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Thursday, Jul. 16, 1998
Double-charging at ATMs targeted
Sen. D'Amato vows he'll seek bill banning surcharges at bank machines
By MARCY GORDON
Associated PressWASHINGTON -- Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, R-N.Y., courting consumers in his re-election bid, said Wednesday he'll get the Senate to vote this year on legislation to ban banks' practice of making double charges on ATM transactions.
The pledge by D'Amato, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, came a day after he attended a rally of thousands of credit union members from around the country.
ATM ``double-charging continues to spread like a plague across the country,'' he said at a packed hearing of the banking panel. ``Consumers are getting walloped.''
Surcharges paid to the bank operating an automated teller machine come on top of fees many customers pay their own bank when they use another bank's machine. ATM surcharges now average $1, and 64 percent of the nation's banks impose them, according to a new study by congressional investigators.
Armed with those findings and consumer-group studies also showing continuing increases in the surcharges, D'Amato said he planned to put his surcharge-ban bill to a Senate vote before the end of the legislative session this fall.
Large banks oppose such legislation, insisting that ATM fees are clearly disclosed and consumers enjoy having the 24-hour convenience. Some small banks, however, agree with D'Amato that the surcharges put smaller banks and credit unions at a disadvantage to big institutions, because customers are driven to switch their accounts to a bigger bank rather than pay surcharges for using its ATM.
Tapping into consumers' ire against banks, D'Amato has denounced ATM surcharges before -- even threatening ATM networks with subpoenas in June 1997 if they didn't provide data on transaction costs. The two biggest networks, Cirrus and Plus, are owned by credit card giants MasterCard International and Visa USA Inc., respectively.
All but two of the bill's co-sponsors are Democrats, and D'Amato has run into opposition from fellow Republicans on the banking panel. Some of them, such as Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., have warned the measure would constitute price-setting and intrusion in the marketplace by the federal government.
That view was echoed Wednesday by the American Bankers Association, the industry's biggest lobbying group. ``Price controls have no place in a free-market economy,'' Richard E. Bolton Jr., president and CEO of Charter Bank of Waltham, Mass., and representing the ABA, said in testimony prepared for the hearing.
Bolton warned that a surcharge ban could lead banks to shut down thousands of ATMs.
The Republican opponents also say the issue touches on states' rights because several states have enacted laws or issued regulations allowing ATM surcharges.
Two states, on the other hand, have banned them: Connecticut and Iowa.
D'Amato also has strongly supported House-passed legislation to help credit unions by allowing them to continue to include more than one group in their memberships. The bill, which would override a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year, has been fiercely contested by the banking industry.
On Tuesday, D'Amato addressed the credit union rally at the Capitol, along with Sen. Paul Sarbanes of Maryland, the Banking Committee's senior Democrat, and several other lawmakers.
``We are fighting for your future and for competition -- to see that the little guy doesn't get lost in the (bank) megamergers,'' D'Amato told the crowd, which organizers estimated at around 6,000.
D'Amato, a three-term incumbent, will face one of three Democrats in the fall election: nine-term U.S. Rep. Charles Schumer, 1984 vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro and New York City Public Advocate Mark Green.
Schumer has taken a milder approach toward ATM surcharges, proposing a measure to require disclosure of all ATM charges on the terminal screen before money is withdrawn, but not banning them.
``Every six years, Al D'Amato trumpets a consumer issue,'' Schumer said in a telephone interview, referring to a senator's term in office.
He said his approach is more realistic, since a ban on surcharges is unlikely to be enacted. ``Let's try to do something real to help the consumer,'' Schumer said.Post your comments about local news eventsFront Page || Main Index || News || Business || Texas || South Texas Outdoors || Birdwatching || Sports || Entertainment || Selena || Education || South Texas Attractions || World Wide Web