In a move that will come as a surprise to exactly no one, Bank of America recently announced that its overdraft fee is increasing by $4, a whopping $39. The national average is $28.95.

This is hardly unusual behavior. Banks and credit unions make quite a bit of money through fees, so for consumers there are lots of policies and penalties to keep track of. Here are just a few examples:

• You get hit with an overdraft fee for every transaction that overdraws the account. If you use your debit card multiple times and your checking account doesn’t have enough funds, each new charge incurs an overdraft fee. Since, for example, Bank of America allows you to overdraw your account ten times per day, you could be charged up to $390 in fees! Only at that point will a new debit card transaction be declined.
• When processing multiple checks in a day, most banks and credit unions will process the checks in order of descending value, a strategy that maximizes the number of overdraft fees they can charge. If three checks are processed, for $10, $15, and $100, and you only have $90 in your account, you’ll get dinged for three separate overdraft fees instead of just one.
• Overdraft “protection” services-where your bank agrees to draw from your savings account or credit card if your checking account runs dry-often carry their own associated fees. At Bank of America, for instance, there is a $10 overdraft protection fee to transfer the money from a savings account. And should you use your credit card as overdraft protection, the interest rate you’re charged is different than for a regular purchase. In the case of my own Bank of America credit card, the cash advance APR is 19.24%, almost three times more than the usual purchase APR of 7.24%.
• If you withdraw more money from an ATM than you have in your checking account, most (81%) banks and credit unions won’t warn you; they’ll just give you the cash and charge you $30 or $40 for the privilege.

As banks and credit unions continue to feel the effects of the economic crisis, their fees and policies are likely to continue trying to nickel and dime customers. That’s why it’s so important to know the details of your bank’s policies and have appropriate alerts set up for your accounts (through services like Mint.com or your bank’s website) so that you don’t accidentally incur any of their skyrocketing fees. As we’ve said before, “the best way to avoid these charges is to always know how much money you have in your bank account.”

An Econ4U survey showed that 50% of Americans admit to having overdrawn their checking account, even though (as frequent visitors already know) it is the most expensive form of short-term borrowing.

Update: Bank of America has “suspended” the overdraft fee increase.

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