NEW YORK --- Bank of America customers soon will be unable to spend more than they have in the accounts linked to their debit cards. It's a step that might become a common move ahead of new regulations limiting overdraft fees.

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Bank of America customers won't be able to make debit card purchases that exceed their account balance, starting in June.

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FILE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

For ATM transactions, Bank of America customers who try to withdraw more than their balance must agree to pay a $35 fee before they can get the money.

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Rules set by the Federal Reserve that will ban banks from charging such fees, without first getting permission from the customer, are set to take effect July 1.

But Bank of America is going a step further than the regulations require. It will simply no longer allow debit card purchases to go through when there isn't enough money in the account.

For ATM transactions, customers who try to withdraw more than their balance will have to agree to pay a $35 overdraft fee before they can get the money.

"The majority of our customers who overdraw their account do so with everyday debit purchases," said Susan Faulkner, the senior vice president of consumer banking for Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America. "They're doing this unknowingly, because they aren't aware that they are about to overdraft."

Since the bank doesn't have the ability to notify customers when they're at the register and give them the chance to agree to a fee, it simply will reject such transactions.

Consumers have demonstrated a willingness to pay overdrafts for covering the mortgage and the car payment, said Greg McBride, who follows the banking industry for Bankrate.com. "But not if it's things like covering a latte and a scone."

The bank's new policy will start June 19 for new accounts and in early August for existing accounts.

It will replace the bank's current terms, which allow overdrafts to go through but charge a fee only if the deficit is greater than $10.

Bank of America is the first big bank to announce such a change, but it likely won't be the last. That's because the new rules will cut deeply into the more than $1.77 billion annual revenue overdraft fees generate for the banking industry.