A "convenience" for customers? Not at these rates.

What does this remind you of? It reminds me of payday loans and cash advances. That’s other kind of lending that costs you such sky-high APRs. In fact, if you choose to repay a cash advance on due date and not roll it over, you'll likely be charged far less than what banks charge you for an overdraft.

It gets even worse. Banks have software that ensures that your largest value checks and debits get processed first. There may be some logic to that. However, this arrangement also means that when there are insufficient funds in your account, instead of paying one overdraft charge on one large check, you pay several charges on several smaller checks!

Plus, most customers don't even realize that they are overdrawn until bank notifies them about it.

Consumer advocates say that banks are perfectly aware that many people barely make it from payday to payday. These customers typically have very low balances. Rather than offer them a service that would be in their interests, banks extract high fees from them to cover bounced checks.

If you are caught short between paychecks, consider arranging funds from other sources rather than turn to overdraft protection. The best solution to problem is to systematically build up cash balances so that you don't face such a situation in first place.

But advances in technology mean obtaining required information is now relatively straightforward so how on earth can lenders still justify paying fees of 2.75% or more?

Consumer protection is paramount. Those lenders that continue to hide behind excuse that fees they pay impact only on their own profit and loss accounts are fooling nobody. In end it's client that pays.

It's a sorry state of affairs when a lender's only method of attracting business is to pay a high fee.

The sooner Financial Services Authority wakes up and takes a look at some of players in this often murky sector, better.

It's time for a change and we need it right NOW.