Three-quarters of americans want better disclosures on checking accounts – survey by pew

Despite the fact that there are many who complain about the excessive government rules and regulations in the US, at least three-quarters of the American citizens who have checking accounts feel that banks must do a better job of their disclosures on checking accounts.

According to a study conducted by Pew Charitable Trusts, it has been found that a majority of the American citizens want banks to be more forthcoming with the disclosures on their checking accounts. In fact the study has found that most people are in favor of stricter rules and that included 66% of Republicans, 81% of Democrats, 65% of Independents, as well as 62% of Tea Party supporters as well.

Earlier, some people believed that there were too many regulations imposed by the government, but now even those who felt that way earlier seem to have taken a change in stance and want stricter rules imposed on banks.

Although, there are some banks that post some of the details regarding their checking account policies, the information that is provided on their websites are normally very inconsistent and difficult to compare, stated Susan Weinstock, who is the director of Pew’s Safe Checking in the Electronic Age Project – part of the consumer protection arm of the organization.

Weinstock also added that there is no bank that offers an easy disclosure, where you can go online and simply get an overview of whatever the bank is offering. She also draws a comparison and states that while a person shops for groceries, you at least get a chance to check on the food labels and then decide which product you want to buy. Whereas, with these checking accounts you can never do the same thing as it is difficult to compare.

A model disclosure form had been designed by Pew, where all the monthly fee, returned check fees, ATM fees, and overdraft options and policies would be listed.

Now, Pew has called upon the CFPB or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to get banks to use the one-page format. Weinstock feels that the CFPB has more teeth now and it can easily do it. Since, most Americans want to see some reforms; this is something that they will readily agree upon.

The order in which banks processed their transactions is yet another thing that has found huge support, according to the study. The Pew data has been collected from the national survey of 805 checking account holders.