Tag Archives: Overdraft

Overdraft Fees

When I was in my early 20s I worked the 24-hour customer service line for a prominent California bank. I got a lot of calls from customers upset because they were overdrawn. A lot of them were overdrawn because of simple oversights and I had so many dollars per customer to satisfy in those situations. All too often, though, customers were failing to reconcile their accounts and it must be the bank’s fault that there was an overdraft and the bank was trying to steal their money through the well-disclosed fees. I’ve watched the fees for overdrafts and returned checks … Continue reading →

Breaking the Overdraft Cycle

One vicious cycle, which is difficult to break, is the overdraft/overdrawn cycle that can occur once you have overdrawn your account. You may have made an adding error or overspent in a category, and the next thing you know, you have overdrawn your account. You will be hit with overdraft charges, which average about twenty-five dollars per item. Often it takes several days for the notification of this to reach you, and you may be continuing to spend, and racking up many more charges. This can form a vicious cycle, because it will affect the amount that you next have … Continue reading →