Broad support for tighter checking rules according to survey

Now, banks are required to clearly disclose the fees they charge on checking accounts. According to a new survey that was conducted, it shows that even those who had initially complained against excessive government regulations in the past, were now in favor of the change in rules.

The survey has been conducted by The Pew Charitable Trusts and it was released on Thursday. About three-quarters of the Americans who had checking accounts actually backed the rules that made banks more accountable in disclosing the terms and conditions on their accounts.

There was a favorable view of this rule among 81% of Democrats, 65% of independents, and 66% of Republicans, and 62% of the Tea Party supporters.

Even the ones that believed that the government regulations were just right or way too much – were actually in support of banks doing a better job by disclosing the charges and fees.

There were some banks that posted details regarding policies on checking accounts, on their official websites. However, it has been found that the information that is provided is hard to compare and inconsistent as well, stated Susan Weinstock, Director of Pew’s Safe Checking in the Electronic Age Project, which is a part of the consumer protecting arm of the organization.

Weinstock also stated that no bank really had an easy disclosure, where you could go online easily in order to get an overview of what was being offered.

While you shop for groceries, you can check for the sodium content by looking at the food labels. This way, you can at least make a comparison on one can of peas versus the other. Whereas, something similar to that cannot be done with a checking account, she stated.

Now, a model disclosure form has been designed by Pew, where it lists ATM fees, monthly fees, overdraft options, returned check fees, and other such policies. The organization has now called for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to pressurize banks to use the one-page format. Weinstock states that the CFPB had the authority to do so now. This is what the Americans wanted and they can now agree upon these things, she added.

According to the study, it was also found that there was broad support for the way in which banks processed the order of transactions. Most banks were processing debit withdrawals and checks, from the highest to the lowest dollar amount, rather than the order in which they take place. This was another way to increase overdraft fees.