Lifestyle

6 More Things Your Bank Hopes You Never Find Out

By Mike Harper · September 20, 2026

The original bank piece covered overdraft fees, minimum balance requirements, and interest rate manipulation on savings accounts. Here’s what we didn’t get to — including practices that have gotten worse since federal regulators pulled back on enforcement.

The CFPB’s overdraft rule was overturned before it ever took effect. In December 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule that would have capped overdraft fees at $5 for banks with more than $10 billion in assets. The rule was expected to save American households roughly $5 billion a year — about $225 per year for the typical household that pays overdraft fees, the National Consumer Law Center calculated. Congress overturned the rule in 2025, and it never went into effect. Overdraft fees are climbing again.

Two banks alone charged roughly $2 billion in overdraft fees last year. JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo each charged about $1 billion per year in overdraft fees in 2025, and U.S. banks and credit unions extracted more than $12 billion in overdraft and non-sufficient funds fees from customers that year, according to a National Consumer Law Center analysis of call report data. Most of it came from a small fraction of accounts — the CFPB found that 79% of overdraft fees are paid by only 9% of accountholders, most with median balances under $350.

The CFPB has ordered major banks to refund illegal fees. Even without the new rule, regulators have caught banks charging fees that violated existing laws. The CFPB brought a $95 million enforcement action against Navy Federal Credit Union for illegal surprise overdraft fees, and secured refunds of $205 million from Wells Fargo and $141 million from Regions Bank for improper overdraft charges, the agency announced. If you were charged an overdraft fee under confusing or reordered transactions, you may be entitled to a refund.

The “posting order” trick is still legal at most banks. When multiple charges hit your account on the same day, the order in which the bank posts them determines how many overdraft fees you get charged. Banks that post the largest transaction first can trigger multiple overdrafts on smaller purchases that would have cleared under a different order. The practice has been the subject of multiple class action settlements — but it’s not illegal, and many banks still do it.

Banks are not liable for most Zelle fraud losses. Zelle is jointly owned by seven of the largest U.S. banks and moves hundreds of billions of dollars annually. When customers are tricked into sending money to a scammer, the current federal interpretation is that the transaction was “authorized” — even though the authorization was procured by fraud — and the bank doesn’t have to reimburse you. New York’s attorney general has challenged that interpretation with a $1 billion consumer fraud lawsuit against Zelle’s parent company. In the meantime, your Zelle transfer confirmation is your responsibility.

Your “free” checking account isn’t free if you fall below the minimum. Most “free” checking accounts require direct deposit, a minimum balance, or a certain number of transactions per month. Miss the requirement and you pay a monthly maintenance fee that can run $12 to $25. Read the account disclosures — the conditions to avoid the fee are usually in fine print at the bottom.

The regulatory environment has shifted in the banks’ favor. If you pay attention to what your bank is charging you — and dispute what you believe is wrong — you can still recover money. But you have to notice first.