Reply #77: That's certainly an option...

[FBaggins]

...but I'd bet that you would have some of your other customers pretty ticked off at that.

Having your card declined in public isn't always more attractive than a fee. It's also the case that you can make lots of little transactions in the day and have a check post that night (that was written days before). Those little charges still overdraw your account (and have ugly fees) but the ATM couldn't know about it to warn you. The point here is that there is simply no way to transfer responsibility for managing your account onto someone else's shoulders. All of these supposed "fixes" merely nibble at the edges of the problem.

In most cases, you have a far Superior option. Tie your checking account to savings or a line of credit. Then you get either that far lower fee or just pay interest for a short period of time.

The problem here is that not everyone has any savings... or the credit necessary to qualify for overdraft protection.