Most of the with at least one overdraft fee at some point in time, when a check, ATM withdrawal, debit card purchase or electronic bill payment caused our checking account to go into the negative.

If we were quite unfortunate, we had multiple overdrafts in a single day, and this could have racked up some hefty charges on our account.

If you are a customer of Community Bank, N.A., the overdraft fees you were charged on your account exceeded the national average.

Overdraft Fees at Community Bank

At Community Bank, overdraft fees are applied any time an electronic payment is made on your behalf, and the amount is more than the amount available in your checking account.

This includes all types of transactions, including ATM cash withdrawals, point-of-sale debit card purchases at retailers or online, automatic bill payments, electronic or written checks or any other electronic payment.

Each time you make one of these transactions and have insufficient funds in your checking account to cover the transaction, Community Bank assesses a $32 transaction fee for each overdraft. Nationwide, the average overdraft fee is $27, with a range from $10-$38.

Like all current customers of banks and credit unions, consumers at Community Bank must affirmatively opt in to overdraft services.

In previous years, some banks just signed up their customers automatically for these services, but recent legislation requires that financial institutions get express permission from customers to offer the service.

For those who do not opt in, transactions are declined, which could result in balanced checks, missed mortgage or car payments and more.

Most consumers sign up for the service in hopes that they will not use it, however revenue gained from overdraft fees at Community Bank and other financial institutions comprise a significant portion of the revenue.

Controversy Surrounding Overdraft Fees

Not only have consumers complained about the ever-increasing fees associated with overdrafts, they have also called out financial institutions on their overdraft fee practices.

Some banks and credit unions have been accused of purposely reordering transactions in order from largest to smallest, rather than chronologically, in order to purposefully cause consumers to overdraft their accounts, and charged consumers additional fees.

While some financial institutions say that this practice is for the benefit of the consumer, allowing large dollar amount transactions to be paid, such as mortgage payments, car payments and other large bills, consumers argue that posting the transactions chronologically would have resulted in less overdraft fees they would have to pay, and that banks and credit unions would have less to profit from.

In fact, a number of individual and class action lawsuits have been filed against banks and credit unions for allegedly improperly reordering transactions on consumer accounts and charging excess overdraft fees. In some of these lawsuits, settlements were reached with the consumers.

However, the practice still appears to be alive and well in many banks and credit unions.

Filing a Lawsuit over Improperly Assessed Overdraft Fees

If you were charged overdraft fees at Community Bank, or any other bank or credit union, and feel the overdraft fees were improperly assessed, you may be able to participate in a class action lawsuit investigation.

An attorney can review your case at no charge and can discuss your eligibility with you.

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