'Wake Up and Smell the Herb': Comments of the Week

On banks' motivations for getting on board with serving legal marijuana businesses:

"Wake up and smell the herb. The banking system sure does. We're about to balance some state budgets on the same plant that we spent the last [three] decades trying to bust. If our government can turn a blind eye to the massive harms of sugar, alcohol, tobacco and handguns why not play nice with another lobby?"

(Image: Thinkstock)

On whether banks should take action when disgruntled customers set up Twitter accounts that target their brand:

" There isn't much for the lawyers to do (especially if the author [of the Twitter attacks] minored in journalism and is familiar with the AP Stylebook and Libel Manual). It's also easy to block the hacks. Long-term, it may be a lot smarter to cough up the equity, a very tiny fraction of the profit, than it is to dig in the heels and take the damage to one's brand."

(Image: iStock)

On whether old-fashioned bank heists would be preferable to modern-day cybercrime:

"Kind of makes you long for the good old days when John Dillinger or Pretty Boy Floyd would walk into a bank and rob them in person. The take was probably less, but the chance for personal injury was higher."

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On the practice of denying checking accounts to applicants who have a history of overdrawing bank funds:

"If you have an account at the grocery store and you don't pay your bill, sooner or later they're not going to let you buy milk anymore. Same is true with your phone, or your cable TV or your electric company. Why do these people think that somehow it's different in banking?"

(Image: iStock)

On a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau report that found banks charge a median overdraft fee of $34 for transactions that are typically under $25:

"With today's technology these fees are unnecessary and gouge the poor and less sophisticated. I believe in free markets and personal responsibility but do not believe in giving banks carte blanche to shellac the lower class or trap them in a debt spiral when they overextend."

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On the news that banks are revisiting their overdraft fees and practices in preparation for greater scrutiny from the CFPB:

"Consumers are no different than the federal government in that they always spend more than they make and then think someone has taken advantage somehow, [while] knowing their informed choices are what led to the overdraft or tremendous deficits. As a community bank, I believe we have taken our fiduciary and community responsibility to the next level with an instant-alert system keeping the consumer informed every step of the way as they spend their money through checks, debit card and ACH activity."

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On regulators' attempts to smooth future resolutions of failing megabanks by ensuring that lenders hold enough capital and debt instruments to absorb their own losses:

"Regulators need to remember the 'E' in [the supervisory rating system] CAMELS, since no amount of capital or liquidity can save a bank whose earnings are choked. That is to say, while so much regulatory attention has been focused on the case of banks failing, it is as much or more important for regulators to recognize the importance of banks succeeding and prospering, if the ultimate goal is facilitating the ability to provide financial services to customers."

(Image: Fotolia)