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IPFS News Link • Corruption

Bribed Regulators: Another Example

• The Market Ticker
A nasty statistic: Banks make $38 billion a year from overdraft fees. Now let's look at the internals on that statistic: 3/4 of all accounts have not had an overdraft in the last 12 months. This means that one quarter of all accounts are responsible for basically all of this. Of the remaining quarter, half of those account for nearly all (90th percentile plus) of the overdrafts. This means that roughly 12.5% of consumers are bearing the entire brunt of these fees. 70% of the overdrafts happen at a POS terminal or ATM, not by writing a check. The last statistic is the clear one: There is no reason whatsoever for anyone to take such a hit. The bank knows before they approve the transaction that the money isn't there in the account. This is not the same thing as a check, which the bank has no way to warn you about before you write it, as there is no "connection" between your checkbook and their computer. IF we had honest regulators it would be strictly unlawfu