But plenty of service providers, merchants, utility companies etc. will charge you a fee of their own if an auto-debit of your bank account or corresponding card declines, or worse. While the cost is lower and the runway usually longer than a bank overdraft, the point is that it&#x27;s not necessarily free to decline a transaction if it would cause one&#x27;s account to go negative.<p>I&#x27;ve been in plenty of situations where a $29 overdraft fee compared favourably to a $150 late fee.