Dear passinthru: I feel your pain: recently I also happened to pay an overdraft fee like the way you described- being extremely lazy for not checking my account prior using my plastic automated teller card. The funny part is, I was just 2 dollar short and the penalty fees is 30 dollars. That was the joke of the month for me...!!! Yeah having an overdraft protection or case reserve protection measure will definitey solve the problem, but sometimes (depends on the bank), linking your saving account with a checking account will save you from eternal hell. The second option, my bank represent told me only after chattering with her for like 10 minutes on a customer service line with my broken english and tongue twisting accent. Well, at the end, lesson learned- the high overdraft fee for giving a lesson for a person like us who take every moment as a granted and let us remind, alert next time- $30 charge for not having $2 in your account and having a cell phone on a pocket for exhibition rather than using it for the right time for the right reason. Good reminder passinthru... Sahayatri Junkoholic