<html><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div><img src="cid:CB260F1D-99CC-488B-B204-7B3A414B2D28" alt="image.jpeg" id="CB260F1D-99CC-488B-B204-7B3A414B2D28" width="600" height="409" apple-original-width="600" apple-original-height="409"><br><br><div>Seeya round town, Moscow.</div><div><br></div><div>Tom Hansen</div><div>Moscow, Idaho</div><div> </div><div><br></div><div> </div></div><div><br>On Oct 4, 2011, at 12:23, "Art Deco" <<a href="mailto:deco@moscow.com">deco@moscow.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>
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<h1>Durbin to customers: Dump Bank of America</h1><span class="byline">By <a href="mailto:steve.hargreaves@turner.com">Steve Hargreaves</a></span> <span class="twitterName">@<a title="http://twitter.com/CNNmoney
CTRL + Click to follow link" href="http://twitter.com/CNNmoney" target="_blank">CNNMoney</a></span> <span class="cnnDateStamp">October 4, 2011: 2:24 PM ET</span>
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<p>NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Sen. Dick Durbin on Tuesday urged customers unhappy
with Bank of America's new $5-a-month debit card fee to take their business
elsewhere -- calling the fee a golden opportunity for other banks "not as
greedy" to drum up new business.</p>
<p>"I believe in something called competition," the Illinois Democrat said on a
conference call with reporters.</p>
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<p>Last year, Durbin helped shepherd a law that limits how much banks can charge
on debit card transactions -- a law that led <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/29/pf/bank_of_america_debit_fee/index.htm">Bank
of America to recently switch to the monthly charge.</a></p>
<p>"If Bank of America wants to nail their customers with a monthly fee, I want
their customers to make the conscious decision to go elsewhere where they are
better treated," Durbin added.</p>
<p>Durbin said he's sending a letter to Illinois banks urging them to try to
steal Bank of America's customers.</p>
<h2><a href="http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/pf/1106/gallery.annoying_fees/index.html?iid=EL">9
most annoying bank fees</a></h2>
<p>"This is an opportunity for banks and credit unions to win some customers
over," he said. "That is not only good business sense, but common sense."</p>
<p>Bank of America (<span class="inlink_chart"><a class="inlink" href="http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=BAC&source=story_quote_link">BAC</a></span>,
<a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/snapshots/2580.html?source=story_f500_link">Fortune
500</a>) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p>
<p>The so-called Durbin Amendment, part of a larger Wall Street reform law,
limits banks to charging 21 cents for each debit card transaction. Previously
the banks would charge an average of 44 cents, mostly to retailers.</p>
<p>Durbin, citing numbers from the Federal Reserve, said debit card swipes cost
the banks between just 4 and 12 cents -- far below even the new 21 cent cap.</p>
<p>The 21 cent cap is expected to cost the banking industry $5 billion a year,
and other banks are <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/22/pf/wells_fargo_debit_rewards/index.htm">considering
moves similar to Bank of America's</a>.</p>
<p>Last month, Wells Fargo (<span class="inlink_chart"><a class="inlink" href="http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=WFC&source=story_quote_link">WFC</a></span>,
<a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/snapshots/2578.html?source=story_f500_link">Fortune
500</a>) said it will test a $3 monthly fee in Georgia, New Mexico, Nevada,
Oregon and Washington for customers who use their debit card for purchases. That
test begins Oct. 14.</p>
<p>At the end of last year, JPMorgan Chase (<span class="inlink_chart"><a class="inlink" href="http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=JPM&source=story_quote_link">JPM</a></span>,
<a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/snapshots/2608.html?source=story_f500_link">Fortune
500</a>) announced a similar test, in which it charged customers in northern
Wisconsin a $3 fee for using their debit cards. A Chase spokesman said last
month that the tests were still underway.</p>
<p>Durbin said banks were trying to make debit cards "more expensive."</p>
<p>"If they can push people away from debit cards and into credit they make more
money. I think that's really the motive behind this."</p>
<p>But the industry disputes Durbin's argument and says the new cap is below
what it costs banks to process transactions.</p>
<p>The losers are consumers, while the winners are retailers that no longer have
to pony up as much money, Frank Keating, head of the American Bankers
Association, said on Friday. </p>
<p>The cap "provided big-box retailers with $7 billion in windfall profits while
forcing banks to lose money on every debit card transaction," Keating said.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, Keating reiterated that the cap has <a title="http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/07/15/the-de-banking-of-america/
CTRL + Click to follow link" href="http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/07/15/the-de-banking-of-america/">altered
the economics of debit cards</a>.</p>
<p>"As a direct result of the Durbin Amendment, consumers have started paying
for financial services they previously enjoyed free of charge," Keating
said.</p></div></font></div>
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<div><font size="2" face="Verdana">________________________________________</font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Verdana">Wayne A. Fox<br><a title="mailto:wayne.a.fox@gmail.com
CTRL + Click to follow link" href="mailto:wayne.a.fox@gmail.com"><a href="mailto:wayne.a.fox@gmail.com">wayne.a.fox@gmail.com</a></a><br></font></div>
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