enthalpy

Friday, January 22, 2010


There's a lot of clamoring about how the "big banks" are too big to fail, and that the people need to make them smaller. Well, good luck with that, but what about the ramifications of that when they take away my free checking?
Banks are feeling heat from all sides. This week, President Obama moved to limit the size and activities of the biggest institutions. Last week, he proposed a tax to recover bailout funds.

The biggest impact on checking accounts, however, is likely to come from new regulations governing overdraft protection. Starting in July, banks will need explicit permission from customers before allowing them to use their debit cards to spend more than they have in their bank accounts on a one-time purchase. Similar restrictions will apply to A.T.M. withdrawals.
All it's gonna take is one bank that does offer free checking to put all the others out of business. Let the fun begin!



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