Yesterday’s Times article on overdraft fees is noteworthy for two reasons.
- In almost every instance, credit unions were grouped right in with banks in the discussion about how financial institutions are addressing their overdraft woes. In the reporters’ eyes there is little difference.
- However, in their final flourish, the writers praise UW Credit Union for its alternate approach and transparency. The quote from UW: “While we expect some financial institutions may aggressively market the idea of a consumer ‘opt in’ within the boundaries of this regulation, we have no such plans.”
In other words, overdraft may be absolutely important to you internally. But the way to get noticed is to swim with the consumer protection current.
(It also doesn’t hurt if you’ve got a well-earned 9% net worth ratio to work with)
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Financial institutions (1) with self-preservationist motives and/or (2) that insist on doing the absolute bare minimum for consumers will have a rough go in the post-meltdown era.
Adopt a defensive, self-serving posture and suffer.
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How far from our philosophy of “people helping people” (in essence, doing the right thing at the right time for the little guy) and the seven cooperative principles is consumer protection?
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