This week President Donald Trump is set to order a regulatory rollback for the financial industry with his sights set on the Dodd-Frank Act. As the Trump Administration begins taking action to relieve consumers and businesses of the massive Dodd-Frank regulatory burden, the Administration should begin with one of the most onerous and failed Dodd-Frank policies – the Durbin Amendment.
Passed as part of the Dodd-Frank Act, the Durbin Amendment allows the government to set price controls on fees for debit card transactions. Prior to enactment of Durbin, these fees were not capped, and issuers of debit cards, such as credit unions and banks, were encouraged by free market competition to offer consumers benefits, such as free checking accounts.