In their war against clamping down on interchange fees, the credit unions are appealing directly to President Obama.
The National Association of Federal Credit Unions released a letter Thursday it sent to Obama arguing that a provision added to the regulatory reform bill by Sen. Dick Durbin that would require the Federal Reserve Board to regulate interchange fees on debit transactions would not help consumers, and could cripple financial institutions.
"The interchange reform proposal included in [the Senate bill] will do little, if anything, to help consumers. In fact, the way the proposed change to the law was drafted, there is no guarantee that any savings will be passed along to consumers, including the 92 million credit union members in this nation," Fred Becker, NAFCU's president and chief executive, wrote in the letter.
"At the same time, this change will create significant new problems for all financial institutions, particularly credit unions."
