Local Man Hit with $39 Overdraft Fee for a 28¢ Debt
Monday, Oct 26, 2009 | Updated 8:55 AM EDT
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We're all pinching pennies. And it hurts when a bank won't go easy on an error involving 28 of them.
Louis Scherff of Waterbury is furious. The Waterbury Republican-American reports that the former truck driver and construction worker was hit with a $39 overdraft fee by Citizens Bank -- not once, but twice.
Scherff made a purchase with his debit card for $5.29. The balance in his account at the time was $5.01, causing him to be overdrawn by 28 cents.
"I got the letter last Friday that was dated a week before. It took a week to get here. Then I got another one on the 17th that was dated the 13th," Scherff told the Rep-Am.
If the bill introduced last week by Senator Chris Dodd to protect customers from "abusive" checking account overdraft fees gets passed, it will help Scherff if he finds himself in the same predicament in the future. But it doesn't help him now.
"I read something where banks made more than $30 billion in overdraft fees, and I'm one of the people they are making money on," Scherff said. "I'm ticked."
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