To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Bank Overdraft Fee Fairness
Whereas banking and financial institutions charge overdraft fees on accounts that go over their available limit. The fees are exorbitant and often more than the original deficit. This is overwhelmingly troublesome to those in lower economic groups.
The financial institutions create many of these fees by:
1. Subtracting deductions BEFORE adding deposits made on the same day.
2. Adding deposits the next business day, including holding deposits made into ATM machines.
3. Subtracting the deductions by lowest amount first, causing multiple overdraft fees.
This petition is requesting that:
1. The amount of the overdraft cannot exceed 10% of the amount of the actual transaction or $25.00, whichever is the lower amount. For example, if the transaction was $10.00, the fee cannot be more than $1.00. If the amount of the transaction is $150.00, the fee would be $25.00.
2. The bank would be required to note transactions as being posted at the digital time in which it was processed, not based on banking hours, thus all postings (deposit and withdrawals) would be posted in the order in which they actually occurred.
3. The bank would be required to alert the account owner that they are in deficit immediately, allowing the account holder to remediate the situation to prevent additional fees.
The financial institutions create many of these fees by:
1. Subtracting deductions BEFORE adding deposits made on the same day.
2. Adding deposits the next business day, including holding deposits made into ATM machines.
3. Subtracting the deductions by lowest amount first, causing multiple overdraft fees.
This petition is requesting that:
1. The amount of the overdraft cannot exceed 10% of the amount of the actual transaction or $25.00, whichever is the lower amount. For example, if the transaction was $10.00, the fee cannot be more than $1.00. If the amount of the transaction is $150.00, the fee would be $25.00.
2. The bank would be required to note transactions as being posted at the digital time in which it was processed, not based on banking hours, thus all postings (deposit and withdrawals) would be posted in the order in which they actually occurred.
3. The bank would be required to alert the account owner that they are in deficit immediately, allowing the account holder to remediate the situation to prevent additional fees.
Why is this important?
This petition requests that our government regulate the amount of overdraft fees, which primarily hurt lower income people. Currently, banks charge on average $30.00 per overdraft, even if the amount over is less than $30.00. They also charge multiple fees instead of freezing transactions. This petition is asking for fairness in setting a limit to these fees.