Sept. 24, 2012 – NAFCU joined with CUNA, the American Bankers Association and the Independent Community Bankers of America in a letter Friday to House and Senate leaders on the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act’s debit interchange reforms implemented about one year ago.
The groups note that, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report, institutions statutorily “exempt” from the law’s debit interchange provisions (the “Durbin amendment”) saw a 5 percent drop in interchange revenue in the first three months of implementation of the fee cap alone. The study says community banks and credit unions are struggling to maintain viable debit programs and that some have had to raise fees. The report also predicts more difficulties for these institutions as the marketplace evolves.
The GAO included the information in its recent study, “Community Banks and Credit Unions: Impact of the Dodd-Frank Depends Largely on Future Rulemakings.”
(NAFCU, in a recent survey, found that members seeing declines in interchange fee income are those exempt from the Durbin amendment.)
The trades’ letter Friday went to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.