Capital One Financial Corp. said it will stop charging customers overdraft fees, making it one of the largest banks to do so, the Wall Street Journal reported. The fees, which are charged when customers don’t have enough money in their accounts to cover payments, are a source of income — and criticism — for banks. For years, politicians and consumer advocates have said the fees disproportionately affect Black families and those with low and moderate incomes. A report released in June by Financial Health Network, a research firm, found that Black households and those with low-to-moderate incomes were almost twice as likely to incur overdraft fees as white households or those with higher incomes. Online bank Ally Financial Inc. eliminated its overdraft fees in June, saying that they hurt people living paycheck to paycheck. Some other banks have introduced products and features that are more lenient on overdrafts.
