If you're one of the millions very distraught about Bank of America's new $5 per month fee (or shall we say tax?) on those that use their debit card, we all have Illinois' senior U.S. Senator Dick Durbin to thank. Yes, his legislation to cap bank fees on debit cards has led to what's now hurting poor customers the most.
Heritage Foundation writes this morning about Durbin's- debacle, and predicts that other banks will be following suit:
Bank of America is imposing the new fee in anticipation of a $2 billion annual loss brought about by the “Durbin Amendment” — a provision of last year’s Dodd-Frank Wall Street financial reform bill.
Signed into law in July 2010, the measure was intended to protect America from another financial meltdown, but in reality it placed a boatload of new burdens on financial institutions and their customers. The results? Increased risks to the financial system, increased regulations, and in this case, increased costs to anyone who uses a debit card.
Under the Durbin Amendment–named for its backer Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)–the federal government now limits the amount of money banks can charge merchants when you swipe your debit card, costing them an estimated $6.6 billion per year in revenue. Rather than recoup their costs from merchants, banks are looking to consumers to pay the bill.
Yes, the feel-good legislation is hurting the poor he says he intended to protect. So misguided, aren't those Democrat liberals? More about all this HERE.
