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A Reason for Free Checking’s Decline

| Wall Street Journal

In his July 27 letter, Sen. Dick Durbin claims that his amendment to the Dodd-Frank Act capping debit-card interchange fees didn’t reduce the prevalence of free-checking products. He states that many credit unions continue to offer free checking, but this is because they are exempt from the Durbin amendment. The same study he cites shows the percentage of free-checking accounts at banks fell from 76% to 38% since the amendment was put in place. Furthermore, as a result of it, minimum-balance requirements and monthly service charges have risen, driving many poor people out of the banking system.

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