EMPOWER THE GRASS ROOTS OF YOUR COMMUNITY

***DISCLAIMER: As always, this brief policy article represents my own research and opinions and does not purport to represent the opinions of nor was it funded by any third party organization.***


"No people is wholly civilized where a distinction is drawn between stealing an office and stealing a purse." -Theodore Roosevelt .

"We believe this (Debit Card Interchange) rule should be thoroughly and expeditiously reviewed prior to implementation to ensure that it will not raise fees or otherwise harm at-risk communities, including communities of color." - Hilary Shelton, NAACP

Although pleas from concerned military, rural and urban families regarding the looming threat to free debit cards and free checking continue to pour in, I have been heartened by the thoughtful messages I've been receiving from fellow financial services industry  leaders describing their grass roots efforts to ignite Congressional action to delay implementation of the ill-conceived Debit Card Interchange Rule (see: http://www.nafcu.org/Tertiary.aspx?id=22587).

As we in the industry are reminded daily, Senate Bill 575 has yet to be brought up for a vote, as Senator Tester (D-MT) has yet to garner the necessary votes for passage. This is not a time to let up, but a time to let loose our resources to bear down on our elected officials to take well-reasoned pro-consumer action to enact a delay while objective study of the proposed Rule's impact can be undertaken.


Our advocates in the Beltway, led by Frank Keating (ABA) and Fred Becker (NAFCU), are to be commended for their tireless efforts, in concert with their state counterparts, to educate the public about the very real household economic effect that implementation of this dubious Rule would wreak. But simply posting any of the following web links on our Internet home pages and expecting our consumers to jump up and take action en masse is an inadequate strategy.
                                                                                                                                                                         http://www.savemyfreechecking.com/


http://www.saveyourdebitcard.com/


http://www.stopthedebitcardrule.com/

We must embrace our consumers with the same level of engagement that we do when meeting their financial product and service needs. Much as our consumers require our expertise and guidance to assist them in identifying appropriate deposit, loan and investment products, so too must we stand ready to assist them to more fully understand the real financial price that their families will pay if we allow the demise of the current free market electronic payments system.

Since we don't solely rely upon a newsletter article, an email campaign or a home page posting to conduct our day-to-day business, we must employ the same face-to-face actions to engage, educate, and empower our loyal consumers to take collective grass roots action. Based upon what some of our colleagues across the nation are doing, I ask you:

* Have you prepared your retail teams with adequate FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) material to aid them as they educate and assist your consumers to better understand the need to take action on this issue.

* Have you placed prominent educational materials (posters, buck slips, brochures) at your retail locations and ATM kiosks to raise awareness?

* Have you included your Congressional representative(s)' and Senators' district constituent relations office phone numbers and address prominently on such materials?

* Are you offering prepared letters and self-addressed envelopes directed toward those elected officials to your retail branch consumers for their signature and easy mailing?

We must make the looming cost of failing to delay/defeat the Rule very real and very personal to our public. Our consumers trust us with their investment choices, their home-buying dreams, their vehicle financing...they will trust us if we engage them at that same personal, community-based level of compassion and understanding regarding the impending loss of free checking and free debit card transactions. Our consumers deserve our continued best efforts.

Don't forget: The proposed Rule was a pro-business creation conceived by lobbyist Rob Green, Executive Director of the National Council of Chain Restaurants (NCCR), these trade associations represent corporate retail and restaurant conglomerates that have long sought to unilaterally renegotiate the debit card interchange fees to which they had contractually agreed. 

Thank you for your continued efforts at your institutions to engage, educate, and empower your consumers to contact their elected Congressional Representatives to voice their disapproval of this proposed Rule.

D.C. LOBBYIST TARGETS HARD-WORKING FAMILIES

***DISCLAIMER: As always, this brief policy article represents my own research and opinions and does not purport to represent the opinions of nor was it funded by any third party organization.***


"My parents moved to Los Angeles when I was really young, but I spent every summer with my grandparents, and I'd stay with my grandfather on the farm in Longview. He was retired from the railroad, and he had a small farm with some cows and some pigs. I remember part of my youth was feeding hogs and plowing fields and stuff, so that's a part of me." -Forest Whitaker

"We believe this (Debit Card Interchange) rule should be thoroughly and expeditiously reviewed prior to implementation to ensure that it will not raise fees or otherwise harm at-risk communities, including communities of color." - Hilary Shelton, NAACP

I have become very disturbed over the past several weeks as I've received innumerable pleas from cash-strapped rural and urban families regarding the effect of the pending Debit Card Interchange Rules that threaten to add transaction fees for using a debit card and to take free checking away from those hard-working families struggling to make ends meet.

http://www.savemyfreechecking.com/

Why would anyone want to charge families more to purchase children's clothing and groceries. Don't those big retail corporations earn enough profits already?

And why would anyone want to increase restaurant costs for a family that can only only afford to eat out every once in a while, and even waits to splurge for such a luxury for times between special occasions?

I like fast food, but I certainly don't like any politician pulling a fast one that harms our farm families.

Just plain disrespectful to our working men and women in our cities if you ask me or any other patriot!

