I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1061

To authorize permanently an annual survey and report by the Board of

Governors of the Federal Reserve System on fees charged for retail

banking services.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 15, 2001

Mr. LAFALCE (for himself, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Ms. LEE, Mrs.

JONES of Ohio, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. CLAY, Mr. HINCHEY, and Ms.

SCHAKOWSKY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Financial Services

A BILL

To authorize permanently an annual survey and report by

the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

on fees charged for retail banking services.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Consumer Banking

5 Services Costs Assessment Act of 2001’’.
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1 SEC. 2. CONSUMER BANKING COSTS ASSESSMENT.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1002 of the Financial In3 stitutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of

4 1989 (12 U.S.C. 1811 note) is amended to read as follows:

5 ‘‘SEC. 1002. SURVEY OF BANK FEES AND SERVICES.

6 ‘‘(a) ANNUAL SURVEY REQUIRED.—The Board of

7 Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall obtain an8 nually a sample, which is representative by type and size

9 of the institution and geographic location, of the following

10 retail banking services and products provided by insured

11 depository institutions and insured credit unions (along

12 with related fees and minimum balances):

13 ‘‘(1) Checking and other transaction accounts.

14 ‘‘(2) Negotiable order of withdrawal and sav15 ings accounts.

16 ‘‘(3) Automated teller machine transactions.

17 ‘‘(4) Other electronic transactions.

18 ‘‘(5) Credit Cards.

19 ‘‘(b) MINIMUM SURVEY REQUIREMENT.—The annual

20 survey described in subsection (a) shall meet the following

21 minimum requirements:

22 ‘‘(1) CHECKING AND OTHER TRANSACTION AC23 COUNTS.—Data on checking and transaction ac24 counts shall include, at a minimum, the following:

25 ‘‘(A) Monthly and annual fees and min26 imum balances to avoid such fees.
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1 ‘‘(B) Minimum opening balances.

2 ‘‘(C) Check processing fees.

3 ‘‘(D) Check printing fees.

4 ‘‘(E) Balance inquiry fees.

5 ‘‘(F) Fees imposed for using a teller or

6 other institution employee.

7 ‘‘(G) Stop payment order fees.

8 ‘‘(H) Nonsufficient fund fees.

9 ‘‘(I) Overdraft fees.

10 ‘‘(J) Deposit items returned fees.

11 ‘‘(K) Availability of no-cost or low-cost ac12 counts for consumers who maintain low bal13 ances.

14 ‘‘(2) NEGOTIABLE ORDER OF WITHDRAWAL AC15 COUNTS AND SAVINGS ACCOUNTS.—Data on nego16 tiable order of withdrawal accounts and savings ac17 counts shall include, at a minimum, the following:

18 ‘‘(A) Monthly and annual fees and min19 imum balances to avoid such fees.

20 ‘‘(B) Minimum opening balances.

21 ‘‘(C) Rate at which interest is paid to con22 sumers.

23 ‘‘(D) Check processing fees for negotiable

24 order of withdrawal accounts.
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1 ‘‘(E) Check printing fees for negotiable

2 order of withdrawal accounts.

3 ‘‘(F) Balance inquiry fees.

4 ‘‘(G) Fees imposed for using a teller or

5 other institution employee.

6 ‘‘(H) Stop payment order fees for nego7 tiable order of withdrawal accounts.

8 ‘‘(I) Nonsufficient fund fees for negotiable

9 order of withdrawal accounts.

10 ‘‘(J) Overdraft fees for negotiable order of

11 withdrawal accounts.

12 ‘‘(K) Deposit items returned fees.

13 ‘‘(L) Availability of no-cost or low-cost ac14 counts for consumers who maintain low bal15 ances.

16 ‘‘(3) AUTOMATED TELLER TRANSACTIONS.—

17 Data on automated teller machine transactions shall

18 include, at a minimum, the following:

19 ‘‘(A) Annual and monthly fees.

20 ‘‘(B) Card fees.

21 ‘‘(C) Fees charged to customers for with22 drawals, deposits, transfers between accounts,

23 balance inquiries through institution-owned ma24 chines.
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1 ‘‘(D) Fees charged to customers for with2 drawals, deposits, transfers between accounts,

3 balance inquiries through machines owned by

4 others.

5 ‘‘(E) Fees charged to noncustomers for

6 withdrawals, deposits, transfers between ac7 counts, balance inquiries through institution8 owned machines.

9 ‘‘(F) Point-of-sale transaction fees.

10 ‘‘(G) Surcharges.

11 ‘‘(4) OTHER ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS.—

12 Data on other electronic transactions shall include,

13 at a minimum, the following:

14 ‘‘(A) Wire transfer fees.

15 ‘‘(B) Fees related to payments made over

16 the Internet or through other electronic means.

17 ‘‘(5) CREDIT CARD CHARGES AND FEES.—Data

18 related to credit cards shall include, at a minimum,

19 the following:

20 ‘‘(A) Application fees.

21 ‘‘(B) Annual and monthly fees.

22 ‘‘(C) Rates of interest charged for pur23 chases and cash advances, when an account is

24 not in default.
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1 ‘‘(D) Rates of interest charged for pur2 chases and cash advances, when an account is

3 in default.

4 ‘‘(E) Average annual finance charges paid

5 by customers.

6 ‘‘(F) Late payment fees.

7 ‘‘(G) Cash advance and convenience check

8 fees.

9 ‘‘(H) Balance transfer fees.

10 ‘‘(I) Over-the-credit-limit fees.

11 ‘‘(J) Foreign currency conversion fees.

12 ‘‘(6) OTHER FEES AND CHARGES.—Data on

13 any other fees and charges that the Board of Gov14 ernors of the Federal Reserve System determines to

15 be appropriate to meet the purposes of this section.

16 ‘‘(c) ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS REQUIRED.—

17 ‘‘(1) PREPARATION.—The Board of Governors

18 of the Federal Reserve System shall prepare a report

19 of the results of each survey conducted pursuant to

20 subsections (a) and (b).

21 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF THE REPORT.—In addition

22 to the data required to be collected pursuant to sub23 sections (a) and (b), each report prepared pursuant

24 to paragraph (1) shall include a description of any

25 discernible trend, in the Nation as a whole, in each
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1 of the 50 States, and in each metropolitan statistical

2 area (as defined by the Director of the Office of

3 Management and Budget), in the cost and avail4 ability of the retail banking services, including those

5 described in subsections (a) and (b) (including re6 lated fees and minimum balances), that delineates

7 differences between institutions on the basis of the

8 type of institution, the size of the institution and

9 any engagement of the institution in multistate ac10 tivity.

11 ‘‘(3) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—The Board

12 of Governors of the Federal Reserve System shall

13 submit an annual report to the Congress not later

14 than June 1, 2002, and not later than June 1 of

15 each subsequent year.

16 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the

17 term ‘insured depository institution’ has the meaning

18 given such term in section 3 of the Federal Deposit Insur19 ance Act, and the term ‘insured credit union’ has the

20 meaning given such term in section 101 of the Federal

21 Credit Union Act.’’.

22 (b) REPEAL OF SUNSET PROVISION.—Section 108 of

23 the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Effi24 ciency Act of 1994 is hereby repealed.
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1 (c) NONAPPLICABILITY OF OTHER PROVISION OF

2 LAW.—Section 3003(a)(1) of the Federal Reports Elimi3 nation and Sunset Act of 1995 (31 U.S.C. 1113 note)

4 shall not apply to any report required to be submitted

5 under section 1002(b) of Financial Institutions Reform,

6 Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989.

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