Twenty-four of the 33 largest institutions monitored by the same research firm in 2012 capped the number of NSF and overdraft fees an account may be assessed daily, and the median cap among these 27 institutions was five items. Notably, these caps ranged considerably among even this sample of institutions. The institution with the lowest cap limited the number of NSF fees to two per day, while the institutions with the highest allowed a combined total of as many as 12 overdraft and NSF fees in a given day.

 

Institutions may implement de minimis policies on a pertransaction or net-balance basis. The former approach prevents overdraft fees on small-dollar items. The latter method restricts overdraft fees when a balance is driven only nominally negative by the sum of items posted that day. The...

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