Which bank fees can you actually get waived?
Banks waive fees far more often than people expect, mostly because almost nobody asks. The call takes about six minutes.
The average overdraft fee is back to roughly $33 per transaction as of 2026.
It is worth knowing why. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule in December 2024 that would have capped overdraft fees at $5 for banks and credit unions holding more than $10 billion in assets, due to take effect in October 2025. Congress repealed it under the Congressional Review Act and the President signed the repeal in May 2025, five months before it was due to start. Average fees, which had drifted down to around $27 while banks anticipated the rule, drifted back up.
That is the environment. Now the useful part, which is that a surprising share of these fees come off if you ask.
The single most waivable fee
Overdraft and NSF fees. If it is your first one, or your first in a long while, and you have not made a habit of it, a bank will very often reverse it. Not always. Often.
The reason is unglamorous: your account is worth more to them over the next ten years than $33 is today, and the representative on the phone usually has authority to waive a fee or two without asking anyone. You are not appealing to their generosity. You are giving them an easy decision.
The call is short:
“I was charged an overdraft fee on the 14th. I have banked here for six years and this is the first one I can remember. Is there anything you can do about it?”
That is the whole thing. No story, no apology, no explanation of what happened. State the fee, state that it is unusual for you, ask. Then stop talking and let them answer.
If the first person says no, you can ask politely whether a supervisor has more discretion. Sometimes they do. If the answer is still no, accept it and move on.
The rest of the list
Monthly maintenance fee. Almost always waivable, and usually by meeting a condition rather than by asking. Direct deposit above some threshold, a minimum daily balance, a certain number of debit transactions per month. Ask which conditions your specific account has, then pick the easiest one. If none of them are achievable for you, that is a sign the account is wrong for you rather than a sign you are failing at it, and most banks have a no-fee option they do not advertise.
Out-of-network ATM fee. Your bank’s side of it is often reversible a couple of times a year, particularly if you were travelling. Note that there are two fees on that transaction: one from your bank and one from the ATM’s owner. Your bank can only refund its own. Some online banks reimburse both.
Paper statement fee. Switch to electronic and it disappears.
Wire fees, replacement card fees, stop payment fees. Frequently waived on request, especially if there was any bank error or ambiguity involved.
Foreign transaction fee. Not usually waivable after the fact, but entirely avoidable by using a card that does not charge one. Plenty of them cost nothing to hold.
What is generally not coming off
Interest. It is not a fee, and it is the product.
Late fees on credit cards, the second time. First one, often waived. A pattern, no.
The ATM owner’s surcharge. Your bank does not have it and cannot refund it.
Anything at a check casher or payday lender. Those fees are the entire business model and there is no goodwill department.
The setting that stops overdrafts entirely
This one is worth more than any single waiver.
Under Regulation E, your bank cannot charge you an overdraft fee on debit card purchases and ATM withdrawals unless you specifically opted in to overdraft coverage. Many people opted in years ago at account opening without registering what it meant, or were enrolled by default before the rules changed.
If you opt out, a debit card purchase that would overdraw your account is simply declined at the register. That is mildly embarrassing for four seconds and it costs zero dollars, which is a good trade against $33.
Call and say: “I would like to opt out of overdraft coverage for debit card and ATM transactions.”
Two things to understand about this. It does not cover checks and automatic payments, which can still overdraw and still generate fees. And declined transactions can carry their own consequences if what got declined was a bill. But for most people this one setting removes the most common and most expensive fee they pay.
Keep a note of what you paid
Before any of this, look at a full month of statements and add up every fee. Not the ones you remember. All of them, including the three dollar ones.
People consistently guess low, usually by a factor of two or three, because small fees do not form memories the way a $33 hit does. The total is the number that tells you whether your account is costing you a few dollars a year or a few hundred, and a few hundred is a different conversation. It is the difference between calling to complain about a fee and moving to a bank that does not charge it.
Twenty minutes with a highlighter and a stack of statements is the highest-paying twenty minutes in personal finance, and it is free.
The one-line version
Ask about the overdraft fee, meet the condition that kills the monthly fee, opt out of debit card overdraft coverage, and add up what you actually paid last month before you decide whether your bank is worth keeping.
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