[raarts]

I did not know what 'overdraft fees' were until I came to live in the US. So for other non-US readers: For bank accounts where you are not allowed to overspend, but you try it anyway, there is a difference in how that is handled in the US vs European banks. If you spend more than your current balance ('overdraft'), US banks allow that, but charge you a hefty fee (my bank charges me $35 per violation). European banks just disallow it altogether.

It even happened that one day I had a withdrawal, and a deposit. Overnight, the bank first processed the withdrawal (account balance became negative), next added the deposit (balance became positive again). Then charged me the $35 fee! They could have done it the other way around and not charge for it....

[anigbrowl]

Not only this, but banks were in the habit of ordering your account activity on a day-by-day basis so as to maximize your fee liability, a practice which cast Bank of America some $400 million a few years back and which Wells Fargo is trying to escape responsibility for at present through some other litigation strategy: https://consumerist.com/2011/07/14/bank-of-america-paying-ou...