Replacement of overdraft fee even worse.

[moneysense]

The Federal Reserve is really cracking down on banks that charge up to $35 for overdraft fees. But the fee that has replaced it is even worse and higher.

The way it stood before, if you spent $10 that you didnt have in your account, the bank would charge you $35 for having done so. So you may as well say that the bank had lent you that $10 with an interest rate of 350%.

So now what are they doing?

What banks have started doing instead of charging a $35 "overdraft protection" fee is charging -- are you ready for this? -- a $35 "insufficient funds" fee. You get charged the same amount, and your card won't even be accepted for purchase.

Same difference, just different wording for the same $35 fee you paid before.

The bottom line here is, to always make sure you have enough money in your checking account to cover what ever you charge, and another possibility is that you can link your savings account to your checking account to make sure that you dont over charge.

[dimetime]

This kind of crap is just one of the many reasons I refuse to deal with a bank. They can get away with charging you outstanding fees for some simple mathmatical errors.

Of course I know that there are those who take advantage of the services that the banks offer, but still not everyone is a crook, yet those who are the ones that simply make a mistake are the ones who end up paying the huge prices and fees.

Someone needs to put a leash on the way banks are allowed to do business to help save people from this type of harassment.

[beaston]

Originally Posted by dimetime

This kind of crap is just one of the many reasons I refuse to deal with a bank. They can get away with charging you outstanding fees for some simple mathmatical errors.

Of course I know that there are those who take advantage of the services that the banks offer, but still not everyone is a crook, yet those who are the ones that simply make a mistake are the ones who end up paying the huge prices and fees.

Someone needs to put a leash on the way banks are allowed to do business to help save people from this type of harassment.

I'm not much for banks, either, so I actually use a pre-paid Visa card for pretty much everything. It's called Netspend and all funds are FDIC insured. You can either pay $1 per transaction you make, or opt for paying $5 per month and have unlimited transactions. The only real drawback is that they charge you $2.50 for ATM withdrawals.

Funds can be loaded via reload packs found just about anywhere, or you can load your card via Western Union (prepaid services) for $4.50. If you're in the midwest and have a Murphy gas station nearby (usually located near a wal-mart), you can load your card for under $2.

What's great about Netspend is that it works just like a checking account. You can use it for any ACH deposits, including direct deposit, without any additional fees. The only thing you can't use ACH to pay bills. e.g.: you can only use ACH if you are depositing money to your account.

They also offer a savings account, also FDIC insured, that pays a whopping 5% APY with no minimum balance requirements.

The best part about it is the fact that since everything is pre-paid, so you will never run into overdraft charges.

www.netspend.com