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Wells Fargo Joins Bank of America and Chase With New Overdraft Policies

by Flexo on September 24, 2009. Filed under Banking.

Yesterday, Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase Bank announced they were changing their policies to allow customers to opt out of overdraft protection. Wells Fargo decided to follow in their footsteps late yesterday, announcing a number of changes at this bank. The following changes also apply to Wachovia, the bank that was acquired by Wells Fargo several months ago.

Wells Fargo is eliminating overdraft fees if the account is overdrawn by less than $5 and are limiting overdrafts to only four per day. Customers will be allowed to opt out of overdraft protection, so they don’t incur fees but transactions that would bring their accounts below zero will be declined.

All of these changes are improvements, although I see no reason for a bank to charge more than one fee per day. Regardless of what a bank charges, customers have the responsibility to monitor their own accounts. Accidents and emergencies happen, but in the end we should all be aware of what we have in the bank. The best defense against excessive bank fees is to pay attention and give the banks no reason to charge them. Here are some tips for avoiding overdraft fees.

Wells Fargo Announces Changes to Overdraft Practices, September 23, 2009

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Flexo, the owner and creator of Consumerism Commentary, has been blogging and writing for the internet since 1995 and has been building online communities since 1991. Find out more about him and follow him on Twitter.

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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

1 David@DINKS Finance September 24, 2009 at 1:40 pm

So many posts about overdraft fees recently. I said it on another blog, and I will say it again: just be intentional about keeping tabs on your account and you should be fine!

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2 Ellen / MoneyLounge September 24, 2009 at 3:02 pm

I agree. It is totally up to the customer to know how much they have in the bank when they are charging to their cards. If it is really too much to keep track of, then pay in cash – the bills are numbered and what you see in your wallet is what you can spend, no overdraft protection required.

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3 Financial Samurai September 25, 2009 at 1:30 am

Ahhhh, my three most despised banks all in one post. Trust me, they will find away to extort as much money out of their customers as possible!

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4 Barry January 16, 2010 at 12:37 pm

All the bankers should be dragged into the streets and burned. Simple as that.

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5 John January 27, 2010 at 4:41 pm

I just let my Chase checking account get overdrawn by $2.00 thinking I was safe from o/d fees after hearing about the new overdraft policies. However I was still charged a $33 overdraft fee. I called to complain about but was told there was no set date to change the overdraft policy and the old one is still in place. Looks like yet another scam by Chase to get money out of its customers. Only this time they used the media to make customers think they had a $5 cushion.

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