PayThink

A reader poll on the effects of the debit interchange cap galvanized both sides of the argument, sparking 10 times American Banker's average response and even a rallying cry over Twitter from the Independent Community Bankers of America.

Servicers call the 27-page proposal unfair and impractical. It's hard to see them convincing regulators of the former, but the latter objection is harder to dismiss out of hand.

WASHINGTON — Richard Fisher, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, is known for using colorful analogies in his speeches, but he may have reached a new high — or low, depending on your point of view — by comparing Congress to Lindsay Lohan, whose problems with drugs are well known and who was recently charged with shoplifting.

From the reporter's notebook following CUNA's Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC) last week, and appearing in order reflective of a cluttered mind.

CUs have been put in a difficult situation in recent years. While the core beliefs of credit unions are to put members first and help all members, they also need to comply with the accounting and regulatory requirements.

Re: "NCUA Requires Opt-In For Free Checking Fees," CU Journal Daily Briefing, Feb. 28. Let's get the facts straight without embellishing. The opinion did not mention anything about "opt-in." It also did NOT take issue with the program itself, only the fact that you cannot add a monthly fee and still call the account "free."

This year marks the hundredth anniversary of a prosaic, but integral, feature of the U.S. banking system: uniform routing numbers.

One of the arguments made against the Durbin restriction on interchange is that it will hurt community banks. Poppycock. Since Durbin explicitly excludes banks with assets under $10 billion from the restriction on interchange, it takes a hyperactive imagination to see how these banks could be hurt by it. Lobbyists have the requisite inventiveness.

As Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner heads to the House Financial Services Committee this morning to testify on the White House's housing finance reform plan, observers are hoping some key questions can finally be cleared up:1) Will Geithner express a preference for a particular approach?2) Will House Republicans rally around an approach?3) How much name calling will there be?

Charles Ferguson may have won an Academy Award late Sunday for directing "Inside Job," a documentary on the financial crisis, but he appeared to be channeling another Oscar-winning film when he delivered his acceptance speech: "There Will Be Blood."