Congressman Clouseau Cracks The Debit-Card Caper

The decision by Bank of America (and now other banks) to raise their debit card fees has prompted Congressional ire posturing:

Lawmakers seek probe on banks' new debit card fees

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Members of Congress are asking the Justice Department to investigate whether Bank of America and other major banks improperly worked together to charge customers new monthly fees for using their debit cards.

Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., and four other Democrats said Thursday that they've asked Attorney General Eric Holder to open a probe into possible collusion by the banks.

Welch said the lawmakers had no evidence of collusion. But he said the timing of the fees merit an investigation.

"You don't have a competitive marketplace," Welch said at a news conference.

They question the timing!  Well, why is everyone lookign at fee increases just now?

Bank of America, the nation's largest bank, said the monthly charge was necessary because the Federal Reserve has capped the fees that they can charge merchants for swiping the debit cards. Congress directed the Fed to adopt the cap on swipe fees under the financial overhaul law.

Here is some background on the final Fed rules.  And the evidence of collusion?

The lawmakers said statements made by some banks and their trade associations raise questions about possible coordination.

In their letter to Holder, they cite an e-mail by the Texas Bankers Association to its members. It was sent after legislation failed that would have delayed a cap on the swipe fees banks can charge merchants.

The e-mail said: "Now the industry must regroup and each and every one of you must decide how you are going to pay for the use of debit cards. It may be through a monthly fee."

Pretty suspicious! I suggest the DoJ ought to include ABC News in their dragnet, since these Wall Street water-carriers included this coded message in their analysis of how the new rules might effect consumers:

Fees for debit cards or debit transactions? Be on the alert.

Although less likely under the current cap than under the previous proposal, it's still very possible that some issuers will start charging debit card fees, at least on less profitable accounts. As with ATM fees, they'll start small, test the waters, and if successful, slowly raise them. Just as we've become accustomed to ever increasing ATM fees, we may adjust to the idea of debit card fees as well. And just as some financial institutions waive ATM fees for their best customers, the same is likely to happen with debit cards as well.

Also a possible candidate for indictment - the Federal Reserve itself, which hosted public comments on the proposed rule and included this inflammatory summary:

1. Overview of Comments Received

...issuers, their trade groups, payment card networks, and some consumers opposed the proposal for a range of reasons, including concern that it would decrease revenue to issuing banks; result in increased cardholder fees or decreased availability of debit card services...

One might infer that higher fees to consumers were a predictable consequence of reducing fees paid by merchants.  But Congress can't be fooled that easily!

Comments

[Charlie (Colorado)]

They can't actually be that stupid, can they?

[Danube of Thought]

They cannot possibly have consulted an antitrust lawyer. Or anyone who has completed an antitrust course in law school.

[Threadkiller]

ATMs causing more problems? Someone was on to this in June.

http://weaselzippers.us/2011/06/14/obama-blames-atm-machines-for-high-unemployment-rates-wait-did-he-say-atm-machines/

Not Now Kato!!!

[Gmax]

Go look at the four additional Democrats by name. The Marxist caucus or as Howard Dean likes to say the Democrat wing of the Democrat Party. Yes they can be that stupid. They show it on almost a daily basis.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Durbin got paid for this gem. I'm still trying to figure out by whom and for what end.

It's there. He doesn't do this for free.

[Gmax]

Also requesting the investigation were Democratic Reps. John Conyers of Michigan, Keith Ellison of Minnesota, Mike Honda of California and Raul Grijalva of Arizona.

I guess Schachkowsky had a workers of the world organization conflict or they would have hit the five fold jackpot.

[maryrose]

Mel:
I agree with your analysis. Somehow Durbin is involved since he was the first to profess fake outrage and to tell people to find another bank. It's the law of unintended consequences. I remember Senator Corker saying what started out as a not so bad bill got trashed by dems and morphed into the Dodd/Frank mess we have today.

