Bank customers are charged overdraft fees only if they opt in to something called “overdraft protection.” The phrase sounds reassuring, but the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau suggests customers avoid it. Customers who don’t have it simply can’t make transactions when there’s not enough money in their accounts; but with it, banks can charge customers a fee every time they overdraft — typically $35 at big banks in 2016, when The New York Times reported on a study showing that even the “not representative” group of small banks with overdraft fees tended to charge a little less ($32) and in ways that minimized the financial damage.
Big banks have moved away from harsh overdraft fees in recent years, but the downside is they seem to have replaced that lost revenue by eliminating free checking services. Today, the best bet for finding free checking can be found in small banks, credit unions, and banks without bricks-and-mortar locations.
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