Cory Booker: “this is an overdraft speech. It is about a commonsense rule that lowers costs for millions and millions of Americans…”

“this is an overdraft speech. It is about a commonsense rule that lowers costs for millions and millions of Americans, while carefully targeting, really, the most egregious abusive overdraft practices in the financial industry today. Banks have long offered overdraft services to allow their customers to make purchases or even pay a bill, even if they lack sufficient funds in their account, while sometimes charging a fee for this service. But in recent years, banks have exploited this practice, charging customers billions of dollars in deceptive fees. A recent study found that more than half of all the people who overdraw their checking accounts and paid a fee could not recall consenting to the overdraft service for which they are being charged. Moreover, we know the customers who are being charged overdraft fees are overwhelmingly folks who are low-income, who work really hard and don't get that much pay, and a $20 overdraft fee just further pushes them into a financial trap, into this cycle downward of financial instability that is hard to pull out of. Too often, banks have been found trying to game the system, and this is really problematic. They try to game the system to impose fees on customers--even when they shouldn't be charged in the first place--by orchestrating transactions improperly or delaying deposits customers make into their accounts. Just think about this. They can time your deposit with the time it hits your account.…”