RUSSELL SIMMONS
"Debit cards are what keep the underserved from the claws of payday lenders and check cashers, from humiliating lines waiting to cash their paychecks and then more lines to pay their bills."
— Hip-hop mogul and founder of the RushCard, in a letter to Congress explaining why prepaid cards should be exempt from new interchange rules.
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ED MIERZWINSKI
"Prepaid cards like the RushCard have all the fees associated with the worst bank accounts but don't encourage you to develop a banking relationship that helps you develop assets. That particular card practically has a fee for looking at it."
— Director of the consumer program at U.S. Public Interest Research Group
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REP. BARNEY FRANK
"This is an effort to call it TARP. It is not TARP. It's the Pee-wee Herman school of legislating: 'Let's call each other names without dealing with the substance.'"
— House Financial Services Committee chairman, arguing that the program to create a $30 billion fund to fuel small-business lending at community banks is substantially different fromthe Troubled Asset Relief Program
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SEN. CHRIS DODD
"My great fear is that we've all died and this is our purgatory. We are going to spend the rest of our lives here in conference."
— Senate Banking Committee chairman, on the lengthy debates as the House and Senate reconciled their regulatory reform bills
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PHILLIP TIRONE
"The government wants to see the economy recover, and with Fannie Mae in the pocket of every politician, its stringent policy will be short-lived."
— Founder of Mortgage Equity Group, calling a bluff on the agency's threats to lock out strategic defaulters from future home loans
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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER
"Americans are about to get socked."
— New York Democrat, criticizing plans by banks to do away with freechecking accounts
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RICHARD HOLBROOK
"Wainwright was the most attractive on our list for institutions we'd like to acquire in order to beef up our distribution network."
— CEO of Eastern Bank in Boston, on its acquisition of neighboring Wainwright Bank
