Banks can collect overdraft fees fr government benefits deposits

[katty]

more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bank-america2-2009jun02,0,4121940.story

Bank of America wins appeal on overdraft fees

The California Supreme Court overturns a 2004 class-action award to Social Security recipients from whose accounts the bank took fees for insufficient funds.
By Maura Dolan
June 2, 2009
The California Supreme Court unanimously overturned a billion-dollar class-action award against Bank of America Corp. on Monday, ruling that banks can collect overdraft fees from accounts in which government benefits intended for subsistence are directly deposited.

The ruling threw out a 2004 verdict by a San Francisco jury that found the bank violated state law by taking fees for insufficient funds from accounts set up to receive Social Security benefits.

The bank customers who had stood to benefit from the award included 1.1 million California residents receiving government assistance. James C. Sturdevant, who represented the Social Security recipients, said the award, with interest, would have cost Bank of America more than $2 billion.

[MercutioATC]

1. I hadn't heard of this. Why shouldn't the bank charge overdraft fees?

Is there a reason SS-funded accounts should be different in terms of overdrafts?