart...or stupid! There is a price for being stupid and stupid people should pay it.

[Niels Bohr 72]

I think people are stupid without realizing that they're stupid. This applies to everyone. Some laws are made to protect people. This new legislation aren't any different from those laws.

Edited September 24, 2009 by Niels Bohr

[NickD 203]

I can't believe the way these payday loan places are popping up all over town, all have a big guy that will break your legs if you don't come back in on payday. And the interest they charge is positively crazy. We also had a pawn shop open up, real creepy place with creepy people, but they didn't last very long.

LOL, can anyone loan me five bucks until payday? Now it's a business, but you gotta pay them back with a twenty.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

You can't legislate responsibility, but you can certainly legislate against exploitative business practices.

To what end? If I can stop exploitive business practice myself, why would I need Dodd or any other lame politician to do it for me...and why should I wait? I guess in the UK people wait around to be saved from themselves...I DO NOT. Dodds legislation cannot possibly do me any good. I have never paid a bank fee because I am very careful never to overdraw my account.

The only thing his legislation can do for responsible people is to reduce services available to us...no thanks. I do not care what kind of exploitive business practices irresponsible people allow to be inflicted on themselves. I will laugh...al the way to the bank

Yes consumer law is just silly, isn't it

Yes. Glad to see you are coming around. NO ONE can protect yourself and your family better than YOU can. NOW you are getting the picture.

Individual responsibility, individual freedom!

That's only good in as far as you have all the information you need to make informed consumer decisions.

Exactly. and what do you (or I) have aginst informed consumers? Dodd's law will actually contribute to MORE stupid consumers. One less thing to worry about, eh?

Part of being responsible is getting information to make decisions and not making decisions without it! Every bank must already disclose their fees. I READ that piece of paper and did not find out the stupid (and expensive) way. Silly me. If you make decisions without information, it is STUPID. You have a RIGHT to be STUPID...I suggest you continue defending it, you are pretty good at it. It is one of our most precious rights. It means people that are NOT stupid have access to great benefits like ATMS, debit cards, free online banking and bill pay. I do not wish to lose those FREE benefits because STUPID people do not defend (and PAY FOR) their right to be stupid!

To which I say ONCE AGAIN - give people all the information they need to make INFORMED decisions. And do it without hiding the ####### in 10,000 words of fine print that you need a law degree in order to decipher.

You are coming along nicely. Now you see also the Dodd legislation is stupid as it does nothing to inform consumers. The information needs to be available (it is, and a more clearly worded version is fine with me, But Dodd does not address that) and then people can decide to be smart...or stupid! There is a price for being stupid and stupid people should pay it.

Gary, I kinda wish you'd stop trying to put words in my mouth - there's no bigger azzhole than a patronising azzhole.

If you read my posts (if you really read them) you will see that I made no mention whatsoever of Dodd's legislation and I didn't address it at all.

I do think however that some legislation needs to be enacted to prevent exploitative business practices and to ensure that these services are sold honestly, with clear unambiguous communication.

[Gary and Alla 3,696]

People tend to overlook these things. Come on, how long have visa debit came into existence? It only became mainstream for consumption not that long ago, so, lawmakers did not question them. Until now, when the people are getting laid off back to back, and banks receiving stimulus funds (from taxpayers I'd might add), they are also double dipping by charging them overdraft fees.

Indeed. Privatized profit, socialized loss. Doesn't seem quite fair does it...

My goodness! You are wising up by leaps and bounds, I believe you are barely British anymore! I would like to take credit for it but I know Danno probably deserves his share.

Exactly, you cannot socialize loss. People that make stupid decisions and those that follow them need to pay the price. The people that MADE the money, need to PAY the money when it is lost! I mean I KNEW enough to not buy GM stock and THEN, Whammo! It gets forced on me in order to socialize the loss of dumb@ss management and stubborn, suicidal, unions. What's up with that??? Eh?

When we get the government involved we lose all the advantage of education and responsibility as the government seeks to make us all equally stupid. bring us all down to the lowest common denominator and THEn they will be sending photos of YOU around the internet while you shop in WalMart!!!!!!!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

You really need to stop rhetoricising Gary.

[Gary and Alla 3,696]

You can't legislate responsibility, but you can certainly legislate against exploitative business practices.

To what end? If I can stop exploitive business practice myself, why would I need Dodd or any other lame politician to do it for me...and why should I wait? I guess in the UK people wait around to be saved from themselves...I DO NOT. Dodds legislation cannot possibly do me any good. I have never paid a bank fee because I am very careful never to overdraw my account.

The only thing his legislation can do for responsible people is to reduce services available to us...no thanks. I do not care what kind of exploitive business practices irresponsible people allow to be inflicted on themselves. I will laugh...al the way to the bank

Yes consumer law is just silly, isn't it

Yes. Glad to see you are coming around. NO ONE can protect yourself and your family better than YOU can. NOW you are getting the picture.

Individual responsibility, individual freedom!

That's only good in as far as you have all the information you need to make informed consumer decisions.

Exactly. and what do you (or I) have aginst informed consumers? Dodd's law will actually contribute to MORE stupid consumers. One less thing to worry about, eh?

Part of being responsible is getting information to make decisions and not making decisions without it! Every bank must already disclose their fees. I READ that piece of paper and did not find out the stupid (and expensive) way. Silly me. If you make decisions without information, it is STUPID. You have a RIGHT to be STUPID...I suggest you continue defending it, you are pretty good at it. It is one of our most precious rights. It means people that are NOT stupid have access to great benefits like ATMS, debit cards, free online banking and bill pay. I do not wish to lose those FREE benefits because STUPID people do not defend (and PAY FOR) their right to be stupid!

