Preface: I don’t pay for Spotify premium, so I get (have?) to hear commercials.

TD Bank’s new marketing narrative makes me sad. Here’s why. The main narrative, which has been spun off into many different situational examples, is that an unanticipated expense caused an overdraft. Thankfully TD bank is nice so it doesn’t penalize you. Fair enough. Overdraft fees are insulting, and reflect the soullessness of the banking industry.

However, what saddens me is the examples that TD uses. All of them are what I would consider small dollar amounts, such as an extra bus ticket. None of these costs should be big enough to trigger a negative bank account balance in anyone’s account. But, the fact that TD is marketing this way suggests it is a common situation. According to Bankrate’s annual study, 1 in 5 people in the US have no savings for unexpected expenses.

Whether by the current political or economic system, or by an addiction to consumerism, Americans are over-leveraged. There shouldn’t be payment plans for small purchases, and the average American shouldn’t have to worry about a bus ticket overdrawing their account.