Columbia Bank One of the First Community Banks to Rethink Overdraft Protection

Columbia Bank, a long standing leader in community banking, announced today that they will be modifying their Consumer Overdraft Program to minimize the impact of fees on clients. This move will make them one of the first to do so within the community banking space. The new program will take effect August 15, 2022 and will include the following changes:

• Elimination of Uncollected Fees on all consumer checking accounts. Clients will no longer be charged if funds are in an account to pay a presented item but are not yet available due to holds.
• Introduction of a $50 fee-free overdraft threshold. Consumer clients won't incur an overdraft fee if a presented item would overdraw their account by $50 or less.
• The insufficient funds daily maximum, including overdraft fees, will be lowered from 4 fees of $35 to 1 fee of $35 if a client’s account is overdrawn by more than $50.

“Our Bank’s tagline is ‘Count on Columbia’ and we truly incorporate that into everything we do. We are consistently reviewing our products and services to ensure we’re doing right by our clients and we recognize overdrafts are a client pain point,” said Thomas J. Kemly, President and CEO of Columbia Bank. “Our new Consumer Overdraft Program is designed to minimize the impact of overdraft fees for clients, while still providing a service that has you covered when mistakes happen. We’re proud to be one of the first community banks to rethink how overdrafts should work.”

Additionally, Columbia Bank will continue to provide education and build upon tools that help consumer clients to manage their accounts more effectively. Such items include:

• Financial literacy programs conducted by Columbia Bank. Programs cover topics like account management, digital tools, fraud prevention and more.
• Through our EVERFI strategic partnership, Columbia Bank sponsors the Financial Scholars Program in 15 local school districts. Students participating in the program learn banking fundamentals so they understand responsible money management.
• Digital tools such as low balance alerts, Online and Mobile Banking access and more.

For overdraft resources and more information on the Bank’s Consumer Overdraft Program, please visit https://www.columbiabankonline.com/personal-banking/personal-checking/consumer-overdraft.

About Columbia Bank

Founded in 1927 and headquartered in Fair Lawn, NJ, Columbia Bank has 66 full-service branch networks spanning the state of New Jersey, an asset base of approximately $9.8 billion. Columbia Bank offers a full suite of consumer and commercial products, including online and mobile banking, localized lending centers as well as title, investment and wealth management services. For more information about Columbia Bank’s complete line of products and services, visit www.ColumbiaBankOnline.com. Follow Columbia Bank on: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube & Linked In.

Tony Rose1st Senior Vice President, Marketing [e-mail]