eor

"Subject: Fee/ Service Charge
Date: 11/28/2007
Dear Valued Customer,

We’ve made changes to our Online Banking and eBillPay Overdraft Policy. These changes were communicated to you via statement insert in July 2007 and are detailed in our Online Account Management Agreement and Internet Banking Agreement.

Effective December 2, 2007, Online Banking fund transfers and bill payments may be paid into negative funds causing an overdraft, and an overdraft fee may be assessed. For more information about these changes, please contact Customer Support directly by secured message from within Online Banking or by telephone at:

Maine 1-800-295-7400
New Hampshire 1-800-224-5563
Massachusetts 1-800-747-7000
Connecticut 1-800-428-7000
Vermont 1-800-257-0899
New York 1-800-836-0853
New Jersey 1-800-428-7000
Pennsylvania 1-800-428-7000
Metro New York 1-800-428-7000

We are available Monday-Sunday: 6:00AM-11:00PM, ET for your convenience.

Sincerely,
The Corporate Monolith"

Rather than "bounce" a payment that there are no funds for they'll pay it and charge a $35 overdraft charge. This is the same trick they're doing now with ATM and POS transactions. They'll let you pull money out of the ATM/POS without telling you if you've hit negative numbers and charge you $35 per transaction. In one weekend you can rack up a couple of hundred in overdraft fees and not receive any indication until five business days later when they send you a notification in the US-snail. They could refuse the transaction, but then they wouldn't make tons in fees.

Not that I've bounced anything in over a decade, but it's the principle of kicking people repeatedly without giving them a chance to cover their nethers.

I guess that's one way to cover your loses in the mortgage market. It's like Hobin Rood, steal from the poor and give to the rich.