The latest relevant blurb from the unlinkable CongressDaily:

A GAO report released today found that banks are doing a poor job disclosing their fees to their customers. GAO investigators — posing as customers — found that about 20 percent of branches they visited could not provide them with detailed fee information and account terms. They also could not find such fee information on the Web; about 50 percent of the sites checked lacked such notice. GAO recommended federal banking regulators do a better job on oversight.

The findings come as consumers paid more than $36 billion in fees for checking and savings accounts in 2006. Customers are paying more for such penalties because the average fees for insufficient funds, overdrafts, stop-payment on checks and other items have increased by at least 10 percent since 2000.

House Financial Services Financial Institutions Subcommittee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y, requested the report. Maloney has spoken out against what she labels excessive bank fees and has sponsored legislation that would require banks to provide a warning to ATM customers when they are about to make an overdraft on their account. The bill was slated to be marked up by the House Financial Services Committee last year, but has been delayed by bank and credit-union opposition.

This is why FEE’s and SIRCHARGERS must be stopped and not controlled. A family member of mine was $0.30 overdrawn and the bank charged her $32.00 for it! An Electric bill has a FUEL OFFSET SIRCHARGE on it, this charge is almost as much as the electric used bill itself if not more. Now; Progress Energy here in Florida wants more money. This will raise everyone’s bill about $9.00 monthly and this is a good thing? Congress should do what is right to stop business from stealing money by adding a FEE or SIRCHARGE. Yes I said steal because that is what it is. As in the banks case and I quote, “what you going to do about it? That is how we make our money”. Yet the people getting charged this fee can least afford it and them that have enough money in the bank need not ever worry about it. It is the little man getting hurt the worst.

I guess you are lucky with $34. The Compass Bank in Tucson, Arizona charges $38 for overdraft and if you pay with your card 6 times in a same day they will charge you with $38 overdraft fee 6 times (a total of $228 in one day!!!) Even though you have used only $18 from them which you did not even know, that the your deposit was not posted yet. Stay away from this bank, we are looking for another bank right now.