Whenever doing business with a bank, it’d be foolish not to expect some sort of fees; those are obvious, including the less conspicuous ones. However, one Michigan man couldn’t have imagined the outrageous fee he would receive for overdrafting his account by $0.01, a single penny. He was doing his banking with Advia Credit Union when he was charged, how he put it, “2,800 times the amount,” aka $28. Now, the more affluent might say that’s not a big deal, but $28 is $28, not to mention a fee multiplied by 2,800 is unthinkable for a single overdrafted cent.
The man posted his situation to r/mildlyinfuriating, showing a screenshot of this unbelievable fee over a penny. However, several in the comments shared that this sort of predicament isn’t exclusive to Advia Credit Union. “You’re lucky,” remarked a Reddit user. “Back in the mid 2005 I over drafted by about $.50 during the weekend when I had Wachovia,” they recalled. The bank charged them an overdraft fee for every transaction they made, including those made before the overdraft. As a result, they were charged a wild $120.
“My credit union would NEVER do such a thing! for shame!” exclaimed one commenter. Other people pointed out how, during Biden’s administration, the government put a cap on large bank institutions’ overdraft fees, so they were only allowed to charge a maximum of $5. But in May 2025, Trump signed a Congressional Review Act resolution that overturned this law, giving back banks the power to rip off people overdrafting their accounts. “You can thank Trump. He removed the limit on overdraft fee,” sighed a Redditor.
Fortunately, OP eventually updated their post, saying that Advia Credit Union had waived the fee. The not-for-profit nature of Credit unions makes them generally a better choice than banks, so the fact that Advia waived the fee should have been expected. Still, plenty of people shared their horror stories of banks taking advantage of them over a minuscule overdraft, charging them to the moon and back over pennies.
Now that Trump’s given his wealthy acquaintances in the banking industry their overcharging power back for overdrafts, people really need to take extra caution not to make a single penny’s worth of mistakes.