What does Illinois Senator Dick Durbin have against hard-working dual-income families?
You can call and ask him at (202) 224-2152.

What did debit card interchange fees have to do with a few unscrupulous and irresponsible former mortgage lenders? And what motivated Illinois Senator Dick Durbin to bring his amendment to the Senate Floor to be included in the Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 when he did?

http://www.savemyfreechecking.com/What_Can_I_Do_675.html

Initially it would appear that Senator Durbin, as a member of the Senate Leadership, simply recognized that the Congressional mood for financial reform legislation could easily absorb another "consumer protection" measure. Yet I couldn't help but question who/what had motivated this particular measure, since the public had not been clamoring for it and no definitive study of the debit interchange topic had concluded that it harmed either the consumer public or the sophisticated commercial enterprises that freely contracted to provide or benefit from debit card interchange services.

When a diverse array well-respected public responsibility groups, including the NAACP, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Black Chamber of Commerce, and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, join together to urge Congress to revisit the well-funded and erroneous legislation, consumers immediately recognize that something is amiss in Washington. Our Congressional leaders certainly wouldn't approve of such financial measures that harm our hard-working spouses stretching every budget dollar!

Does your Congressional representative stand with urban and farm families on the Debit Interchange issue?
Ask him/her: http://www.savemyfreechecking.com/What_Can_I_Do_675.html

The debit card interchange rule doesn't actually have anything to do with legitimate consumer protection for families. Financial services professionals have always supported the common-sense market-driven consumer protection measures and licensing requirements that protect the public from the few unscrupulous charlatans who engage in predatory practices.

Since financial services professionals are simply honest, hard-working consumers with families just like you and me, they clearly recognize that protecting the integrity and public trust within the financial services industry has always provided a win-win outcome. The majority of potential misdeeds are squelched before any damage can be wrought due to internal control policies, ethics training, licensing requirements, and the self-policing nature of the industry.

The debit card interchange rule was a pro-business creation born upon a conference room table within Suite 1100 at 325 7th Street N.W. in Washington, D.C., home of the National Retail Federation, the National Restaurant Association, the National Council of Chain Restaurants, and the Merchant Payments Coalition. These trade associations represent corporate retail and restaurant conglomerates that have long sought to unilaterally renegotiate the debit card interchange fees to which they had contractually agreed. Apparently dissatisfied with their own business leaders' efforts employing commercial negotiation in the free market, these organizations turned to trade association lobbyists to continue the effort using Federal Government action to harm military families by establishing debit card usage fees and eliminating your free checking account.

Enter Rob Green, Executive Director of the National Council of Chain Restaurants (NCCR), who succeeded Jack Whipple last month to manage all NCCR government relations advocacy. Preceding his move within the confines of Suite 1100, Green was Vice President, Government and Political Affairs at the National Retail Federation (NRF), where he served as a senior lobbyist for the world’s largest retail trade association during the influential time leading up to Senator Durbin's introduction of the debit card interchange "consumer protection" rule.

Lobbyist Green immediately recognized that a perfect storm would briefly open the display window of opportunity for the NRF during which time he would propose a government price-fixing rule that would amount to a 72.7% reduction in interchange revenue for the financial services industry that had built the networks and provided the fraud reduction technology that facilitated cost-savings for consumers and businesses. Imagine if the NRF had found themselves on the receiving end of proposed legislation that would have mandated reducing their retail prices by 72.7% to those very same consumers? Would the NRF have simply "embraced" that legislation? We think not.

I am certainly not accusing Senator Durbin or Rob Green of any violations of federal law, but FEC records detail that more than just burgers and fries were in the bag when the honorable Senator and his colleagues met the former-NRF lobbyist and current NCCR Executive Director at the drive-thru window of opportunity. You yourself may follow the money transfers disclosed in publicly-available documents. While some of the world's largest big box retailers represented by Green poured money into organizations associated with Durbin and his former aides lobbying for the rule, the good Senator wove the rule into the larger legislative framework intended to curb the egregious mortgage-related abuses perpetrated by the few.

From a corporate executive viewpoint framed to maximize shareholder returns, one can certainly understand why the investment into lobbying appeared (and continues) to be a prudent investment. But given the certain unfavorable financial impact that the debit card interchange rule would impose upon American families struggling to emerge from the recent financial downturn, I would urge Senator Durbin to assume a new ethical stance and join his colleague Representative Barney Frank to support further objective study of the issue in the light of day and allow the results of such studies to be fully disclosed to non-lobbyists to allow for a proper analysis of the real impact upon the American family's budget.

For leading this effort on behalf of all American families--rural and urban--I applaud the consistent and untiring effort being put forth by Frank Keating (ABA) and Fred Becker (NAFCU) nationally, as well as John Llewellyn (Michigan Bankers Association) and Jordan Kingdon (Michigan Credit Union League) to educate the public about the very real household economic effect that implementation of this dubious rule would wreak. Ultimately, our collective efforts to preserve consumer choice and to protect business from government unconstitutional price-fixing will prevail in the bright light of day. Thank you.