Cinderella, dressed in brown,
Paid her taxes to the town
‘Oops, I haven’t enough money!
What’ll my overdraft limit be?”

In a system using matrix-based, or “dynamic,” overdraft limits, Cinderella is left in the dark as to just how much she is able to overdraft. Will it be $200? $500? $1,000? It all depends on what the credit union deems she can afford to pay back, and that amount can change frequently. A fairy Godmother would come in handy right about then, transforming Cinderella’s cloud of confusion into confident, financially-conscious decision making.

This is no fairy tale, though; overdraft limit variability can happen to anyone whose financial institution relies on this type of undisclosed program.

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