Saving money is always a good idea, but in the current economic climate it is even more important that our money is spent wisely. It seems that recently the Fed has decided to step up to the plate and make it even easier for the ordinary individual to save on their banking accounts.

We all know how hard it is to deal with those overdraft fees. Even on a very small expenditure of just a few dollars an overdraft fee can be as much as $39. That does seem a bit excessive when the consumer is pinching pennies to begin with. New regulations that are scheduled to start July 1, 2010 are aimed at reducing the chances of that happening.

According to Ben Bernanke, the Fed Chairman, the new rules will be a step in the right direction for consumer protection. Account holders will be given the opportunity to opt in or out of overdraft protection on their accounts. Presently, about 75% of banks are automatically enrolling their account holders in overdraft protection.

These new rules will not affect the banks ability to automatically enroll their account holders in overdraft protection for checking accounts but it will for ATM and debit card transactions. Since a majority of transactions are being done today through the use of ATM’s and debit cards it is easy to see that the added expense of overdraft fees would easily decline when these new rules go into effect.

This does not mean that the consumer will not be offered the benefit of overdraft protection. It just means that the account holder will be given the opportunity to choose whether or not this option is right for them.

Along with the Fed’s new rules, the Congress is also planning action that will regulate overdraft fees. The Senate wants to allow band regulators to set the fees that are collected for overdraft protection that are both “reasonable and proportional” and will require that banks allow the consumer to set the account balance right if done on the same day that the overdraft fee is charged.

The House wants to limit the number of times that banks can charge an overdraft fee to 3 times a year, and make it mandatory that they inform an account holder when their account is nearly depleted in an effort to help them decide if a purchase is worthy of an overdraft fee.

Even though these Congressional proposals will not go into effect until 1 year after they are passed, they would restrain banks from increasing the amount of their overdraft fees in the interim.

Although these new rules seem particularly egregious to the banking industry, consumer advocates agree that these measures are a step in the right direction for consumer protection.