What You Should Know About Those Debit Card Overdraft Fees

Summary: I know that there are times that I would rather use my credit card to make a purchase but my conscience tells me to use money that I have, not spend money that I don't have. For the most part I listen to my conscience. I have like most people experienced a few overdraft fees in my life time because of it. You would think that, just like a credit card if you don't have the funds, the card would be declined. All the banks use that card to their utmost advantage by letting yo...

I know that there are times that I would rather use my credit card to make a purchase but my conscience tells me to use money that I have, not spend money that I don't have. For the most part I listen to my conscience. I have like most people experienced a few overdraft fees in my life time because of it. You would think that, just like a credit card if you don't have the funds, the card would be declined. All the banks use that card to their utmost advantage by letting you spend money that isn't there. They happily cover what you don't have and then charge you those large overdraft fees. Unfortunately for the bank customers this is a very common practice all across the U.S. That may change in California soon due to some recent class-action lawsuits. This is what normally happens. You have a set amount of funds available in your bank account, you then use your card multiple times throughout the day and spend more than what you have. Instead of the bank issuing one overdraft fee for the overall money they will now charge you an overdraft fee of ALL the purchases you made that put your bank account into a negative dollar situation. The real question here is, does this make any sense? You OBVIOUSLY didn't have the money in the first place but the bank has the nerve to charge you MORE MONEY (that you don't have) to make the situation even worth. Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citibank are the three banks that are under suit in California. Citibank states that the law suit is without merit. All the banks spend vast amounts of money on advertising campaigns designed to draw us into their bank as a "Valued Customer". If we are, as they tell us a "Valued Customer" then why did they allow us to spend more than we had available. It would seem to me that the cost to their profits is the real reason why they seem unwilling to do anything about this situation. Debit Cards are a great way to stop us from over spending and budgeting all we now need is for the banks to do what is RIGHT for us. Lets hope the law suit in California forces the banks to rethink this policy.