Tighter checking rules has found broad support according to survey

Everyone seems to be in favor of regulations that require banks to be more forthcoming with the fees they charge on checking accounts.

According to a survey conducted by The Pew Charitable Trust that was released on Thursday, it has been found that around 75% of the American citizens who have checking accounts want the banks to disclose the fees that they charge as well as other terms on their checking accounts.

The study has found that most people are in favor of stricter rules – 81% of Democrats, 66% of Republicans, and 62% of Tea Party supporters.

In fact, even those who have felt that there are a lot of government regulations in place already, now feel that these stricter rules for banks are absolutely necessary.

There are some banks who post some of the details regarding checking accounts on their respective websites, but the information that is given out is always inconsistent and difficult to compare, stated Susan Weinstock, who is the director of Pew’s Safe Checking in the Electronic Age Project, which is also a part of the consumer protection arm of the organization.

Weinstock also added that no bank has easy disclosures, where one can go online and get all the relevant details easily.

For instance, when you shop for things like groceries, you can always check the facts such as sodium content on the food labels before deciding on what you want to buy. However, you cannot do the same thing with the checking accounts, she added.

A model disclosure form has been designed by Pew, where it would list the monthly fees, overdraft options, returned check fees, ATM fees, and other such details regarding the policies in checking accounts.

The organization has called upon the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to insist that the banks use the one-page format. Weinstock claims that the CFPB had the authority to do that and this is something that most Americans agree upon, as they wish to see these reforms.

The study also has found huge support for banks to disclose the way transactions are processed and the order in which they are processed. Most of the banks process debit withdrawals and checks by the dollar amount, which is from the highest to the lowest, instead of the order in which the transactions take place. This is a ploy to increase the overdraft fees that the banks charge the customers. Many banks are facing class-action lawsuits due to these excessive overdraft fees.