Call your representatives with your overdraft horror story
Several times a week I get emails from readers with Compass Bank horror stories. Compass Bank is not that big and by no means worse than the other major banks, but I’ve sued Compass Bank and I have several sites about Compass Bank. If I wrote about every major bank, I’d be buried in complaint emails.
Unfortunately, I can’t pay your NSF fees, nor can I get you refunds. So I hope that many of you will contact the members of the House Financial Services Committee and let THEM know that you want this bill to become law. They get paid to represent YOUR interest, don’t let them cater to their masters, the bankers who finance their campaigns.
CRL Action Alert
Do you have an overdraft abuse story?
We know that today’s overdraft systems are unfair.
You know that today’s overdraft systems are unfair.
Let’s make sure that Congress knows.
Call your representative in the U.S. House today, and tell them your overdraft abuse story.The House Financial Services Committee is considering a bill that would require banks and credit unions to get your signed consent before enrolling you in a system that increases the number of overdrafts. Americans pay nearly $2 in fees for every dollar borrowed in debit overdrafts, which financial institutions could easily prevent.
The banking industry is telling members of Congress not to move this bill. We’ve heard your stories, but Congress needs to hear them too.
Call your representative today. Phone numbers for the members of the House Financial Services Committee are below. Click here to enter your ZIP code to find your representative.
Democratic members of the Committee and their Washington, DC office phone numbers:
Chairman Barney Frank MA (202) 225-5931
Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, PA (202) 225-6511
Rep. Maxine Waters, CA (202) 225-2201
Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, NY (202) 225-7944
Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, IL (202) 225-8203
Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez, NY (202) 225-2361
Rep. Melvin L. Watt, NC (202) 225-1510
Rep. Gary L. Ackerman, NY (202) 225-2601
Rep. Julia Carson, IN (202) 225-4011
Rep. Brad Sherman, CA (202) 225-5911
Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, NY (202) 225-3461
Rep. Dennis Moore, KS (202) 225-2865
Rep. Michael E. Capuano, MA (202) 225-5111
Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, TX (202) 225-2531
Rep. William Lacy Clay, MO (202) 225-2406
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, NY (202) 224-3121
Rep. Joe Baca, CA (202) 225-6161
Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, MA (202) 225-8273
Rep. Brad Miller, NC (202) 225-3032
Rep. David Scott, GA (202) 225-2939
Rep. Al Green, TX (202) 225-7508
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, MO (202) 225-4535
Rep. Melissa L. Bean, IL (202) 225-3711
Rep. Gwen Moore, WI (202) 225-4572
Rep. Lincoln Davis, TN (202) 225.6831
Rep. Albio Sires, NJ (202) 225-7919
Rep. Paul W. Hodes, NH (202) 225-5206
Rep. Keith Ellison, MN (202) 225-4755
Rep. Ron Klein, FL (202) 225-3026
Rep. Tim Mahoney, FL (202) 225-5792
Rep. Charles Wilson, OH (202) 225-5705
Rep. Ed Perlmutter, CO (202) 225.2645
Rep. Christopher S. Murphy, CT (202) 225-4476
Rep. Joe Donnelly, IN (202) 225-3915
Rep. Robert Wexler, (FL) (202) 225-3001
Rep. Jim Marshall, GA (202) 225-6531
Rep. Dan Boren, OK (202) 225-2701Republican Members of the Committee and their Washington, DC office phone numbers:
Rep. Spencer Bachus, AL (202) 225-4921
Rep. Richard H. Baker, LA (202) 225-3901
Rep. Deborah Pryce, OH (202) 225-2015
Rep. Michael N. Castle, DE (202) 225-4165
Rep. Peter King, NY (202) 225-7896
Rep. Edward R. Royce, CA (202) 225-4111
Rep. Frank D. Lucas, OK (202) 225-5565
Rep. Ron Paul, TX (202) 225-2831
Rep. Steven C. LaTourette, OH (202) 225-5731
Rep. Donald A. Manzullo, IL (202) 225-5676
Rep. Walter B. Jones , NC (202) 225-3415
Rep. Judy Biggert, IL (202) 225-3515
Rep. Christopher Shays, CT (202) 225-5541
Rep. Gary G. Miller, CA (202) 225-3201
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, WV (202) 225-2711
Rep. Tom Feeney, FL (202) 225-2706
