"people who pay overdraft fees help subsidize the free accounts of those who do not"

Overspending on Debit Cards Is a Boon for Banks

Excerpt:

When Peter Means returned to graduate school after a career as a civil servant, he turned to a debit card to help him spend his money more carefully.

So he was stunned when his bank charged him seven $34 fees to cover seven purchases when there was not enough cash in his account, notifying him only afterward. He paid $4.14 for a coffee at Starbucks — and a $34 fee. He got the $6.50 student discount at the movie theater — but no discount on the $34 fee. He paid $6.76 at Lowe’s for screws — and yet another $34 fee. All told, he owed $238 in extra charges for just a day’s worth of activity.

Comment: Full article with pros and cons of fees is very good! Not as black and white (eg Banks bad!) as one might think! I would think a good solution would be for customers to have the option (either opt in or opt out) to NOT have automatic overdraft (ie ... debit would be denied if insufficient funds).

MORE:

Most of the overdraft fees are drawn from a small pool of consumers. Ninety-three percent of all overdraft charges come from 14 percent of bank customers who exceeded their balances five times or more in a year, the F.D.I.C. found in its survey. Recurrent overdrafts are also more common among lower-income consumers ...