[maryrose]

Keith Ellison is the crying {at House hearings} muslim socialist and Raul GRjalva was almost defeated in 2010. Oelbermann contributed to his campaign.

[Threadkiller]

Collusion over$60 a year. When the crack that case they should go after this monopoly:

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2010/10/red-tape-rising-obamas-torrent-of-new-regulation

I would like to see a newer version of that heritage story. Something tells me $60 peanuts by comparison.

[Gmax]

Probably with an assist from Corker.

[Danube of Thought]

Here's the scenario: Bank A is looking at a new rule that is going to reduce its annual revenue by a number containing ten figures before the decimal. So the bank president says, "we've gotta raise some fees in order to make up the shortfall." Then, after a pause, he says "but, first, I'll have to risk a personal felony beef and five years in the can, and put the bank at risk of a felony conviction and a huge fine, by getting all our competitors to agree to do the same. And I'm happy to do all of this because I am certain that none of the myriad persons who will have to be in on the deal will write a careless memo or e-mail about it or simply blow the whistle. And there's no chance that any of these people, having been summoned before a federal grand jury and granted immunity, will decide to tell the truth and walk free, as opposed to lying on our behalf and risk his own five-year stint in the Big House."

Having given all of this due consideration, he says "Mable, get me the presidents of Banks B, C, D and E on the phone. We're going for it!"

[Gmax]

The Real Jobs Act as introduced into the Senate by Republicans:

1. Lower the corporate tax rate to 25 percent, resulting in an additional 581,000 jobs per year, on average

2. Reduce the tax on foreign earnings brought back to the U.S., resulting in 2.9 million jobs

3. Repeal Dodd-Frank, estimated to cost the U.S. 4.6 million jobs by 2015

4. Repeal ACA, estimated to cost the U.S. economy at least 800,000 jobs

5. Lift the offshore drilling moratoria, resulting in 1.2 million U.S. jobs

6. Prohibit the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases, estimated to cost the economy 1.4 million jobs by 2014

7. Ratify, immediately, the free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, resulting in 250,000 new jobs

[Clarice]

Is there some test you have to flunk to be elected to Congress

[narciso]

The old line,' who was he running against a lizard' apparently holds true;

A year after September 11, Findley published an article saying that this attack would never have occurred were it not for the United States' uncritical support of Israel.[5] In that same article, he wrote that "U.S. policy on the Mideast is made in Israel, not in Washington," and that "once beloved worldwide, the U.S. government finds itself reviled in most countries because it provides unconditional support of Israeli violations of the United Nations Charter, international law, and the precepts of all major religious faiths."

[Ignatz]

It's an odd world and Dems may be the oddest ducks in it. In their world:

Consumers charged $5 per month if they choose to have a debit card after congress intentionally forces debit fees charged to merchants reduced=collusion by the banks that rates an investigation.

Taxpayers forcibly burdened with $1.3 TRILLION of new borrowing every year for three years in a row=good government.

[Gmax]

Yeah its makes all the sense in the world that its collusion. There is not anything that happened recently that severely restricted the revenues of banks, ALL banks is there?

Idiots. or worse, they know damn well its a lie and just looking to pander to their idiot base. You pick.

[Army of Davids]

GOP establishment has annointed Romney. They want it over quick. Outsiders need not apply.

They are not gonna get what they want. The Cain Train will hit them in South Carolina.

This is gonna be a bigger battle then they think.

[narciso]

You would think though, with all the debt that
BoA, took on, with the Countrywide deal, with
Buffett bailing them out, I've given up trying
to figure out the logic of these policies,

[jorod]

Down with landlords and capitalist roaders!

[Old Lurker]

Easy there jorod

[Clarice]

Don Surber with the news that Obama has lost West Virginia:

One would think that a man who’s approval/disapproval numbers are 32%/62% could not drop any lower. After all, West Virginia is a state where 55% of the voters are registered Democratic and President Obama is a Democrat. But somehow, President Obama has managed to drop from 32%/62% in September down to 28%/63% in October, polls by Public Policy Polling in the last 2 months show.

