- In recent years, overdraft has become a national Israeli
institution. A recent survey by the Bank Otsar Hahayal reveals that 47.5%
of the three million families possessing bank accounts are in overdraft.
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- The majority of respondents said that overdraft is a
major concern. 77% said that they are worried about their financial situation,
while 85% would have preferred to cover the overdraft had that been possible.
The other 15% have learned to live with the situation.
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- The survey also addressed the extent of the overdraft.
One third of the respondents have an outstanding balance of NIS 2,500 or
less, while 27% owed over NIS 10,000 to their banks.
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- On the other hand, 27.1% of bank customers finish each
month in the black. Another 15.5% stay out of the red most of the time.
Banks go out of their way to attract such customers, offering them significant
benefits.
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- The Supervisor of Banks at the Bank of Israel Yoav Lehman
is concerned by the astronomical interest rates paid on overdraft and is
planning to battle the trend. Recently, he instructed the banks to present
financial records that would shed light on the extent of the phenomenon.
Lehman is planning new regulations, which would prevent bank customers
from overdrawing funds and penalize banks for allowing customers to do
so.
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- http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=8008
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