Free Republic

I have an acquaintance that works at a Sun Trust bank in Richmond, VA who told me yesterday that Sun Trust charges $7 to cash a business check drawn from a SUNTRUST account. That is a lot of money for a day laborer! That is highway robbery. The bank is holding the business's money AND charging the customers to have access to it. Unbelievable.

Banks, in an attempt to wring more revenue out of customer accounts, are conjuring up new ways to raise fees on basic products like debit cards, cash machines and checking accounts. As regulation curtailing the financial institutions from levying certain charges on consumers has mounted over the past year, banks have had to dream up new fees to replace those now trimmed by laws. Banks are considering additional fees on credit cards and checking accounts. But they also are looking at new ways to make money on cash machines and especially debit cards as regulators pinch the cards' conventional revenue...

Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) said Tuesday that he would oppose the Wall Street overhaul bill as it stands because of the $19 billion in fees it would place on big financial firms. In a letter to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Brown expressed "strong opposition" to the fees that were added in the conference process between House and Senate lawmakers last week. "If the final version of the bill contains these higher taxes, I will not support it," he said. The letter is the strongest indication yet that Brown will vote against the Wall Street overhaul...

President Obama's latest desperate move to save his failing presidency is just as out of touch with the will of the American people as his idea of health care reform, cap & trade and non-stimulating stimulus bills. He and his Congressional cronies plan to force a series of votes that they believe will force Republicans to choose between Wall Street and Main Street. Continuing to prove the community organizer has no clue how business works nor how sustainable jobs are created, Obama believes he can appease voter anger by placing crippling regulations on the financial sector not realizing such a...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Bank of America Corp., hoping to grab a larger share of the U.S.-Mexican financial services market, will drop all foreign exchange and other transfer fees between the two countries, the bank said Thursday. Starting in Chicago, the Charlotte-based bank will offer account holders free money transfers between the two countries by the end of the year. Other customers will pay a reduced fee until the program rolls out nationwide in late 2005. "Our customers have identified this need, and we are responding," said Liam McGee, the bank's consumer and small business president. According to the United Nations,...