[Army of Davids]

Florida will also be a tough battle for Romney. Cain will get huge turnout at the top 1/2 of the state.

Don't see Romney beating Cain in Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana either. The chatter on the ground is not what the GOP establishment wants.

Romney is clearly still the frontrunner. But the Cain Train is gonna smack the GOP establishment. Romney likely has a foot- hold on a lot of brains. But Cain has won a lot of hearts. Don't underestimate the latter.

Early InTrades on Iowa 37% Romney to win. 20% Cain to win.

[narciso]

Here's the Reuters piece on Soros, and Adbusters, the title obfuscates the material;

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/13/us-wallstreet-protests-origins-idUSTRE79C1YN20111013

[Neo]

This was all the doing of Dick "head" Durbin.

[Danube of Thought]

Say what you will about your Mahometan, at least he has an enlightened understanding of proper marital norms:

BANGKOK: Just months after telling its members to serve their husbands better than prostitutes, prompting widespread criticism, the Obedient Wives Club of Malaysia has stirred further controversy by publishing a guide to Islamic sex.

The 115-page pocket-sized book, which will outrage many Muslims and non-Muslims, says a Muslim man can have sex with all of his wives at the same time.

Under strict Islamic tradition a man can have up to four wives if he can provide for them all.

It's all here, but allow me to add one further excerpt:

In June the club's vice-president, Dr Rohaya Mohamad, prompted criticism when she advised women to behave like a ''first-class whore'' while in the company of their husbands if they wanted their marriage to succeed.

You go, girl!

[Danube of Thought]

P.S.--I am attempting to generate some movement toward establishing a similar club in California.

[Jack is Back!]

Didn't I read somewhere that Durbin was lobbied by some association or even Walmart to help in reducing the percentages they paid the banks for allowing customers to use debit cards? It could be easy to find out by google but I am watching the Brew Crew against the other Brew (like in Bud) Crew.

But it has to be the retailer segment. LUN

[Army of Davids]

Cain needs a Moneybomb.

The GOP establishment is moving fast. They want it over quick.

[daddy]

Am watching France24, a French News channel partly in English.

Big discussion of a proposed French Law that would not allow anyone to become a French Citizen if that person could not demonstrate fluency in French. The new test being designed also focuses on an understanding of French Civics, and lack of that understanding would also be a disqualifier.

In the discussion it appears that the Law is primarily intent on stopping citizenship being granted to North African's and Islamics. Much discussion of racism, skin color, religion, etc.

Thought I'd mention it since I hadn't heard a thing about such a Law.
Other than that the stories covered are the dropping of the 2nd Rape case against DSK, and the Iran plot. Haven't seen a word yet on the OWS demonstrations on this channel. For that I have to click over to CNN where it appears as a "Breaking Story" on the screen 24/7.

[Jack is Back!]

daddy,

That is the influence of the "acadamie" which controls the French language culture and to which most elite French buy into. Believe me their socialist, distributionist and secular humanist tendencies will prevail.

[Frau Steuerangst]

DoT, don't you mean, " You go, girls!"?

[Ann]

CC:

Can you believe no one has suggested my name as the fashion stylist for the first lady in our new administration? I am hurt.

Btw, which school should I send my daughter to when she graduates. I have decided she needs to be a lawyer.

We had to be in juvenile court this morning at 8:00am because my 2nd degree black belt, homecoming queen, sweet as can be daughter totaled our brand new car. She also totaled the car she ran into.

The citation was Failure to Yield and she talked the judge into a 10.00 fine.

[Ignatz]

--In June the club's vice-president, Dr Rohaya Mohamad--

He's also a client!

[Melinda Romanoff]

Ann-

I would like to ask your daughter to represent me in my future dealings in your fair city.

