Consumers who overdraft their checking account five times or more per year account for 93.4% of the overdraft fees banks collect, according to the FDIC.
Why don't they learn their lesson? Some people actually do this on purpose.
Many repeat overdrafters don't want to go to payday lenders, and are using overdraft protection as a line of credit instead. While banks are usually happy to oblige and collect fees, at the same time, overdrafters are viewed as credit risks that could stick the bank with potential losses.
"Overdrafters are a bit like addicts, and the banks want to take advantage of that and target those customers," said CardHub.com CEO Odysseas Papadimitriou. "There's a risk in taking them on, but it's a high risk, high return kind of situation -- and overall it's profitable."
