Payment protection plans popular

Either consumers are becoming better money managers, or they are just taking advantage of their overdraft protection programs, according to a recent survey by the American Bankers Association. Of the 1,000 surveyed customers, 80 percent did not pay any overdraft fees in the past 12 months. Of the 20 percent who have paid an overdraft fee in the last year, 31 percent said they paid one and 5 percent said they paid more than 10. In 2003 alone, 18 million checks were bounced, but the annual rate of bounced checks has been declining by nearly 8 percent every year since 2002.