Rep. Jeb Hensarling, TX (202) 225-3484
Rep. Scott Garrett, NJ (202) 225-4465
Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, FL (202) 225-1002
Rep. J. Gresham Barrett, SC (202) 225-5301
Rep. Jim Gerlach, PA (202) 225.4315
Rep. Stevan Pearce, NM (202) 225-2365
Rep. Randy Neugebauer, TX (202) 225-4005
Rep. Tom Price, GA (202) 225-4501
Rep. Geoff Davis, KY (202) 225-3465
Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, NC (202) 225-2576
Rep. John Campbell, CA (202) 225-5611
Rep. Adam Putnam, FL (202) 225-1252
Rep. Michele Bachmann, MN (202) 225-2331
Rep. Peter J. Roskam, IL (202) 225-4561
Rep. Kenny Marchant, TX (202) 225-6605
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, MI (202) 225-8171
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, CA (202) 225-2915
What exactly is the bill?
Here is the 2005 bill, apparently reintroduced:
H.R. 3449 [109th]: Consumer Overdraft Protection Fair Practices Act
In 2007, Malony introduced H.R. 946: Consumer Overdraft Protection Fair Practices Act
From the Center For American Progress: Never Pay Another Overdraft Fee
… The Consumer Overdraft Protection Fair Practices Act, introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), has a simple premise: it would require both new and existing accountholders to opt-in to overdraft protection systems rather than being enrolled in them automatically. That is, customers should be able to choose if they want overdraft protection as it operates today or if they would rather not pay the fee and thus not give the bank permission to honor transactions that overdraw.
Rep. Maloney’s bill would also require banks to give their customers clearer information about the cost of overdraft protection. Customers could therefore better compare this service to its less-costly alternatives, such as linking their checking account to their savings account or to a line of credit. ...
Of course Maloney and the people who run CRL are way too wealthy to realize that if you opt NOT to have any overdrafts paid, it’ll probably cost you even MORE!
I think Compass Bank now charges $39 to pay an NSF debit or check. Assume you opt out. The bank does NOT pay the check, but returns it unpaid.
Now the creditor charges you:
Usually the returned payment fee anywhere from $25 to $45 + probably a late fee if the check is for a loan, usually starting around $35 and then there’s likely the $39 over limit fee. If the mortgage payment bounces and is then late, you’re looking at possibly several hundred dollars!
The legislators make sure that the banks always win.
They could have limited NSF fees to $10 (still great money for the banks) and legislate that debits have to be posted in the order of smallest amounts first, but that would really cost the banks some serious profits.
I would definitely NOT opt out.
While I rarely have a legitimate overdraft, it happens about once a year that the bank screws up. They pay the checks and later refund the NSF fees. If I had them return the payments NSF, I’d have the creditor fees and the embarrassment of having my payments bounce, not to mention the WORK, the hours of contacting creditors and the bank to straighten things out.
I’ve posted here about one of these experiences with my Target payment. And while Compass Bank paid the Target fees, my payment record with Target will always include a bounced payment.
Thanks, but NO thanks!
I rather have Compass Bank charge me $39 and save myself a whole lot of cash and aggravation.
I actually don’t know whether people benefit who have checks returned.
The most common complaint I get is not over checks that are PAID, but over checks that are returned unpaid and the spiraling fees.
“This bill is in the first step in the legislative process. Introduced bills go first to committees that deliberate, investigate, and revise them before they go to general debate. The majority of bills never make it out of committee.”
Don’t write to ME about your problems, write to your legislators and THEN send me the result for publication here and at http://creditlegislation.org/
Nothing will change until you hold your representatives PUBLICLY responsible and document their corruption.
