Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) have also said they are making substantial changes to their overdraft policies and fee structure, just one day after Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) announced a similar plan.

All three banks offer overdraft protection on customers’ checking accounts and will at same point in the coming quarters allow customers the option of opting out of the program.  Customers were automatically enrolled when opening a new account.

The implementation of an opt-out option is not being handled exactly the same by all the banks though.  Bank of America and Wells Fargo are going to leave it up to the customer to opt-out of the overdraft program, while Chase plans to automatically opt all of its customers out of the plan and let those who want the program’s protection to opt-in.

Wells Fargo and Chase plan to end fees on all overdrafts that are $5 or less, while Bank of America has already stated it would eliminate charges for overdrafts of $10 or less.

Currently Wells Fargo charges a $35 fee on overdrafts, while Chase charges $25 for the first overdraft in a 12 month period and then bumps it to $32.

The three banks have said they will set caps on the number of instances a customer can overdraw an account in a given day.  Chase is cutting the number to three from six, while Wells Fargo and Bank of America are setting a cap at four, down from 10.

Chase also said it plans to update customer accounts and balances for debit-card purchases and ATM withdrawals as they occur. “The new posting order will be more logical for customers, and they will incur fewer fees,” said Charlie Scharf, head of retail financial services for chase, in a press release.

JP Morgan Chase plans to implement all their changes during the first quarter of 2010.  Wells Fargo did not give a specific time frame for the changes, but said more information would be made available to customers in the coming months.

According to recent reports, the US banking industry is on pace to collect $38.5 billion in customer overdraft fees for 2009.  Many of those fees come from cash-strapped Americans who are balancing a tight budget each month.