Currency, a Federal agency, which has formally approved of the practice; the practice has recently been challenged, however, under numerous individual state deceptive practice laws. In class action, U.S. Bank Corporation entered into a $55 million settlement agreement on January 16, 2014, over the practice of reordering transactions (highest-lowest) in posting debit card transactions to customer accounts and the alleged effect the posting order had on the number of overdraft fees charged to account holders. Bank deposit agreements usually provide that the bank may clear transactions in any order, at the bank's discretion. Opt-in regulation In July 2010, the Federal Reserve adopted regulations (revisions to Regulation E) which prohibited overdraft fees resulting from one time debit card and ATM transactions unless the bank customer had opted into overdraft protection. Consumers who opt into overdraft programs pay more than seven times as much in overdraft and NSF fees, averaging almost $260 a year, based on a recent report from the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Research by Moebs Services released in February 2011 showed that as many as 90% of customers had chosen overdraft protection, resulting in the projection that United States banks would post record profits from overdraft fees. Alternatives to overdraft protection Fintech innovations and overdraft protection apps have led to viable alternatives to overdraft fees. For Groundwater Resources The term "overdraft" is also commonly in use in the hydrological sciences to refer to the extraction of groundwater at a rate that exceeds the rate of recharge (see also Overdrafting). Many groundwater aquifers have been laid down over hundreds, or thousands of years (or longer) by the natural process of rainfall slowly seeping into the ground (see Groundwater). Rapid pumping and use of groundwater, especially for irrigated agriculture in southern Asia, the United States, and parts of the Middle East, is leading to declining groundwater levels -- groundwater "overdraft," or depletion. References Banking terms Financial law Debt