What are her rates?

[Army of Davids]

At least w/ Mitt we get a guy who went to Harvard Law School and who's Daddy was a governor of Michigan.

I'm voting for the guy who built himself up from nothing in the segregated South. I know where he stands.

[Clarice]

Ann, that's a very good beginning for her.

[Pofarmer]

Yes, more regulation, we need more regulations, more regulations will fix everything.

Friggin morons.

What we needed to do was let some of these guys fail, and create space for the trillions of $$$ that companies have supposedly got locked away.

[Captain Hate]

O/T The blind leading the autistic: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/10/13/dem_congresswoman_gop_not_patriots_they_dont_love_this_country.html

Getting your prompts from Ed "Don't call me Debbie" Schultz usually produces unintentional hilarity.

[Danube of Thought]

"He's also a client!"

Looks to me like the estimable Dr.Mohamed is a she.

[Ann]

Mel,
I believe her rate will be the difference between what the new car cost (two months ago) minus what the insurance reimbursement will be plus the monthly increase in our insurance policy. :)

Are you going to be a regular in Columbus now?
I will have to get the Ohio JOMers together and sell my dog. LOL
Btw, you should see the hundred year old tree they cut down in my backyard. SAD!

I felt like I had something in common with it.
(Who is fooling who? I DO HAVE something in common with it.) :(

[daddy]

JiB,

One of the discussion points was about the North Africans that already speak French, and the rejoinder was that they did not speak a version of French that was acceptable---they spoke some bastardized unacceptable pidgin version of the dialect and the new test would eliminate those that did not speak a proper version of the approved Lingua France. Your assumption of the Academie Language police being behind this makes sense to me.

[Danube of Thought]

"What are her rates?"

Wrong question. Never ask about the rates. Just get the best lawyer you can, then pay the bill by return mail and throw in a hefty bonus as a token of appreciation.

That's the way things work in any world where the clients have a modicum of human decency.

[Ann]

Clarice:

I was thinking of shipping her to Boston.When Jane runs for Congress she would be a real asset and I know she would be in good hands.

Answer carefully, because you are number two on my list. :)

Dot was actually on the list until he mentioned the girls club he is starting. Ha ha ha

[jimmyk]

It wasn't just Durbin. The Fed had discretion over where to set the fees, and against the advice of their economists and all common sense they decided to cozy up to Congress and make the caps really low.

[Rick Ballard]

DoT,

You forgot to add the 15% supplement on cases where the judge and/or jury find against the client. How else could an attorney be expected to bear the indignity of an incorrect decision?

[Clarice]

She;s be in great hands with, Jane, Ann.
DoT:"That's the way things work in any world where the clients have a modicum of human decency."

Did ou get into the martinis early tonight?

[Jim Miller]

"They can't actually be that stupid, can they?"

Sure they can. My senior senator is Patty "no rocket scientist" Murray, so they definitely can be that stupid.

(I like Murray, in somewhat the same way I would like a neighbor who is well meaning, but not the first person you would choose to organize something as complicated as a potluck dinner.)

[DrJ]

OT for computer nerds (who, me?):

Dennis Ritchie, who wrote the C language and was a major contributor to the Unix programming environment, passed yesterday at the age of 70.

AMD released its next major CPU architecture yesterday, and it is a disappointment according to the usual benchmarking sources, at least for desktop usage.

[Danube of Thought]

"Did you get into the martinis early tonight?"

There's no such thing as early. Anyway, as US District Judge Prentice Marshall in Chicago once pronounced from the bench, "The highest and best use a man can make of his money is the payment of a reasonable attorney's fee."

Look, everybody: pay your lawyer in full, and promptly. And remember him in your prayers each night: he's there for you. But of course he has a family to feed...

[Jane]

Send her on down Ann! How fun for me. Dot can get her into Harvard. I am a BC girl - which probably is more fun.

