Have....
Have they never had a card declined for insufficient funds?
Because that is surely a thing. Sometimes banks are extra dicks and let the charge(s) through to save the cardholder from 'embarrassment' but then tack on an insufficient funds fee to every single charge separately. That they allowed. Knowing you had no money.
Maybe that doesn't happen anymore, but it sure as fuck happened to me.
When I was in my early twenties, I opened a savings account and the banker didn't tell me that the amount that I was depositing was bellow the minimum balance. I was instantly dinged. At that age, I wasn't confident enough to call bullshit. I ate the penalty.
Today, I would demand a refund and I'd politely make it clear that I was taking my business elsewhere because the bank obviously didn't have proper ethics training. I'd do it in such a way as to diplomatically put that person's job at risk. If they didn't get fired for ripping me off, they'd for sure be on notice with their boss.
Banks are so corrupt that they get away with all kinds of evil. But not at the lowly level of a peon in a branch. That I might tell friends and family about the experience might not protect the "little person" on the front lines. Execs can get away with fucking murder.
I could have deposited the minimum amount, but she probably sensed that if I was told that it had to be more, I might choose not to open the account after all.
Doesn't happen in Aus anymore following multiple investigations into banking sector misconduct over past couple of decades. Informal overdrafts are now illegal here for most accounts. But it sure as fuck happened to me too. Multiple times, I still remember it was a $35 fee anytime my balance went below zero. I was just a teenager with undiagnosed ADHD overestimating how much I had left. We didn't have online banking yet, I couldn't just check. And that was a significant part of my pay. Cunts.
I’ve never had it happen with a credit card (compounding interest is what kicks your ass there), but definitely a bank debit card. Most banks I know of these days still apply overdraft fees too.
Not sure if the sovcit is talking about doing this with a credit or debit card
They were all slapped on the wrist in the last aughts and paid some DOJ fines in millions for billions in fees they collected for 15+ years and finally gave customers control as opt in
It's not to save from embarrassment, it's overdraft protection as a service on the account, and it's expensive. If you don't have overdraft protection it will just decline instead.