Forget Drugs the Feds are Cracking Down on Overdraft Fees

Like many people out there, if you’ve been facing banking overdraft fees, the feds could be putting a stop to that real soon.

For years, banks have been able to charge customers every time they have an overdraft in their account but on Thursday, the Federal Reserve released a new rule which prohibits banks from automatically enrolling customers in overdraft protection programs, that charge fees when consumers spend more than they have.

Starting on July 1, 2010, all banks will have to ask their customers to enroll in overdraft protection plans for ATM and most debit card transactions. Some banks are charging bankers up to $39 when customers overdraw their bank account by even low dollar amounts.

With about 75% of banks automatically enrolling customers and charging overdraft fees, this will give bankers some type of consumer protection. Although the new rule will help with debit and atm transactions, banks will still be allowed to automatically enroll customers in overdraft services for personal checks and automatic transactions such as monthly bill payments.

We hope people don’t abuse this.