Mel, durbin did it for Walgreens I believe.

Any of you watch Erin somebody on CNN - I think its called "out front". She has Herman Cain on right now. So far I like her.

[Harrjf]

Jane, as a BC girl when did you attend? I am BC'79.

[Army of Davids]

Jane...Erin is coming from years at CNBC.

She is outstanding.

Also happens to be a member of the Council of Foreign Relations.

[Army of Davids]

Erin Burnett...

I don't watch CNN much. But on financial matters she is likely sharper than anyone they have. Certainly of main anchors.

[Jacques Bauer]

Am watching France24

Il n'y a pas assez de temps!

[bgates]

Dennis Ritchie, who wrote the C language and was a major contributor to the Unix programming environment, passed yesterday at the age of 70.

Let's observe a moment of silence.
#include
#include

int timeout ( int seconds )
{
clock_t endwait;
endwait = clock () + seconds * CLOCKS_PER_SEC ;
while (clock() < endwait) {}

return 1;
}
timeout(60);

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vnjagvet]

DOT is right. I was once advised by wise senior partner that there are A clients B clients and C clients. A clients do as DOT suggests and pay their bill by return mail. Their phone calls are returned immediately. B clients pay when their other accounts payable get paid -- sometimes every 30 days, sometimes every 60 days. They get their phone calls returned within 24 or 48 hours. C clients pay when they feel like it. They get their phone calls returned when the lawyer feels like it.

[Chris]

Durbin got paid for this gem. I'm still trying to figure out by whom and for what end.

It's there. He doesn't do this for free.

Posted by: Melinda Romanoff | October 13, 2011 at 08:07 PM

National Retail Federation. I have it on authority from a person in the room at the NRF confab in DC a few months ago. Durbin received standing O from the attendees, just days after passage of Dodd-Frank. Bought and paid for. Nice and legal.

Time to create a diversion.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Speak of the devil:

Far left Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) marched in the Occupy Chicago rally this week with members of the Communist Party USA.

Schakowsky, a Chicago representative, said she was out marching with ordinary Americans… But, if you take a closer look at the crowd you see they are Mao supporters, open Marxists, anarchists, SEIU goons and young street thugs.
This is an amazing video.

[Jane]

Harrjf,

BC Law - 87.

[centralcal]

Way to go Real Ann! $10 bucks? Jane will be fab-o as a mentor.

Yes, Ann, you are on everybody's top list for FLOTUS stylist. Hopefully you won't have to work with a 6 ft. amazon, whose face is morphing ala Michael Jackson into something almost creepy.

[Manuel Transmission]

DrJ, just sat through a couple hours of AMD techno-pitch yesterday. The new chip is primarily slated for servers. Has a better structure for divving up the load between the two CPUs. Float is shared, but integer is direct. They also claim better power/heat performance which would help in a server farm.

[PD]

Might as well say members of Congress collude every time they vote. After all, they all act in concert to reach a decision.

[pagar]

"Schakowsky, a Chicago representative, said she was out marching with ordinary Americans…"

For Schakowsky and a lot of other Democrats, ordinary Americans would be members of the Communist party.

[DrJ]

ManTran,

That's basically right about Bulldozer. The initial tests don't show that the power profile is particularly good, though, and a lot of optimization remains. We'll see.

[rse]

PD-

I was GC of a healthcare company that was bought out and treasurer of its PAC. I would get phone calls sometimes from staff and sometimes reps themselves reminding me the consequences of not contributing especially to campaigns of people on relevant committees.

The factual accuracy of the phrase "discontinuing the PAC because the relevant issue has been resolved" seemed to be a reason to bring more regulations and scrutiny to bear.

I can only imagine in this atmosphere how the shakedowns go.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

That's the way things work in any world where the clients have a modicum of human decency.

Would there be lawyers in such a world?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Let's observe a moment of silence.

Snicker.