I FEEL THIS. My bank tells me its not possible to turn it off on my checking account. Blows my fucking mind they can't just deny a tranaction if I don't have the money even if I ask 😭
this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2025
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Mildly Infuriating
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Blows my fucking mind they can't just deny a tranaction
They can, they just won’t because of those juicy overdraft fees.
My banks can turn it off, but what annoys me about that is the overdraft fee just becomes an insufficient funds fee (in many cases, I've obviously not tested most kinds of charges to see) at that point for me, fuck might as well pay what the charge was.
Complain to the office of the Comptroller
I had a long discussion with my bank's branch manager about this. They assured me that I don't have overdraft protection. I've yet to have any fees since I keep a reasonable balance. I want my debit card to fail and my check to bounce. He assured me that's what would happen.
I don’t have “overdraft protection,” I’ve told my bank I don’t want overdrafts to go through
Typically overdraft protection means it takes money from your savings, or other linked account, and transfers to your checking. When I had Bank of America they charged me $5 every time this happened.
I have an account at a credit union now, no overdraft charges, no cost when it pulls money from my savings account.
Credit unions are the way to go. Seriously if your reading this and have an account with a mega corp, go to a credit union. Start with a checking account, in time you can migrate all your other stuff over. Better deals on loans, and they're not predators. And you have a better chance of not enriching the billionaire class while you're at it.
Small banks are good too. I used to use a fantastic local one called First Republic where every customer had a banker they could call or email if needed. First Republic were acquired by Chase, who wanted some huge amount of money in the account (something like $200k) to get a similar level of service through Chase Private Client. I closed the account.
Why would you want it to automatically grab money from your savings? Wouldn't you just want to transfer that yourself?
I feel like it's an extra guardrail that if somebody tries to pull 3000$ from your bank account and you only have 500 there that it can only pull the 500 and not the additional 2500 from your savings account?
Because it keeps them rent payment from bouncing.
Some people aren't good with money management and may forget to transfer money across, especially for scheduled things (bill payments, rent, etc)
Yeah it’s a sneaky marketing term. In the worst cases, they’ll charge you a fee and let your balance go negative. I personally would rather my account reject a payment if I don’t have the funds rather than letting it go through and charging me for it.
I feel you. It’s very expensive to be poor.
Yeah, get a better bank. Or better yet, a credit union
Already use a credit union 🙃
A neighbor pointed out to me that Venmo, Paypal, and other such services lack the consumer protections of a credit card. So, I don't use them. If I have a problem with a purchase, I know my credit card vendor will contact the merchant and deal with it. Even if the vendor says "All sales are final", I'll get a refund when I challenge the sale.
Yep, they are explicitly not banks or traditional financial institutions and therefore have none of the standard protections. They don't only lack the protections of credit cards, but also of banks in general.
There are countless stories of people losing access to over $10k in their PayPal account with no option to appeal because PayPal decided their Twitch revenue looked too much like money laundering. Or because a single transaction involved a card later reported stolen. Or... just because. Some people aren't even given a reason.
Yeah, I prefer not using venmo, but I had negative money in my bank and some Venmo money my boss had sent me. I wanted groceries and that was the only money I had “access” to.
I was going to recommend never keeping a balance in Venmo or the like, but understand sometimes waiting a few days for it to transfer to your bank can make things difficult.
Transfers are usually pretty quick these days. Sometimes I transfer money from Schwab to Fidelity at night, and it's already available the next morning.
In the USA, a lot of the larger banks and brokerages (and maybe credit unions?) internally use systems like FedNow or RTP, which allow for instant transfers to other banks. It can take a little while if they do extra security checks though.
I had a credit card company say a payment in the wrong amount was not something they would help with so its limited.
This is "not" professional financial advice for the united states. Banks are a last resort. Use credit unions. Unless there are specific services you need from a bank that your credit union does not provide, your credit union will provide the services you need with fewer fees. I have never seen a bank be better for a client unless they needed some kind of specialized reporting.
Chime is significantly better than my credit union in every way, in my experience
On capitol one 360 and first thing I did was turn off overdraft. Now if I purchase an item with my debit card for $100 but only have $99 in my account, it just rejects the transaction
I use a local bank. They're very helpful and personable, and I don't ever feel like they're trying to scam me. I did have to decline the overdraft paper (it was opt-in not opt-out) and I don't get NFC cards, but it's totally worth it
Usually you can ask to reverse an overdraft fee as long as it’s not often. It’s humiliating but has worked for me in the past. Good luck.
