Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview.recent data from the FDIC shows that bank revenues from consumer overdraft fees have increased since last year. For some of the largest banks in the country,overdraft fees represent a the majority of fees collected from consumers – 65 percent on average. Until last year, banks were not required to report revenue from these fees specifically, and but now,the first year-on-year data shows that overdraft fees are a growing piece of bank income, totaling $2.7 billion in the first quarter. That's up by 6 percent from the same period in 2015.
A small group of consumers — just 8 percent — pay 75 percent of all overdraft fees, and many of those people are the youngest and poorest people who consume the banking system. That worries consumer advocates who say these fees push people out of the banking system. Here,The Takeaway speaks with Sheila Bair, former head of the FDIC and president of Washington College, and who discusses this growing problem. Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear the full conversation.
Source: wnyc.org