US economy: banks, earn record fees "cha-ching"

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Banks to collect a record $38 Billion from overdraft fees.

As an indicator of how people are reaching for assistance and falling further behind doing so...the Financial Times reports US banks stand to collect a record $38 billion in fees for customer overdrafts this year. The bulk of the fees will be paid by the most financially stretched consumers. At Bank of America, a customer overdrawn by as little as $6 could trigger a $35 penalty. If the customer does not realize they have a negative balance and continues spending, they could incur that fee as many as ten times in a single day, for a total of $350.

As a further example of the marketplace of debt servitude, there are more "payday loan" operations in the US today than there are franchises of McDonald's and Starbucks combined. These operations are usually situated in poor urban neighbourhoods, perpetuating a cycle of debt servitude with entrapping interest rates.