By the end of 2010, the banking industry is expected to have earned $35.4 billion in overdraft fee revenue, down from $37.1 billion in 2009 and on track with 2008, according to a recent Moebs Services study.

The study analyzed fee revenue from 2,284 financial institutions and more than 15,000 depositories for the first six months of 2010; 1,093 banks and savings institutions and 1,187 credit unions were called. The data were collected via anonymous telephone surveys from June 2010 to July 2010. The financial institutions were called and asked questions that might be posed by a prospective member or customer. The asset-size breakdowns of the institutions called were: less than $250 million in assets, $250 million to $1 billion in assets, and greater than $1 billion in assets.

"We expect with the regulation requiring opt-in for debit cards and ATMs coming in the third quarter that revenue will fall again, but this will recover by the same amount in the fourth quarter," said Michael Moebs, economist and CEO of Moebs Services. "We also estimate that overdraft revenue will increase in 2011 to $38 billion and be the highest ever for the industry. Even with the price of overdraft protection going up, it appears from the opt-in numbers that the American consumer is saying they want and need overdrafts"