new F.D.I.C. rules require banks to clearly explain overdraft costs. Most important, if a customer is charged a fee for overdrawing his account more than 6 times in a 12-month period, the bank must offer a less costly alternative, like a reasonably priced line of credit or linking the card to a savings account.
These regulations will bring basic fairness to the system. But banks worry about profits, and some are threatening to change their charters so they can shop for a less rigorous regulator than the F.D.I.C.
A race to the regulatory bottom would be a disastrous idea. Anyone who doubts that should recall what happened when the bank’s regulator of choice, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, failed to rein in reckless mortgage lending and actually blocked the states from doing the job.
Click on the following for more details: Debit Card Predators - NYTimes.com
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