ATM Surcharge Bans – Santa Monica

Santa Monica, California, became the first city in the nation to ban ATM surcharges in 1999. Wells Fargo and Bank of America filed suit and, with the support of the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), succeeded in getting the law overturned by the courts. … Read More

ATM Surcharge Bans – San Francisco

Wells Fargo and Bank of America filed suit and, with the support of the federal Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), succeeded in getting San Francisco’s ATM surcharge ban overturned by the courts. … Read More

ATM Surcharge Bans – Iowa

ATM networks in most regions are owned or controlled by a handful of large banks, which, not surprisingly, tend to adopt network rules and rate structures that boost their own profits and undermine smaller competitors. Iowa was, for many years, an exception. In the 1970s, Iowa lawmakers had the foresight to enact a set of rules to ensure that the ATM infrastructure would be equitably shared among the state’s financial institutions. … Read More

ATM Surcharge Bans – Connecticut

Connecticut was one of two states that prohibited ATM surcharges. The state’s ban was the result of an administrative order issued by Banking Commissioner John Burke in 1995. His interpretation was challenged in 1997 by two national banks, First Union and FleetBoston Financial. In December 1999, the Connecticut Supreme Court overturned Burke’s order as an invalid interpretation of existing state law.… Read More

Community Reinvestment Act

Congress enacted the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) in 1977 after years of grassroots pressure to encourage banks to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they are chartered. Previously, individuals and businesses in low-income areas were often denied credit because of the perceived high-risk nature of such loans.… Read More

Credit Unions

Credit unions are not-for-profit, tax-exempt financial institutions that are cooperatively owned by their depositors. The United States is home to 7,600 credit unions, which collectively hold 10 percent of domestic deposits and have more than 90 million members (as of April 2010). Most of these institutions are very small. Fifty percent have assets below $20 million … Read More

Financial Transaction Tax

In 1970 more than 95 percent of currency trades were for activities linked to what many call the “real economy” — investment, tourism, foreign aid, trade. Today only two percent are. The volume of currency trading is now some 50 times greater than the volume of trade in goods and services. We trade more than $100 … Read More

ATM Surcharge Bans

ATM surcharges are anti-competitive and threaten the viability of small banks and credit unions. In most regions, a handful of large banks own the majority of ATMs. By imposing surcharges, these banks create an incentive for customers of small banks and credit unions to move their account to one of the dominant banks in order to avoid the surcharge. Former Federal Trade Commission policy director David Balto argues that surcharges create a “perverse form of price competition where firms can actually gain customers by raising prices.”… Read More

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