Truly one of the dumbest articles that I have seen.

Having any margin at all on a checking account is just gravy for a bank. It is not their primary source of revenue and never has been. Checking accounts are a mechanism to get customers to do business with them. It’s a marketing/advertising program, that has become required in the industry.

Bank’s are only interested in loans and deposits. This is where banks make the bulk of their money.

When it comes to the poorest people in society, they are not depositing much money or taking out loans. Bankers see them as freeloaders on a system designed to draw in people with more money. They can’t outright deny to service them without a marketing disaster so they punish them instead. Taking money from them to help defray the cost of their marketing efforts. Instead of just denying the charge for insufficient funds as they ethically should, they created an elaborate fee system to bleed money from them.

This is why you should always deny the overdraft protection on any checking account. Never let them charge you a fee for a charge they should have rejected.