Perhaps you head over to your bank’s Web site. Maybe you call up their automated telephone line. The result is the same: the realization you didn’t have quite enough money to cover all those good times. Even worse, you’ve now been hit with multiple overdraft fees as a reminder of your financial irresponsibility.

Of course, all of this is even worse when you’ve only overdrawn a measly couple of bucks.

The fees associated with the almost ubiquitous program known as “insufficient funds fee” have been the cause of ire for many students. And they should be — it’s estimated that this year banks will receive more than $1 billion in overdraft fees from young adults alone.

But thanks to a new bill being proposed by U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., banking customers might receive protection from outrageous overdraft fees.

Although some might be grateful to their bank for stepping in and allowing a purchase to go through despite insufficient funds, the choice ultimately should be left up to the individual customer. And this is what Dodd’s bill would do, by having all customers consent before being allowed to draw more than they have in the bank.

It doesn’t help that many banks charge a flat fee for overdrafts. If a bank charges, say, a $40 insufficient funds penalty fee, that fee would be the same whether someone overdrew while buying a $300 TV or a $3 cup of coffee. Although the banks technically can charge whatever they please so long as their customers know about it, this flat rate doesn’t seem right. If anything, penalty fees need to be proportional to how much money was overdrawn.

Another portion of the bill seeks to limit these penalty fees to only once per month and six per year, as opposed to a charge for every overdrawn purchase.

Although this might seem like a good idea in theory, probably it would not work out well. Because banks make a great deal of money off of their overdraft fees, they are more likely to hike up the charges if they only are permitted to charge their customers once a month.

It’s also unlikely most banks will happily go along with this proposed legislation. More than 100 banks failed in the past year, and any profit-making business is not going to sit idly by while the government chips away at one of their biggest sources of profit.

But in the end, the fault for overdrawing ultimately lies with us, the customer. Simply checking up on one’s balance at the end of every day, or week, isn’t that hard to do. Those who still balance a checkbook the old-fashioned way are likely becoming more and more of a minority. And it’s a shame.

Just a little bit more effort in the area of financial responsibility could go a long way if it prevents an exorbitant overdraft fee.

When banks make their profits from their customers’ financial irresponsibility, it potentially can give banks incentive to encourage it more. Although any form of legislation that keeps our banks accountable would be welcome, we ultimately must remain financially and fiscally responsible.