In face of scrutiny, banks find new ways to keep old fees

Buyer beware: your bank may be trying to protect its revenue stream in the face of increased government scrutiny by adding unnecessary fees to financial instruments like your debit card. A report in today’s New York Times says banks are beginning to aggressively market products like automatic overdraft protection fees. Without these fees, banks stand to lose some $20 billion annually.

Ron Lieber co-wrote that Times report; he explains how the banks are trying to maintain consumer fees. We also hear from Mark Sorenson, an architect in Dallas, Tex., who found out the hard way that breaking up from financial commitments is hard to do.