Bank of America Discontinues Some Overdraft Fees...

[MountainDon]

(This applies only to debit card purchases)

Of course that means they will no longer allow debit card purchases to overdraw the account. Sensible.  So more people will end up with "transaction declined". That's fine with me.

However, they will still allow paper or electronic checks and automatic preauthorized payments to cause overdrafts and will charge those the overdraft fees.


So this begs the question:  Should banks refuse to pay any and all transactions that will cause an overdraft? Or should the customers be asked if they want to opt in or out of a fee based overdraft allowed status?

[peternap]

Hmmmmm. I guess that tells on how often I overdraw the card, Don.

I thought it was supposed to decline the transaction if you didn;t have enough to cover it. I didn't know it was a credit card.

[Squirl]

This wasn't out of the kindness of their hearts.  People have been pushing the congress for banking reform pretty loudly as of late on these fees.  It is one of the main areas where the major banks made up their shortfalls this past year.  The problem was that people didn't have the option of opting out from "coverage".  I believe it was in the consumer bill of rights for banking and credit cards.

[muldoon]

I think it is ethically immoral to do any business with these clowns.  I honestly don't understand why anyone still uses them. 

[ScottA]

We have 3 accounts. 2 are small local banks and 1 is Chase. B of A is a joke. They will charge you $5 to cash a check drawn on their bank. 

[StinkerBell]

I had always taken issue when they would allow your account to be overdrawn by debit card purchase.
What if your card was stolen? Debit cards do not have the same protections as credit cards.

I think it's a good start.