Two major banks announced an overhaul of their consumer banking practices on Tuesday focusing on the controversial banking practice of overdraft fees -- often the bane of U.S. consumers nationwide. 

Bank of America (BAC) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) both said they would eliminate the practice of "opting in" customers into overdraft protection, which often resulted consumers paying hundreds of dollars in fees in a year.

Bank of America said that effective Oct. 19, the bank will no longer charge an overdraft fee if a customer overdraws their account by less than $10 and would not charge overdraft fees on more than four items a day. The bank said it will also allow customers to "opt out" of overdraft capabilities.

Next year, BofA plans to introduce an annual limit of overdraft fees for customers and create software that will tell customers they have insufficient funds to purchase an items.

"Today, we are announcing changes to the way customers can manage their day-to-day finances that will help those who need it most right now," said Brian Moynihan, president of BofA's consumer and small business banking division.

JPMorgan also announced similar measures. The New York-based bank said it will eliminate overdraft services unless a customer opts in, and eliminate fees on an account overdrawn by $5 or less. 

More importantly, JPMorgan said it would start posting transactions chronologically instead of by transaction size, which critics said caused more fees to occur.

“We recognize the tremendous growth in our customers’ debit-card usage and we’re revamping our overdraft policies and posting order to be more consistent with the way they use their accounts today,” said Charlie Scharf, head of Retail Financial Services at JPMorgan Chase.

Overdraft fees have been a huge source of revenue for U.S. banks for several years now, bringing in tens of billions for the banks. However, consumer advocates argued for years that the overdraft fees struck the poorest and most vulnerable and the practices were too arcane for most consumers to navigate successfully.

The changes at Bank of America and JPMorgan could push other banks such as Citigroup (C), Wells Fargo (WFC) and USBancorp (USB) to move in a similar direction.