I'd be interested to know the stats on how many people have had overdraft fees and never let it happen again (or seldom) vs. those who get them routinely.
They state that the sampling wasn't random and shouldn't be extrapolated, but for the banks with automated overdraft protection that they studied closely, 4.9% of customers had 20 or more overdrafts per year and paid 68% of all non sufficient funds fees collected by the banks. An additional 4% of customers had between 10 and 19 overdrafts and paid about 16% of the fees (so as a group, people with more than 10 overdrafts a year paid 84% of overdraft fees).
The people with 20 or more overdrafts averaged about $1,500 a year in overdraft fees.
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/analytical/overdraft/
They state that the sampling wasn't random and shouldn't be extrapolated, but for the banks with automated overdraft protection that they studied closely, 4.9% of customers had 20 or more overdrafts per year and paid 68% of all non sufficient funds fees collected by the banks. An additional 4% of customers had between 10 and 19 overdrafts and paid about 16% of the fees (so as a group, people with more than 10 overdrafts a year paid 84% of overdraft fees).
The people with 20 or more overdrafts averaged about $1,500 a year in overdraft fees.