STRATEGIC PARTNERS
January 29, 2002
MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin state Rep. John Lehman is making another attempt at banning convenience fees at ATMs, according to the Milwaukee Journal.
Lehman (D-Racine) has introduced a proposal to ban ATM surcharges in the 2001 session of the Legislature. Last year a similar bill was killed in the Senate on a 17-16 vote.
"To make the argument that (ATM access) is an optional convenience that either consumers need to pay for or they can do without is, in my estimation, at least arguable," Lehman told the Journal.
Lehman acknowledges the bill could run into trouble if it can be shown -- as bank lobbyists contend -- that the law would put state-chartered community banks at a disadvantage with federally chartered banks.
As the bill is proposed, the fee ban would apply to both state and federal banks. Yet U.S. courts have held that bans enacted by cities and states don't apply to federally chartered banks.
The potential bias against state banks is just one of the points bankers raise in fighting Lehman's bill.
"There is nothing pro-consumer about banning ATM charges to non-customers," said Kurt R. Bauer, director of government relations for the Wisconsin Bankers Association. "If a financial institution can't recoup the cost of placing an ATM in a location -- a remote location in particular -- guess what? They're not going to do it."
Attempts to prohibit ATM fees elsewhere have failed. Last summer, a federal judge in California ruled that the National Bank Act, which allows ATM fees, pre-empted local ordinances in San Francisco and Santa Monica. The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency also says that the National Bank Act authorizes national banks to set and charge fees for ATM service.
