CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.—The three biggest banks in the U.S., JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, made more than $1.1 billion in overdraft fees during the first three months of 2015, according to research by SNL Financial.
“If the fee collection pace keeps up, the big three banks are on track bring in $4.5 billion in overdraft charges by the end of this year,” SNL Financial said. “That works out to about $20 for every American adult.”
The figures are being released at the same time the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been investigating overdraft fees and practices. A number of analysts have told CUToday.info that credit unions need to get prepared for the potential loss of all overdraft fee income. This is the first year that banks have had to disclose their overdraft fees.
While the biggest banks have the most eye-popping figures, overdraft fees account for less than 6% of non-interest revenue at JPMorgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, according to SNL Financial.
The firm said it found that some smaller banks have become heavily reliant on overdraft fees to make money.
Woodforest National Bank and First National Bank Texas both get more than 40% of their of non-interest revenue from overdraft charges,. The median is under 8%.
In all, the nearly 600 U.S. banks that had to disclose their overdraft fees made just over $2.5 billion from consumers who overdrew their accounts in January, February or March, SNL Financial said.