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25/06/2010 -
American banks will soon be required to obtain a customer's permission before charging him or her with overdraft fees, reports USA Today.The changes will take effect for new customers on July 1, and for existing customers on August 15. Under the new system, customers will be able to decide if they want to sign up to allow overdraft fees, or if they want to risk getting denied at ATMs and point-of-sale terminals when they don't have enough money to cover the transaction.
Signing up for overdraft fees can be a good decision if a customer has only one card, or often makes essential purchases that cannot wait for more funds, says the paper. But overdraft fees can be steep, no matter how little an account is overdrawn.
According to the American Bankers Association, only 18 percent of bank customers overdrew their accounts in 2009. Even so, the revenue generated by the fees exceeded $38 billion, the paper reports.
An estimated 507 million debit cards are currently in circulation in the United States, reports CreditCards.com.
