#overdraft fees

PATREON | KO-FI | GO FUND ME

AMAZON WISHLIST: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2IYLMSXNYF5HY?ref_=wl_share

PAYPAL: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/ladycat242

WISE: https://wise.com/pay/me/debralynnb22

Updated December 13th 2025

So first off, my mom went back to the emergency room at 7 AM this morning and has been admitted overnight for almost the same symptoms she was having when she had her heart attack in September. She's feeling better but they're keeping her overnight just in case. She also fell twice last week so we've gotten her a cane and are trying to get non-slip rugs for our wood floors so it reduces her fall risk (the payment or the living room rug went through, the hallway rug payment got declined). So we're trying to make it better but right now I'm doing all the work with little help from my mother or daughter and I have currently very little energy and I'm in constant pain.

I am also very stressed about financial stuff. I'm about $450 overdrawn and my mom is about $380 overdrawn. I'd like to cover as much of these overdrafts as I can via PayPal (for my mom's account) or the GFM (for my account). I also have until December 26th to pay off the $120 I owe to PayPal on my account or it goes to collections. Plus we need gas and I need a few more items of food as well to supplement what we have now. I also finally got my mom a Wise wire transfer account as well as a debit card associated with it, so if anyone wants to send money for gas or food specifically, I think you can do so via the Wise link or PayPal. But any help is much appreciated.

I also still need help with clothing I can wear with the sensory issues with the second degree burn on my chest. If you can buy any of the tank tops, V-neck/scoop neck T-shirts or hoodies/jackets on my Amazon wish list, I would be most grateful. We were able to get Lena a few pairs of pants, but any of those things for her would help as well.

I don't care. Not even a little.

Banks charge overdraft fees, which is literally stealing from poor people because they're poor.

Homeless people are often fined for loitering, which is also literally stealing from poor people because they're poor.

Let me be very clear. The mere concept of the Government stepping in to curtail the wildly abusive fees of the banking industry has already lead to multiple banks trying to "get ahead of" it to cut their feed from $35 to $10 (Bank of America) or get rid of them entirely (Capital One) for active users of their account.

This regulation is already having the effect of saving US citizens billions of dollars every year before its even passed, even as Republicans want to fight it tooth-and-nail.

Every year there are $8bn in overdraft charges that explicitly and directly hit the poorest Americans by definition. Even just adopting this rule would save Americans 7.315 billion dollars every year.

And with banking institutions now moving to get rid of them entirely it can save even more.

Let this be, case-in-point, proof positive and a case study of several things.

The government can directly help you and help every single American

While Democrats definitely aren't saints, in any context, they are objectively doing more to help people than the side actively arguing against curtailing banking and corporate excess.

Biden is materially better than Trump would be.

I’m a disabled trans creator who needs help paying off my overdraft charges. Can you help me?

A U.S. watchdog group on Tuesday slammed Republicans in Congress for trying to kill the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's overdraft rule as U.S. President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk target the CFPB as a whole.

The Accountable.US statement came in response to Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) recently introducing a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to overturn the rule that capped most overdraft fees at $5, which was finalized in December, near the end of the former President Joe Biden's term.

"Overdraft fees affect a huge portion of American families with 17% of households with checking accounts paying overdraft or [nonsufficient funds] fees in 2023," Accountable.US noted. "This action would open the door for $35 overdraft fees—a decision that would cost American households an average of $225 each year."

The watchdog's executive director, Tony Carrk, declared that "undoing the CFPB's overdraft fee rule is a gift to big banks and a gut punch to the wallets of millions of Americans across the country."

"Deceitful and excessive overdraft fees cost Americans billions of dollars every year, but the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress don't seem to care any longer about lowering costs for Americans now that they're in charge," he continued. "This is just the latest broken promise from Republicans, who have used their short time in power to already cater to special interests over hardworking Americans."

When the Republican chairs introduced their CRA resolution last week, Scott called the Biden-era CFPB rule an example of the "pursuit of political headlines over sound policies," and Hill described it "midnight rulemaking" and "another form of government price controls that hurt consumers who deserve financial protections and greater choice."

Meanwhile, when the CFPB finalized the rule, the agency said that it "took action to close an outdated overdraft loophole that exempted overdraft loans from lending laws." At the time, the bureau was still directed by Biden appointee Rohit Chopra, who highlighted that large banks' exploitation of the loophole had "drained billions of dollars from Americans' deposit accounts."

