Decision to impose monthly surcharges on debit cards gouges unwary consumers | McClatchy #SwipeFees

Mallory Duncan is Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the National Retail Federation (www.nrf.com), the world’s largest retail trade association whose global membership includes more than 1.5 million American companies that employ nearly 25 million workers. Readers may write him at NRF, 325 7th Street NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20004.

via Decision to impose monthly surcharges on debit cards gouges unwary consumers | McClatchy.

Chase and Wells Fargo drop debit card fee tests; Bank of America set to adjust its plan – The Washington Post #swipeFees #OWS

Signs like, “I bailed out the banks and all I got was a $5 debit card fee” have been spotted the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York and its sibling protests around the country. The author of the regulations, Sen. Richard Durbin, D.-Ill, called the fee an “outrage” on the floor of the Senate.

via Chase and Wells Fargo drop debit card fee tests; Bank of America set to adjust its plan – The Washington Post.

Decision to impose monthly surcharges on debit cards gouges unwary consumers | McClatchy #SwipeFees

Next on the agenda will be reform of credit card fees, which are even more excessive than debit fees and just as obscure.

In 2010, the banking industry raked in about $30 billion in swipe fees on credit card transactions – over and above profits on late fees, annual fees, over-the-limit fees and interest. Not only do banks require merchants to collect fees averaging 2-3 percent of each credit card transaction, until swipe fee reform passed they effectively prevented retailers from offering a discount to customers who paid with cash.

via Decision to impose monthly surcharges on debit cards gouges unwary consumers | McClatchy.

Chase and Wells Fargo drop debit card fee tests; Bank of America set to adjust its plan – The Washington Post

Chase and Wells Fargo are joining the list of banks that won’t be charging customers to use their debit cards, as the backlash over Bank of America’s planned $5 monthly fee continues.

via Chase and Wells Fargo drop debit card fee tests; Bank of America set to adjust its plan – The Washington Post.

Vermont Congressman Says New Debit Card Fees Warrant Investigation – WBOY-TV – WBOY.com

“It appears that banks are seeking to justify fee increases after Congress and the Federal Reserve Board recently limited banks’ ability to collude with networks to set debit interchange fees,” the letter said. “Statements made by individual banks and their trade associations raise questions about whether some price increases that have occurred this year have actually been coordinated.”

via Vermont Congressman Says New Debit Card Fees Warrant Investigation – WBOY-TV – WBOY.com.

Durbin Amendment: A Weak Excuse for New Bank Fees #swipefees

“Merchants are counting their new found gains at our expense and our elected officials still don’t comprehend the damaging impact of their misguided legislation,” wrote Patrick J. Swanick, a retired KeyBank vice chairman and former president of Key’s retail bank and CEO of Key Electronic Services, on October 10 in the American Banker.

via Durbin Amendment: A Weak Excuse for New Bank Fees.

Local banks see boost from customers fleeing fees | Daily Progress

“Whenever there has been frustration or negative publicity with other institutions, the credit union is where people turn,” Williams said. She added that the credit union does not plan to implement any fees on their checking accounts.

via Local banks see boost from customers fleeing fees | Daily Progress.

Parker Sues to Protect PumpPal Debit Program #swipefees

Greg Parker, president of Parker Cos., Savannah, Ga., has filed a lawsuit to block the state’s plan to end the way he advertises his PumpPal discount gasoline program, reported the Savannah Morning News. The suit asked Chatham County Superior Court Judge Louisa Abbot to temporarily halt new rules that would ban display of reduced debit-card gasoline prices.

via Parker Sues to Protect PumpPal Debit Program#.TpNPCcCTK5g.twitter.

Local banks see boost from customers fleeing fees | Daily Progress

“Whenever there has been frustration or negative publicity with other institutions, the credit union is where people turn,” Williams said. She added that the credit union does not plan to implement any fees on their checking accounts.

via Local banks see boost from customers fleeing fees | Daily Progress.

Occupy Wall Street Organizing Nationwide Boycott Against Banks #swipefees

Protestors are calling the event “Bank Transfer Day” and are encouraging people nationwide to participate November 5.

via News Headlines.

Bank of America debit card fee prompts animosity from coast to coast – latimes.com

The new $5 monthly charge has become a focal point for anger and frustration about the flailing economy and Washingtons attempts to help the nation recover from the financial crisis.

via Bank of America debit card fee prompts animosity from coast to coast – latimes.com.

Debit Card Fees Are Robbery – NYTimes.com Part II #swipefees

The Fed had been established in 1913 in large measure to end the then widespread practice of banks’ charging a similar “interchange” fee for the use of paper checks. Those check interchange fees were slowing the growth of interstate commerce, and the Fed quickly prohibited them. The interchange fees that banks now charge stores for debit transactions are economically and functionally identical to the check interchange fees prohibited by the Fed almost a century ago.

via Debit Card Fees Are Robbery – NYTimes.com.

Debit Card Fees Are Robbery – NYTimes.com #swipefees

For decades, Bank of America, the founding owner and member of Visa originally called BankAmericard and all of the Visa and MasterCard banks, including Chase, hid the identity of their debit cards from stores by designing them to look and function like their signature authorized credit cards and by charging stores the same price for debit and credit transactions. Banks did this despite the fact that purchases made with a debit card didn’t involve a loan from the bank, posed very little fraud risk and were extravagantly profitable to banks because they eliminated the costs of processing and clearing checks.

via Debit Card Fees Are Robbery – NYTimes.com.

Bank of America; debit card; monthly fee – latimes.com #swipefees

For its part, BofA has estimated that these new rules will cost it about $2 billion annually in lost revenue. Industrywide, these processing fees brought in $19 billion for banks in 2009, according to the Nilson Report, which tracks card payments.

via Bank of America; debit card; monthly fee – latimes.com.

What other banks or credit unions plan to charge for debit card use | OregonLive.com

On Saturday, a new rule went into effect capping debit-card swipe fees collected from merchants by banks with more than $10 billion in assets. Those fees had generated $19 billion in revenue for banks in 2009, according to the Nilson Report

via What other banks or credit unions plan to charge for debit card use | OregonLive.com.