Dear banks: I have a suggestion...

Dear banks:

I have a suggestion. I'm hoping you'll toss my idea around, and hopefully not toss it out . Let me help you help us.

In the last two weeks, as you know, a lot of you have been announcing strategies to minimize overdraft fees in the event that your customers accidentally spend more than they have. Bank of America, U.S. Bank, Chase and many more -- you've all been so nice about saying you'll cut us some slack if we go into overdraft by $5 or even $10, and limiting the damage to four overdraft fees.

It's something that should never happen, of course, but it's something that happens quite a bit to Americans these days -- as debit cards are used more frequently than ever, and surely, people not having access to credit and losing their jobs have had some affect as well. As the oft-quoted number goes, Americans will spend at least $38.5 billion in overdraft fees this year.