Financial Times, January 4, 2022, US banks move away from overdraft fees in a win for consumers
As US shoppers count the cost of their last-minute holiday purchases, there is one thing they have to worry about a little less in 2022: overdraft fees.
Consumer advocates said last year saw the most significant rollbacks and adjustments to how banks charge customers when their debit accounts fall below zero. Those fees “may be the single most unpopular thing banks do to their customers”, said Jesse Van Tol, chief executive of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, a consumer advocacy group. “I think you’re just really seeing a tipping point this year.”
A host of US banks have made changes to their overdraft policies. Examples include PNC, the seventh-largest US bank by assets, which lowered fees and gave customers a longer grace period to cover an overdraft, and Capital One, which in December said it was scrapping overdraft fees altogether.
