Don’t blame banks for overdraft woes

Regarding “Overdraft fees huge but hushed” (July 12):

Banks and credit unions are highly regulated by the government and are required to disclose all fees and account requirements on their deposit accounts, including the order in which checks and debit-card charges are cleared. If consumers are unaware, it is because they do not read the deposit agreement and disclosures provided to them by the bank.

The consumer is in control of his checking account. If he cannot manage it properly and the bank pays an overdraft, the bank in effect is giving that consumer a loan.

Stop blaming the banks and credit unions and put the blame on the consumer for his lack of responsibility in managing his finances.

Cindy Carlburg

Altadena

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The American Bankers Assn. says it would be “cost-prohibitive” for banks to warn customers when a debit transaction would trigger an overdraft. Perhaps.

However, it would be very easy and inexpensive for a bank to send an automatic e-mail alert to its customer when a charge that would exceed the account balance is pending. With that information, the customer could presumably avoid overdraft fees simply by adding funds to the account that day.

If banks did send out such alerts, they would lose income from overdraft fees, but they would gain a lot of satisfied customers.

David E.S. Stein

Santa Monica