Washington, D.C./September 15, 2010/PRNewswire-USNewswire:  According to a new survey released by the American Bankers Association, 77% of consumers said that they did not pay any overdraft fees in the previous 12 months.

One in five consumers, 21% said they paid one or more overdraft fees, while just 2% said they did not know.  

Of the 21% acknowledging that they paid a fee, almost 70% paid an overdraft more than once.

“The majority of consumers continue to avoid paying overdraft fees despite current economic conditions,” said Nessa Feddis, ABA senior federal counsel and retail banking expert. “This is good news and a sign that most consumers are managing their personal finances well.”

Among those that paid the fee, two out of three consumers (69%) were glad their payment was covered.  Just 29% indicated that they wished their bank had refused payment.

METHODOLOGY:  The annual survey of 1,010 consumers aged 18 and older was conducted for ABA by Ipsos-Reid, an independent market research firm, on August 14 and 15, 2010, via telephone. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within +/-3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population of adults in the U.S. been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/gender composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

SOURCE: American Bankers Association