There Oughta Be a Law Against Some Bank Fees

I'm not a deadbeat -- but sometimes my bank treats me like one.

I pay the family bills on time and have good credit. Once in a while, though, I'm overwhelmed by the demands of work and family.

The checking account balance, understandably, falls off my radar screen. Like last week when I overdrew our checking account.

My bad. I admit it.

But it's unconscionable for a bank to hit me with a $35 overdraft fee for an $11 Dunkin' Donuts debit, and hit me with it again and again until the fees totaled $170.

What I'd really like to see is legislation that protects law-abiding consumers from these obnoxious fees. PNC bank generally charges between $31 and $36 per item. Wachovia customers may get a break for the first infraction -- $22 -- but the bank generally charges $35 for additional items.

I understand that banks rely on fees to encourage people from intentionally writing bad checks or being habitually overdrawn. But I'm a law-abiding customer who simply makes an honest mistake every few years.

That's what happened this month. I wrote some big checks for monthly bills and home improvements. I forgot about one I had written earlier -- a mistake that's easy to make when lots of cash is leaving the account.

My husband used the debit card at around the same time for some minor purchases at Dunkin' Donuts and Walgreens. I somehow exhausted my overdraft protection credit line we opened for rare events such as this one -- and unknowingly initiated a chain reaction of $35 fees, totaling $170 dollars over two days.

Best Interest Checking Rates for Largest Metro Areas
City	Rate
Philadelphia	4.01%
San Francisco	3.25%
Chicago	2.65%
Dallas	2.50%
Miami	2.02%
Source: BankingMyWay.com For more rates, go to http://www.BankingMyWay.com

Keeping track of a checking account during the electronic age would seem to be an easier task than when paper registers were in vogue. Back then, one family member usually managed the account, and only paper checks went in and out.

Multiple players have a hand in my checking account today -- and probably yours. I've authorized numerous automatic bill payments, debits for our life insurance premiums, direct deposit and electronic transfers to our IRAs and children's college education accounts.

My husband and I also use debit cards -- and who has time to call each other at work to review the costs of lunch or shopping at Wal-Mart? I suppose I could learn Intuit's Quicken, but that would mean spending even more time in front of the computer than I already do.

The "Check 21" Act, enacted in 2004, bestowed cost-savings benefits to banks, such as electronic check processing, which reduces processing time and permits the return of scanned copies of canceled checks to consumers, instead of the originals.

So why not share the savings with consumers, by requiring banks to email them immediately when an account is overdrawn?

I was unaware of our overdraft until logging on to our Bank of America account online, where I saw red numbers, instead of black, in the balance column. The bank didn't notify me of the problem until several days later, when a letter arrived via snail mail. A customer service representative told me that federal law requires snail mail notification, but that I was responsible for setting up email alerts.