New $3-per-month bank fee for debit cards an industry response to Dodd-Frank

Wells Fargo Bank plans to initiate a $3-per-month fee on debit cards next month, Associated Press is reporting. Why is that?

The industry's experimentation with fees is partly a response to a new regulation that will sharply reduce the revenue that banks collect on checking accounts. Starting this fall, a new cap will limit how much banks can collect from merchants whenever a customer swipes a debit card. It's not clear exactly how much banks will lose. In 2009 banks collected an estimated $19.7 billion in such fees from merchants, according to the Nilson Report, which tracks the payments industry.

The new regulagation comes from the much touted Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, triumphantly signed into law by President Obama 13 months ago.

Why do these Democrats keep insisting on meddling with businesses? As for AP, they owe it to their readers to mention from whence the regulation came.

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