The Center for Responsible Lending commented on Capital One's proposed acquisistion of ING Bank at a public meeting held by Federal Reserve on September 20, 2011.
Summary
CRL has done extensive research and policy work addressing checking account overdraft practices that cause significant harm to bank customers. We are concerned that Capital One's current overdraft practices are out of step with significant reforms other large institutions have recently implemented. These practices include continuing to charge high overdraft fees on debit card point-of-sale and ATM transactions, and posting transactions in order from largest to smallest, which maximizes overdraft fees. While other large banks have curbed these practices, Capital One has not.
This is particularly concerning in light of ING Direct's overdraft practices, which are industry leading and have earned the respect of the bank's customers and consumer groups. ING Direct does not charge high-cost overdraft fees. Instead, its customers are offered an overdraft line of credit, at a reasonable annual percentage rate, currently 11.25%,[1] with no additional fees. This responsible and fair program should be preserved.
[1] ING Direct, http://helpcenter.ingdirect.com/ingd/Topic.aspx?category=C3BNKEOOLD (last visited Aug. 18, 2011).