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All checking accounts can be overdrawn. You can pay for "overdraft protection", but that's more like paying a fee so that you can get a flat overdraft fee inste

All checking accounts can be overdrawn. You can pay for "overdraft protection", but that's more like paying a fee so that you can get a flat overdraft fee instead of paying multiple fees in a single day. Many people have been burned by using a debit card in an effort to avoid over drafting, and getting multiple overdrafts (and their $35 per incident fee) in a single day. Oh, the protection also comes with a text message that tells you when you have something like $3.00 left in your account. My favorite fee is the "maintenance fee" aka "inactivity fee". It's legal for a bank to take your money $50 a month if you don't spend it. There's no justification for this. It's not like the bank isn't making money off my deposit already, and it's not like the bank is polishing my coins.

gambiting 11y ago
Again, insane, and I don't understand how this works in US. Here if I try to pay with my debit card for anything,but don't have enough money in my account, the transaction gets declined at the till(or I get an error while paying online) - it doesn't result in any charges, just means I cannot pay. Do US banks allow debit cards to overdraw accounts? Isn't this against the entire idea of debit cards??
- DanBC 11y ago
  Different card providers have different rules. There's a big highlighted warning at the top of this UK page: https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/debit-cards https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/debit-card...
  - gambiting 11y ago
    Also from the same page: " However, Visa Debit and MasterCard Debit cards can now be set up so that they check whether there’s enough money in your account before a payment is authorised." I guess I only ever used Visa Debit/Mastercard Debit cards then :-)
justincormack 11y ago
Thats not true, you can get checking accounts that cannot be overdrawn. I have one as I never arranged for an overdraft (in UK). It is just that 99% of banks want you to go accidentally overdrawn so you have an unarranged overdraft already set up on your account.

gambiting 11y ago

Again, insane, and I don't understand how this works in US. Here if I try to pay with my debit card for anything,but don't have enough money in my account, the transaction gets declined at the till(or I get an error while paying online) - it doesn't result in any charges, just means I cannot pay. Do US banks allow debit cards to overdraw accounts? Isn't this against the entire idea of debit cards??

DanBC 11y ago
Different card providers have different rules. There's a big highlighted warning at the top of this UK page: https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/debit-cards https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/debit-card...
- gambiting 11y ago
  Also from the same page: " However, Visa Debit and MasterCard Debit cards can now be set up so that they check whether there’s enough money in your account before a payment is authorised." I guess I only ever used Visa Debit/Mastercard Debit cards then :-)

justincormack 11y ago

Thats not true, you can get checking accounts that cannot be overdrawn. I have one as I never arranged for an overdraft (in UK). It is just that 99% of banks want you to go accidentally overdrawn so you have an unarranged overdraft already set up on your account.