Word of the Week · Issue 005 · Week of 10 August 2026

COURTESY

What it claims: A favor the bank does you when you come up short. It is not credit, so there is no rate to disclose.
What it does: A bank calls your overdraft a favor. That word is the only reason it does not have to tell you what it costs.
The receipt: A courtesy is something a person does. There is no person left in it.

A black-and-white photograph of the Federal Reserve Building in Washington, D.C., 1941: the Eccles Building's colonnaded facade, viewed from the street. — The Federal Reserve Building, Washington, D.C., 1941. Library of Congress, FSA/OWI Collection, LC call no. D 2138. No known restrictions on publication.

The word has a birthday. The Federal Reserve wrote it into Regulation Z in 1969, and that year it was accurate.

A teller looked at your check, saw you were short, and covered it. Ad hoc, the government called it. Individuals, one check at a time. Favors do not carry an annual percentage rate, so the Board excepted this one from the definition of a finance charge. Then the teller went away. Software sets your limit now, before you walk into the store, and never tells you the number.

The exception never moved. It is fifty-seven years old, and it is the only thing standing between thirty-five dollars and a figure the bank would have to print.

Docket

CFPB, 'Overdraft Lending: Very Large Financial Institutions,' Final Rule, 89 Fed. Reg. 106768 (Dec. 30, 2024). The rule that would have made an overdraft a loan. Contains the operative word, the 1969 history, and the finding of who pays.

Read the file COURTESY WR-FCT-022