the Price of Overdraft Fees

Price of $35 per charge that brings the account balance under $0. So, if you make 3 charges before your paycheck clears, each one of these is charged a $35 overdraft fee.

Banks really clean up on these fees, and I think that $35 is a bit excessive. Most of the time people incur these fees when they are trying to float a check and the check clears before they expected. Generally, if you do not have a history of having overdrafts, the bank will be willing to lessen the fees or even remove them.

The absolute safest thing to do is to keep a good record of your account balance and not charge anything that would bring it under or try to float checks. Also, be sure to know how long your bank holds deposits before they get processed into your account. If you have a habit of having overdrafts I would suggest looking into overdraft protection, as the charge for this would be less than the fees incurred. If you make a mistake that causes an overdraft, deposit the funds to bring your account balance current as soon as possible, as many banks begin charging daily fees if the balance remains below $0 for over a week or so. Also, you may want to talk to someone at your bank about having the fees reduced.