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Big Banks, Bigger Fees A National Survey Of Bank Fees November 1, 2001 |
NEW July 2004 Take action to fight OCC
Welcome to StopATMFees.Com, the state Public Interest Research Groups' campaign to end extra ATM fees. The State PIRGs are non-profit, non-partisan, consumer and environmental advocacy groups active around the country.
Consumers are tired of paying twice for one ATM transaction. First, your bank charges you $2 and shares it with the ATM owner. Then, the ATM owner charges you another two bucks as a surcharge. It's outrageous to get socked up to $4 for an ATM transaction that costs a bank only about a quarter. And we're not alone. Cities, led by Santa Monica, CA and San Francisco and others have banned ATM fees. So did the states of Connecticut and Iowa. In San Francisco, citizens voted overwhelmingly in support of banning unfair ATM fees.
Unfortunately, banks, insurance companies and others in the financial industry have been successful over the last several years in convincing Congress to limit the rights of states and cities to pass strong consumer protections. As a result, recent court decisions have overturned these ATM fee bans across the country.
Even worse, an obscure federal agency known as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has gone even further and improperly issued rules that eliminate longstanding state legislative authority to enact any state consumer laws and prevent state attorneys general and financial regulators from enforcing violations of those laws against national banks.
State legislatures, attorneys general and governors have joined consumer, community and civil rights groups to fight back. If the OCC action is not overturned by Congress, predatory mortgage lending will increase, more banks will get involved in shabby payday loan-like "bounce protection" scams, credit card companies will intensify their unfair practices and bank and ATM fees will rise even more astronomically. Find out more at OCCWatch.
What You Can Do: Congress has authority to "veto" these new rules. Please take a moment to let Congress know you support giving the states back their rights to protect their citizens from unfair banking practices.