My bank offers 3 overdraft fee reversals per 12 month period, they just don't advertise it. OP, you should def call and ask
Not trying to lay blame, but doesn't Venmo ask where you want the money to come from every time you send money? They don't know your bank balance...
Overdraft fees are evil. Some banks will even clear transactions to result in the most overdrafts without regard to which order the transactions took place. For example if there are two transactions, one for $100 and one for $5, and account balance of $50, they'll purposely clear the $100 transaction first so both transactions trigger overdraft fees. They could clear the $5 first so only the $100 transaction triggers a fee, but nope.
Also, if this is your first overdraft you might have luck calling the bank and asking for forgiveness. I did that once in college and they refunded the overdraft fees.
Not trying to lay blame, but doesn’t Venmo ask where you want the money to come from every time you send money?
No, unless that shows up if you are transferring in the app. It did not ask me where the money would come from. I was using a grocery delivery service and selected Venmo as my payment option. I assumed that selecting Venmo over my bank would take it from my Venmo.
I already got my credit union to forgive a charge on an accidental 1.99 purchase. I don’t think they’ll do it again.
I have even less hours this month. I’ll probably just end up driving off a bridge. There’s no way I’m ever going to be financially solvent again.
Grocery delivery service sounds expensive... but I don't know where you live.
It is, but it took Venmo and I don’t think Walmart does. I needed groceries and that seemed to be the best option with my only money being the $50 in the Venmo account. I thought about asking someone if I could send them the money and get cash instead, but didn’t have anyone I could do that with.
Find a bank that doesn't charge overdraft fees. If you so happen to live in Colorado or Arizona, FirstBank is a good choice.
Not only are there no fees for anything, they even give you the option to block your card from charging more than your available balance. Card machines will literally only do a partial payment, using whatever is left in your account, allowing you to pay the remaining balance with another form of payment. It works everywhere and is really neat. Find a bank that offers this.
You might be able to contact your bank and talk to them about the overdraft fee, I got slapped by them as a teenager and someone at a booth (was the good old days. you see) simply undid the fees.
Asking nicely one your first offense, they'll definitely remove the fee. Being nice will get you far.
overdraft fee
Banks & brokers without those are common, especially online ones. I've switched to online ones & never had to think about them.
- They block overdrafts without charging a fee.
- Deposited cash often earns high interest rates.
- Large ATM networks or ATM fee refunds.
- Well documented policies.
They beat the credit union I had in every way, especially in the documentation (an unusual pain point with my credit union). Some guides
Financial planning/advising services (perhaps through work) may offer good guidance, too.
Online banks have one major drawback, and that is the difficulty they typically have with getting cash into them.
Checks/Transfers/Etc? no problem.
But getting cash into it is a big PITA.
Is that not the purpose of their ATM networks? Though I never use them, I read some offer deposits that way.
I've always direct deposited or scanned checks. If someone needs to send me cash, it's always through some service like Zelle, ACH, or online bill pay.
I don't like to carry cash. Cards, digital wallets, & ACH meet all my needs. I can see how that's a PITA for those who do, though.
ATM networks are typically for withdrawing money without a fee.
I dont think I've ever seen one that lets you deposit your cash at, for example, a gas station atm or anything.. Feels like there'd be way too many liabilities... but who knows, maybe there is one that lets you.
More than maybe one. Some also accept deposits through stores. I've never used them or needed to.
It was easy to adapt away from cash, and I prefer the safeguards of credit & mobile pay.
No thanks, I prefer cash. Credit cards and debit cards can be disabled at a whim. Prone to being fucked up by computer error, don't work when the internet is down, or during a disaster with no power.
Cash always goes through, though. Cash will always remain king.
Credit cards and debit cards can be disabled at a whim. Prone to being fucked up by computer error
That's the beauty
- if my card goes missing, I can lock it
- unauthorized charges can be reversed
- I'm alerted of any charge immediately.
Plus, they extend warranties on purchases & provide purchase protections.
don’t work when the internet is down, or during a disaster with no power.
Unless you carry around a large supply of cash at all times, you'll be in the same bind withdrawing cash: ATMs & account ledgers run on power & networks.
Cash always goes through, though.
That's a problem: anyone can use my cash without authorization. If they steal it, I have no way to disable it, and it's more difficult to recover. If I lose it, it's most likely gone.
Cash will always remain king.
Not in terms of security or recovery.
I could withdraw cash & carry it around, but then it won't earn high interest.
Honestly, I never understood why these apps can't just use the balance in their own system first. It's literally sitting there. Super frustrating when banks and apps make things unnecessarily complicated.