USPIRG Is No Friend Of CUs

In response to Edwin Mierzwinski of U.S. Public Interest Group and his statement that the Durbin Amendment will have a beneficial impact on consumers, what this gentleman does not understand fully is that credit unions in general have not raised other fees in many years, and that we live on a much smaller income than the giant credit card issuers.

My credit union has averaged about one-half of one percent ROA for the past few years and we are well above peer average in that category. Reducing the debit interchange income, for us, will place us in a negative income position and force us to raise other fees just to break even. The fact that we are under the $10 billion asset cap does us no good since competition with those who are above $10 billion in assets will force our debit provider to lower their fees to meet the competition.

This gentleman apparently does not understand, or does not care, that small credit unions will be either forced out of business or forced to raise other fees if the interchange rule is enacted. The effect of this will be more costly to consumers than the expected benefit this rule would provide.

Ricky Browning
Singing River FCU
Moss Point, Miss.

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