Fort Myers, FLA-- You should always have enough money in your account to cover your debits.

And if you don't, your bank will make money.

One of the largest areas of profit for most banks--is their overdraft fees.

If you happen to overdraw your account--you may be surprised how quickly those fees can add up.

"I was in tears at this point. I told my husband we have no money this is two thousand dollars!" said Evelyn Gonzalez.

When Gonzalez's mortgage company made a mistake and deducted her payment three times--she realized how fast overdraft fees can add up.

"This is over two thousand dollars and all i see are these red overdraft fees," she told CALL FOR ACTION remembering looking at her bank statement.

Instead of just overdrawing twice for the two extra mortgage payments--her account overdrew dozens of smaller items--racking up a 35 dollar charge each time.

She noticed the bank took out largest amounts first, then smaller amounts.

Instead of two overdraft fees---she had dozens.

"i mean should you overdraw your account--no. But when it does happen if here's one item they shouldn't be able to charge you for six," said Gonzalez.

Some consumer advocates call the practice "shuffling" to maximize overdraft hits to increase the money made for the bank.

Here's how it works:

Say you have a thousand dollars in your account.

You use your debit card to spend 20 dollars on gas, five dollars for lunch, and 40 dollars to pay cable.

Then the next day your mortgage comes out for 990 dollars.

Instead of taking out the three small amounts first and just charging you for overdrawing your mortgage

Banks take out the mortgage first, then charge an overdraft fee for each of the smaller amounts

"I think that items should be presented as they come in. I don't believe they should have the right to manipulate and shuffle to their benefit and the only person this hurts is the people who are truly living paycheck to paycheck," said Gonzalez.

The practice made Bank of America the target of a lawsuit--accusing the nations largest bank of using that practice and inaccurate on-line bank statements to force people to overdraft and rack up those fees.

In court documents, Bank of America disputed these practices were to generate money for the bank.

The bank ended up paying to settle the suit.

"They manipulate until they can get all the money they possibly can," said Gonzalez who fought to get the money put back in her account.

She doesn't think the practice is fair.

"The only person this hurts is the people who are truly living paycheck to paycheck," said Gonzalez.

Remember--if its your mistake--the bank won't reverse any of the fees.

The morale of the story of course: make sure you have enough money in your account to cover your balances.

Also--know how your banks policies work--when deposits are recorded and when debits go through.

We've asked several popular banks to outline their policies on overdraft fees, when they subtract debits, and if your ATM card lets you overdraw you account at the ATM.

You should know, most of the banks told us that electronic debits usually post immediately when the merchant notifies the bank.

So that means, if the merchants system is slow--it could take a couple days for the debit to actually clear even though it shows up as pending in your account.

Many merchants are working to get quicker systems because after all, it means they get paid faster.

Your bank has no control over how fast the merchant relays that information to them.

Here is what they told us:

OVERDRAFT FEES

BANK OF AMERICA: 35.00 each item, reduced overdraft item fee recently instated when Bank of American determines your account is overdrawn by a total amount less than $5.00 after we finish processing that day, we reduce the overdraft item fee on your account and charge only $10.00 for each overdraft item that day

FIFTH THIRD BANK: Overdraft fees change based on the number of overdraft occurrences in the past 12 months. For the first occurrence, you will be charge $25 per item, For 2nd-4th, cost is $33 per item. The 5th and higher is $37 per item.

CHASE: $25--first occurrence in 12 months, $32-2nd-4th occurrence in 12 months, $35--5th occurrence or greater in 12 months

SUNTRUST: We introduced a new tiered overdraft fee structure / fee waivers that were effective May 1, 2009 for consumer checking accounts. These were designed to help eliminate some of the hassle associated with an accidental NSF/OD item. For free checking accounts, the first NSF item is at a reduced fee of $25 over the account lifetime and $36 for each subsequent NSF. For our other two consumer checking accounts (Solid Choice and Signature Advantage) we have implemented systematic NSF/OD fee waivers on a rolling 12 months basis of 1 item for Solid Choice and 3 items for Signature Advantage, respectively. The NSF charge is $36 for each item in these two accounts

WACHOVIA/WELLS FARGO: Wachovia charges $22 for the first Returned Item/Overdraft occurrence in a 12-month period; then $35 for every occurrence after that in the same 12-month period.

OVERDRAFT PROTECTION TRANSFER FEES

BANK OF AMERICA: $10.00 for savings account or line of credit transfers, check credit card agreement for those charges

FIFTH THIRD Overdraft protection transfer fee: Assessed on prior 12 month usage-$10 per transfer for 1-10 uses, $15 per transfer for 11-20 uses, and $20 per transfer for 21 or more uses

CHASE We offer overdraft protection so customers can avoid a fee for each overdraft item. An account can be linked to a savings, credit card, or Home Equity Line of Credit. Once linked, if a transaction is posted to the account that will create an overdraft, a withdrawal is automatically made from the linked account in $50 increments. The fee for this service is $10 per occurrence.

SUNTRUST Depends on the type of account used for overdraft protection - some have no fee, most common is $10 with a maximum fee of one per day

WACHOVIA/WELLS FARGO No charge for Crown Banking, Crown Classic Banking and Crown Select Banking (this covers most of our Checking Accounts); otherwise $10 per Overdraft Transfer

WHAT ORDER ARE DEBITS WITHDRAWN FROM ACCOUNT

BANK OF AMERICA: Deposits added first, then deduct transactions largest dollar amount to smallest. (BOA told WINK that large transactions are usually the ones most important to customers lives like mortgage, car payments, insurance)

FIFTH THIRD BANK: Fifth Third also debits the largest amounts first. These are typically mortgage payments, car payments and other important bills.

CHASE: Chase processes debits largest to smallest. The reason is that over the years our customers have asked us to be sure their largest checks are not returned NSF -- larger checks are usually mortgage, rent or car payments

SUNTRUST: as stated in our "Rules and Regulations for Deposit Accounts" - We may credit items to and debit other items from an account in any order determined by us

WACHOVIA/WELLS FARGO:At Wells Fargo and Wachovia, we process our customer's transactions in high-to-low order (where allowed by law) because it gives priority to larger transactions - such as mortgage, rent or car payments - which are typically our customers' high-priority payments

CAN YOU OVERDRAW AT AN ATM?

BANK OF AMERICA: You are alerted at the ATM that you will overdraw and given the option to continue.

FIFTH THIRD BANK: As a courtesy, Fifth Third Bank will still pay a customer's items up to a certain amount based on the banking relationship but yes, it is possible. However, customers do have the option to opt out of this.

CHASE: Please note a customer cannot overdraw at an ATM.

SUNTRUST:Yes - there is a warning for SunTrust clients at SunTrust ATMs - the industry network system is not able to support a warning at non-SunTrust ATMs

WACHOVIA/WELLS FARGO: Yes. Wachovia may cover an overdraft item for customers at an ATM or when using your debit card to help avoid inconvenience and embarrassment of having a transaction declined at a merchant or ATM. Wachovia makes this decision on a case-by-case basis with each customer and each transaction.