Trivia bank question

[Senior Citizen]

Why do banks charge you a " non sufficient funds fee " on money they already know you do not have?

[Genenco]

Because....They can!

Why do banks charge you a " non sufficient funds fee " on money they already know you do not have?

What gets me, is that they charge so much...I mean OK, I do try and keep the bad checks from hitting (Simply by not writing more the account has) but things happen, but to charge $33 ( I hear some banks soon may charge $50-$75!) for what's really $4-$6 worth of actual work is BS

[quest42]

The NSF charge escalates... like $15 for the first one, $25 for the second, $35 for the third.... at my bank. I got hit for $35 due to a $2 overdraft last summer.... due to the monthly service fee.

I think it may be a punitive measure, but it does mess up the works for everybody, banks included, when a check cannot flow smoothly through the financial system -- manual intervention requires expensive labor!

Seems like those who are least able to pay get hit the hardest. Lesson learned! They said they would CLOSE my account if I had another one within a year, and put me into ChexSystems so I could not get another bank account!

[Genenco]

The NSF charge escalates... like $15 for the first one, $25 for the second, $35 for the third.... at my bank. I got hit for $35 due to a $2 overdraft last summer.... due to the monthly service fee.

I think it may be a punitive measure, but it does mess up the works for everybody, banks included, when a check cannot flow smoothly through the financial system -- manual intervention requires expensive labor!

Seems like those who are least able to pay get hit the hardest. Lesson learned! They said they would CLOSE my account if I had another one within a year, and put me into ChexSystems so I could not get another bank account!

(No pun intended Quest) Check around with other banks. Some do and some don't bother with chexsystem. Credit unions mainly.