Put yourself in the readers' place

Several news outlets have taken on bank fees for debit cards in the past few weeks as outrage over the fees rises. Ron Lieber and Andrew Martin of The New York Times tackled the issue with a series called The Card Game. Their first story looks at how much banks earn when consumers overspend.

According to the F.D.I.C. study, a $27 overdraft fee that a customer repays in two weeks on a $20 debit purchase would incur an annual percentage rate of 3,520 percent. By contrast, penalty interest rates on credit cards generally run about 30 percent.

The series, a tag-team effort with PBS’s "Frontline," offers videos, charts and primers for consumers to avoid fees.

Today’s Tip: Don’t forget the tips for consumers.

A majority of readers probably identified with the anecdotes cited in the story. Instead of leaving them in the amen corner, the package offers practical information for readers to avoid the fees and other resources – something many news articles omit.

As former business copy desk chief Jim Moffatt used to remind us at The Philadelphia Inquirer, PYIRP, or Put Yourself in the Readers’ Place.