STRATEGIC PARTNERS
March 18, 2002
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Iowa's banking office lifted its ban on ATM surcharges so that state chartered banks can remain competitive with national banks, Superintendent of Banking Thomas Gronstal said in a letter to banks dated March 15.
National banks won the right to collect surcharges on March 6 when a U.S. District Court judge struck down the state's ban on banks charging a user's fee for ATM transactions.
Iowa Solicitor General Dennis Johnson said that the state's attorney general's office had no plans to appeal the decision, according to a report in the Des Moines Register.
A spokesman for the Iowa Credit Union League told the Registerthat he was disappointed that Iowa -- the last state to ban ATM surcharges -- won't appeal the decision.
"It's really too bad that the attorney general's office wasn't willing to take up that fight," Murray Williams said.
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against Iowa banking laws in the past, so "it's pretty clear what will happen" if the state appeals, Johnson said.
