No More Bank Overdraft Charges!

As the financial regulation reform starts to gain speed again, an area that can hit close to home for many college students has risen to the forefront. Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) is going to be pushing legislation through to put a ban on banks charging hefty fees for people who overdraft their accounts. In light of the financial crisis, many banks have been using these fees, reaching up to $30 dollars per overdraft, to support daily operations. The Financial Times reported that these fees could total up to $38.5 billion dollars for the industry this year. The proposed legislation would require customers to choose whether or not they wanted to belong to these overdrafting program which would prohibit banks from blindly charging consumers. This could be great news for fellow college students who, like myself, are not quite certain what is left in their bank accounts during the last few weeks of the school year.