Isn’t Congress supposed to be doing something about $40 late and over the limit fees

From 2002 to 2006, the nation’s ten largest banks increased their reliance on fees by 17%.

• From 1994 –2005, over–the-limit fees in the credit card industry more than doubled, while late fees nearly quadrupled.
• Interchange fees–fees credit card issuers charge merchants when you use your card–have tripled since 1998 amounting to $30 billion a year today. The increased cost of interchange fees is often passed on to consumers and totals more than $300 per American household every year.
• Last summer, Bank of America–the bank with the largest ATM network in the country–increased noncustomer ATM fees by 50% to as much as $3 per transaction. Other leading banks are quickly following suit.
• Americans pay billions more in overdraft fees than the actual amounts they overdraw from their accounts. In 2006 alone, consumers paid $17.5 billion in overdraft fees on just $15.8 billion in overdrafts.

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