Regulatory focus on overdraft fees

As greater scrutiny is being placed by financial regulators on consumer protections and fairness, all deposit-taking financial companies should anticipate an increased potential for investigative letters, supervisory examinations, and enforcement actions related to overdraft and NSF fees. Consumer complaints will likely factor into the supervisory focus toward certain policies and/or practices as well as to individual entities. Financial companies should consider re-evaluating their overdraft business model in light of the agencies’ enhanced supervisory attention. It should be noted that several large financial institutions have recently made changes to or eliminated their overdraft programs.