To which I say ONCE AGAIN - give people all the information they need to make INFORMED decisions. And do it without hiding the ####### in 10,000 words of fine print that you need a law degree in order to decipher.

You are coming along nicely. Now you see also the Dodd legislation is stupid as it does nothing to inform consumers. The information needs to be available (it is, and a more clearly worded version is fine with me, But Dodd does not address that) and then people can decide to be smart...or stupid! There is a price for being stupid and stupid people should pay it.

Gary, I kinda wish you'd stop trying to put words in my mouth - there's no bigger azzhole than a patronising azzhole.

If you read my posts (if you really read them) you will see that I made no mention whatsoever of Dodd's legislation and I didn't address it at all.

I do think however that some legislation needs to be enacted to prevent exploitative business practices and to ensure that these services are sold honestly, with clear unambiguous communication.

Sorry. I thought you were getting smarter. My error. I won't do it again.

[moelarrycheese 0]

Or you could just keep better records of what is in your account so you don't over-spend, or have over-draft protection linked to your savings account.

Who pulls out their checkbook log every time they use their debit card? Might as well write a check.

Regardless...it doesn't justify banks charging multiple, compounded fees. That should be illegal.

The fees exist because consumers wanted to be able to spend more than they had. The fees exist because consumer didn't want to have to learn the first thing about managing their own cash flow.

Get rid of the fees, but next time you overdraft I hope the little machine comes back with the following response - fuсk you, deadbeat.

It's a question of personal resposibility. If you don't want overdraft fees, keep track of your account balance. Don't overspend. It's very simple really. I personally don't use my debit card except at my bank's branches to withdraw cash. The reason is, the fewer merchant's computer systems my information is recorded onto, the less likely I am to be a victim of identity theft, ex. TJX corp, many others recently. If I have to use plastic at a merchant's, I'll use my CC- my fraud liability is limited to $50.00 (and if I don't know the balancew of that account, I can call the 800 number on the bcak of the card using my cell phone- so I have no excuse for creating an overdraft in the first place).

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

You can't legislate responsibility, but you can certainly legislate against exploitative business practices.

To what end? If I can stop exploitive business practice myself, why would I need Dodd or any other lame politician to do it for me...and why should I wait? I guess in the UK people wait around to be saved from themselves...I DO NOT. Dodds legislation cannot possibly do me any good. I have never paid a bank fee because I am very careful never to overdraw my account.

The only thing his legislation can do for responsible people is to reduce services available to us...no thanks. I do not care what kind of exploitive business practices irresponsible people allow to be inflicted on themselves. I will laugh...al the way to the bank

Yes consumer law is just silly, isn't it

Yes. Glad to see you are coming around. NO ONE can protect yourself and your family better than YOU can. NOW you are getting the picture.

Individual responsibility, individual freedom!

That's only good in as far as you have all the information you need to make informed consumer decisions.

Exactly. and what do you (or I) have aginst informed consumers? Dodd's law will actually contribute to MORE stupid consumers. One less thing to worry about, eh?

Part of being responsible is getting information to make decisions and not making decisions without it! Every bank must already disclose their fees. I READ that piece of paper and did not find out the stupid (and expensive) way. Silly me. If you make decisions without information, it is STUPID. You have a RIGHT to be STUPID...I suggest you continue defending it, you are pretty good at it. It is one of our most precious rights. It means people that are NOT stupid have access to great benefits like ATMS, debit cards, free online banking and bill pay. I do not wish to lose those FREE benefits because STUPID people do not defend (and PAY FOR) their right to be stupid!

To which I say ONCE AGAIN - give people all the information they need to make INFORMED decisions. And do it without hiding the ####### in 10,000 words of fine print that you need a law degree in order to decipher.

You are coming along nicely. Now you see also the Dodd legislation is stupid as it does nothing to inform consumers. The information needs to be available (it is, and a more clearly worded version is fine with me, But Dodd does not address that) and then people can decide to be smart...or stupid! There is a price for being stupid and stupid people should pay it.

Gary, I kinda wish you'd stop trying to put words in my mouth - there's no bigger azzhole than a patronising azzhole.

If you read my posts (if you really read them) you will see that I made no mention whatsoever of Dodd's legislation and I didn't address it at all.

I do think however that some legislation needs to be enacted to prevent exploitative business practices and to ensure that these services are sold honestly, with clear unambiguous communication.

Sorry. I thought you were getting smarter. My error. I won't do it again.

Wow Gary, you really are an azzhole aren't you

[Gary and Alla 3,696]

You really need to stop rhetoricising Gary.

I will. Keep defending your right.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

The thing is - banking didn't use to be this way. It was through deregulation that allowed banks to start charging fees for everything under the sun.

That's silly. Back in the "good old days" (1970s?), banks didn't charge ATM or credit card fees

because ATMs and credit cards didn't exist. There were no overdraft fees because folks used

to go to a bank branch to get their cash.

When I first opened an account back in the '70's, the monthly maintenance fees and returned check charges were almost the same as today, but adjusted for inflation, probably 300 to 400 percent higher than today. You can get "free" checking at most banks.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

You really need to stop rhetoricising Gary.

I will. Keep defending your right.

Keep going with your chestbeating and one-liners.