The response by Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), Citigroup (NYSE:C), Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) and others to the proposed idea of limiting the amount they can charge merchants for debit fees and other foolish regulatory overkill reveals it just needs to be dropped and left alone, as it's a non-issue that is going to be disruptive because it's not coming from the market and what it wants.
Those profiting from this will be merchants who will save on the rule changes. But in the past when other countries have done this it didn't help consumers save money at all, as it was simply kept as a source of revenue by the companies.
So now what is happening is these banks are implementing fees on formerly free checking accounts to make up for the approximate $12 billion a year they'll lose because of the proposed fee changes.
As usual, it'll be the consumers that will be hurt by these foolish regulations, as the banks will have to pay for checking in some way, and if it isn't through prior means they'll find it another way, as we're starting to see with most banks already.
The winners in all of this will be the merchants, who will not pass the savings on to consumers but pocket it for themselves.
None of this is bad other than the fact that it shouldn't even be an issue as there is no reason or right for the government to interfere in the market in this way.
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