Banks Want To Protect Their Junkiest Junk Fee

Of all the various “junk fees” financial institutions use to pocket ever more of your money, the most blatant profit grab might be the fees they can charge you for purchases that are instantly declined due to inadequate account funds — since banks face no costs at all when such a transaction is immediately rejected.

According to a little-covered new proposal, federal regulators want to ban these non-sufficient funds fees as part of President Joe Biden’s ongoing fight against predatory junk fees, which he touted in last week’s State of the Union address. But the banking lobby is already attacking the move, even though banks and credit unions insist they mostly don’t charge — and don’t even want to charge — such fees.