Just the Tip:
Your bank can charge an overdraft fee on an everyday debit card purchase or ATM withdrawal only if you opted in to overdraft coverage. Revoke that consent with a phone call or an app setting. A purchase you can’t cover will then usually be declined instead of approved with a fee attached.
Opting out goes after the most common kind of overdraft. Debit card transactions trigger more overdrafts than any other kind of payment, a 2017 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) report found.
Chase’s overdraft fee is $34 per transaction, capped at three fees and $102 per business day. Chase skips it on transactions of $5 or less and when you end the business day overdrawn by $50 or less, so it hits larger shortfalls.
Chase calls the opt-in Debit Card Coverage. With it on, a $90 grocery run on a $20 balance can go through and leave you $70 overdrawn. Unless you deposit or transfer at least $20 by 11 p.m. Eastern on the next business day, those groceries cost $124.
With it off, the same swipe is declined, and Chase charges no fee for the decline. Banks rarely charge for a declined card purchase, the CFPB reported in 2024. All coverage adds is the approval, and at Chase that approval can cost $34.
To opt out, call the number on the back of your debit card, send a secure message, or switch off the overdraft setting in your bank’s app if it has one. Federal rules let you revoke your opt-in at any time.
The opt-out applies only to everyday card purchases and ATM withdrawals. Your bank can still pay checks, automatic bill payments, and recurring card charges like a gym membership into overdraft and charge its fee. Set a low-balance alert above your largest automatic payment so you have time to move money.
Keep the overdraft service that is real protection. Linking your own savings account covers the gap with your money instead of the bank’s. At Chase, those transfers are free and keep covering your card with Debit Card Coverage off, as long as the savings account has the money.
Make the call today, then add up the rest of your bank fees. Five minutes on the phone, and a short balance can’t turn $90 of groceries into $124.
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