NEW YORK (AP) — The squabble over billion of dollars in overdraft fees that Americans get charged every year is intensifying.
While banks have drastically cut back on overdraft fees in the past decade, the nation's biggest banks still take in roughly $8 billion in overdraft fees every year, according to data from the CFPB and bank public records.
Political Cartoons View All 253 ImagesBanks charge a customer an overdraft fee if their bank account balance falls below zero.
What started off as a courtesy offered to some customers, the popularity of debit cards beginning in the 1990s led to Americans wracking up tens of billions of dollars in overdraft fees.
While big banks have cut back on overdraft fees, smaller banks have not, and a number of them heavily rely on overdrafts to be profitable, industry analysts said.
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