While Congress has been considering the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, action on unfair overdraft fees has not slowed. Earlier this week, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) (his statement) and Senators and fellow committee members Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Jack Reed (D-RI) introduced overdraft fee reform legislation (statement from PIRG and others). Also, Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced a new version of their overdraft reforms. Story from syndicated columnist Kathy Kristof. My most recent testimony to Congress, earlier this year. Since banks are allowed by their regulators (no CFPA yet!) to manipulate both the timing that consumer deposits are made available and the order that checks and debits are withdrawn, and have the technology to decline debits at point of sale that would cause an overdraft but no longer choose to use it, consumer groups believe that overdraft practices need stricter regulation. Among our key reforms: no one should be enrolled in so-called overdraft protection automatically, they should have to affirmatively say yes, or opt-in. Even the Federal Reserve has proposed a regulation to address the problem, but it does not go as far as either bill. Oh, the latte: $4 for the latte, plus a $35 average overdraft "protection" fee.