The rule "was scheduled to become effective in October," but "because of acting Director Russ Vought's unlawful order stalling all CFPB work, the effective date has been suspended," The American Prospect reported Monday. "If Congress passes the CRA resolution, the overdraft rule could not come back in any 'substantially similar' form. So it matters if congressional Republicans decide to support allowing banks to impose additional junk fees worth billions of dollars."

The outlet also pointed out that "because CRA resolutions cannot be stopped by a filibuster, they represent some of the most likely legislative actions of the early Trump term," given Republicans' narrow majorities in Congress.

It's not just the rule that's in jeopardy; the entire agency is at risk. Trump and Musk, the leader of the president's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—though perhaps not on paper—are working to gut the federal workforce and slash spending, and they have the CFPB in their crosshairs.

An agreement reached Friday in federal court halted mass firings at the CFPB and barred the bureau and its temporary leader, Vought—who also leads the Office of Management and Budget—from purging data or defunding the agency while the case moves forward. However, Trump and Musk are expected to continue their effort.

Overturning legislation from last year that reduced overdraft fees to $5, btw. Because these people love their donors, not you. The new fee hike is, I believe, up to $35 per incident.

Anyway...

What are overdraft fees? In non-legal terms, overdraft fees are a way for banks to charge the poor... and often the young... money for not having money.

A better explanation is that banks used to just decline transactions if you had no money in your account. Then they started offering protection against this, if you opted in to overdraft coverage. Basically, the bank will allow the transaction to go through, but if you opt into that coverage, they can sometimes charge you a fee.

How to Avoid Overdraft Fees (because I want you all to save money and not get screwed over)

Some banks do not charge overdraft fees. jsyk. Some will simply decline the transaction. Some will grant you a grace period of 24 hours to get money back into your account. Some credit unions also do not charge overdraft fees. Banks are a service! I mean, they are sadly necessary in current America but they are a service. You can change banks if you aren't getting what you need.

Go to your bank's website or app and set up overdraft alerts. Most (but not all) banks offer this.

But sometimes these alerts are only if you are overdrawn over a certain amount, which does not help you if you will still get charged an overdraft fee regardless of the amount.

Set up balance alerts through your bank. Some banks will send you low-balance alerts before you are overdrawn.

Check your account more often. I know that is nervewracking sometimes (or just fucking depressing) but, if you can't afford the $35, do it anyway. Put a little calendar reminder/alert on your phone to check your account like twice a month or something.

You can sometimes get overdraft protection through your bank, which means you link your checking account to another account (savings, usually) and the bank will cover the funds by taking money from that account. --Note-- some banks might charge you a transfer fee for this. Banks, man. Not to be trusted.

Opt out of the coverage/protection and accept that insufficient funds will mean your transactions being declined. Embarrassing, but cheaper.

Use a banking/budgeting app. I personally do not trust many of these apps, especially in America, especially in this time of Republicans (and Musk and Doge) eroding consumer protections. But a lot of people do find them helpful to help them budget or to get reminders about low funds in their accounts. --Note-- some people consider some of these apps to be more "money tracking" than "budgeting" so really it depends on what you are going for, if you want to try one. Research before choosing one for sure. Reddit has some forums about them.

The American Banking Association recommends getting direct deposit for your paychecks if you can. (My old boss never allowed DD and it was annoying, especially come rent time.) They also suggest, if you need to, asking your bank for a small line of credit to cover insufficient funds to avoid the fee--but also to pay that credit back immediately once you can.

Also if you can... try to keep a cushion in your checking account. A minimum amount that is always there to prevent this. But you know, times are hard.

You can mock it--but--for some people, using an old-fashioned checkbook to record transactions, transfers, and deposits is actually the best way for them. It might be for you as well. Who knows.

I never got this sort of advice when I was younger and first got a debit card and a checking account (poor parents means no real financial literacy), so this is yet another issue I am passionate about. Sorry not sorry. The amount of fees I got charged... the credit card debt... I don't want that for any of you.

And, this isn't overdraft advice, but I also set up reminders for the bills I pay that are not autopay (for whatever reason), so that I do not make late payments and don't get dinged on my dumb credit score. You can set up these reminders through any calendar app.

Fuck Trump and Republicans