Free Overdraft Protection – An FAQ

Read any major newspaper front to back or consult any major news website or blog and you won’t be able to escape hearing about the gripes people have about overdraft protection programs.

In theory, overdraft protection is a great idea. In theory, so is communism. Trouble is, neither one works in real life the way it sounds on paper. (Sorry, Karl Marx).

When the average person signs up for a new checking account, they are automatically enrolled in an overdraft protection program. Most people are not even aware that they are being enrolled in such a program because the marketing model is set up as an “opt out” option. Opt out means that you have to tell the bank employee that you do NOT want to enroll in the program. Put another way: if you do or say nothing, you will be enrolled automatically.

Anyway, on the face of things, being protected sounds like a good thing, right? After all, if your bank can’t protect your finances, who can?

Well, it’s true: overdraft protection programs do protect you from having your debit card charges rejected at the point of purchase when your balance is too low. However, the bank then turns around and immediately charges you a fee for that protection. The cynical among us would say that it’s a bit like paying the mob for protection if you have a small business in a shady part of town: in both cases, you feel obligated to pay, but the price is high and it doesn’t feel like you should have to do so in the first place.

Here are the problems with overdraft protection and what to do about it:

1. Truly free overdraft protection is a myth:
   There are countless banks that offer free overdraft protection. Trouble is, at the end of the week, month or year (depending upon the customer’s buying habits), most people realize they have paid hundreds of dollars in overdraft fees. At $25-$35 a pop, these fees really ad up.
2. It is tough to fight your bank about the charges (and win):
   Fighting one’s bank over seemingly unjust overdraft charges is something that many have attempted but few have succeeded at. Remember, this is big business for banks (to the tune of about $25 billion per year in the U.S. alone). Not something that banks want to give up on easily.
3. All the big banks are doing it:
   If you are shopping for a new checking account that does not come with an overdraft program among any of the national banks, you are going to have a tough time being successful. All of the big banks and a large portion of the midsize and smaller ones present their overdraft protection as a more or less mandatory offering, with few exceptions. Only recently are some now offering opt-out (and in some cases, opt-in) choices.

Fortunately, there are banks that offer overdraft protection that does not require that you pay them any overdraft fees – even if you overdraw the account. Important: you will have to look beyond the big banks to find these. Some of these banks require you to pay a low, monthly fee for their “no fee” overdraft protection service. But, when you factor in the savings in not having to pay heavy overdraft fees month in an month out, this is a much cheaper option for the vast majority of bank customers.