Is This The Case With Canadian Banks?

Debit cards fuel overdraft outrages
Posted: Tuesday, January 30 at 01:03 am CT by Bob Sullivan

Forty dollars for a Big Mac? That might sound over the top, but it barely tips the outrage meter when you compare it to the 20,000-percent-interest loan U.S. consumers regularly take out to pay for such $40 burgers. How could this be?

Well, bounced checks just aren't what they used to be.

A new study says that most of the time consumers overdraw their accounts now, bounced checks aren't the culprit. Instead, debit card purchases are chief cause of overdrafts.

Many people don't realize that a carefree swipe of their debit card at a point-of-sale terminal to buy a Big Mac could result in "courtesy overdraft" fee of $30 or more. But such fees are becoming increasingly common. When faced with a transaction that would send a consumers’ account into negative territory, banks now regularly approve such transactions, cover the expense, and charge hefty fees.

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