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Excessive Overdraft and Service Fees can be crippling to working people who are taken advantage of by big banks. If you take a look at your statement and something just doesn't add up call The Voss Law Firm, P.C. for a free confidential no obligation consultation.
Eight of the nation's 10 largest banks — Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), Chase (JPM), Wachovia (WB), Wells Fargo (WFC), HSBC (HBC), U.S. Bank (USB) and SunTrust (STI)— typically pay checks that arrive on the same day from the largest to smallest dollar amount, according to USA TODAY research. Most large banks do the same with electronic transactions, according to a review of deposit agreements and conversations with the banks.
"The order in which banks process checks and other debits determines the overdraft fees they charge. Those fees make up 90% of service charges on deposit accounts, and they're expected to yield a record $53.1 billion for financial institutions this year, research firm Moebs Services says. [...]"
If your bank is making money off of you by waiting for you to make a mistake or have a bad month, they're not looking out for your best interests. How many banks choose policies that maximize your fees when you do have a mistake or a bad month? More than you would imagine.
The recession has made banks suffer upon investment and loan fees and now they’re making up for that by hiking their non-interest fees and charges. To your dismay, let me tell you that there’s still a long time before you can expect to see any changes in this situation. Banks do say that you can avoid these fees if you please them in a couple of ways and that is pay all your bills on time and don’t spend when your funds are very low. From your point of view, you could always avoid all these high fees by indeed following the above two conditions strictly. However, when banks invite you to over spend and encourage you to conitinue to do so by honoring bad checks (just so they can realize a fee from you) it makes it hard to stay balanced - especially in today's economy.
Making late payments will always invite service charges. Overdrafts and insufficient funds (such as NSF) also invite tons of charges. Increasing interest rates also invite higher charges. If you observe, America is getting new financial norms which are making banks and other financial aiding institutions to save up their monetary resources and for this, they’ll try to grab as much as they can from their customers. Federal laws, making them stop charging unnecessary fees will come into effect soon. As these funding bodies know that they’ve got to stop charging these fees, they are trying to make up for their decreased income in the future by raising the fees at present.
Most banking customers are relatively unharmed by overdraft fees; by far the greatest damage to consumers, and the greatest profits for banks, come from the poorer customers who could least afford it. Essentially, overdraft fees are a way for the banks to monetize the naiveté and imprudence of their least-sophisticated customers, and the rules governing banks will never stop to such predatory price-gouging.
"Experts suspect that banks’ total overdraft revenue will hit $53.1 billion in 2011, a new record high."
If you feel like you have been taken advantage of by a bank call, or e-mail, us for a free confidential no obligation consultation. We will help you understand what rights and remedies are available to you under the law.