Antikarma

OK this is my first political discussion starter, so go easy on meh. Turns out that, and try to refrain from shock induced heart attack here...... Jack Layton thinks the banks are gouging Canadians.

Theres two different fronts to this story. First, Jack wants to outlaw interac transaction fees. These are the $1.50 fees that you pay every time you take money out of a bank machine (or if you're going to a bar in Yellowknife, $4, but thats another story). Apparently these are illegal in the US and UK. Second, Jack wants to cap credit card interest rates to 5% over prime and force banks to reduce lending rates, citing the 19 billion in bank profits last year, etc etc.

Links to follow of course, but heres the golden question. Is this simply a move by Layton to move into a more populist view, given the failure of his push to get troops out of Afghanistan, or is this a movement that has feet. Now believe me, as a former BMO employee, I know the million ways the banks gouge you, and it is a profit grab. But at the same time, banks are businesses, and consumers pay the fees for a service.

And you know, Jack never lets policy stand in the way of convenience



Jack Launches campaign to stop ABM fees
Layton wants to slash credit-card rates

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james t kirk

If there was ever a bigger moron than Jack Layton, I'd like to know who he is.

Bob Rae wrote that he left the NDP because the party had moved so hard to the left that it was just too much for him to take. Gone is the NDP of Ed Broadbent; replaced with essentially communists in denial. According to Rae, the NDP of today is all about protesting everything. (More fun I suppose.)

Rae himself wrote that he was concerned about how the NDP of today viewed all large companies and businesses with complete and utter disdain. That the only good set up was if it was run by government. He found himself more and more unable to agree with this and left the party forever.

As far as the banks go, if you use one of the ATM's to which you belong (i.e. your bank's), you don't pay a fee. I personally try to live by that. I try to plan to have some cash in my pocket and when I walk by a CIBC, or Royal ABM, I use it with no fee.

If I am in great need of cash and I am too lazy to go to either of my bank's ATMs, then I pay the price. I try to difuse the price by taking out 200 bucks as opposed to my usual 100 bucks to lower the convenience fee.

At the end of the day, the banks are entitled to charge what they feel the public will bear for the right of quick convenient cash.

Fuck I hate Jack Layton.

catback

Can't say I'm familiar with the topic at hand but I hate all the freakin bank fees.

As far as ATM fees go for the convenience of quick cash I see it like this, I put the cash in my bank account, the bank loans out my cash and collects interest on it, I go to another banks ATM and I get charged to get my own cash? Sure I went to another bank other than my own but that bank already makes its profits and does business with my bank which in turn makes money off my money so why should I get charged by either bank and if such ATM usage really affects their costs I surely don't believe it costs them as much as they charge me and more to the point they wouldn't be making any money if people didn't give them money to lend out and collect interest on.

Banks suck!

Leto

hmm. I've always been startled by the way banks rationalize the use of sevice fees. An I'm an ex-National Trust systems guy myself. I used to code the new fees into the programs.

The way I see it, it is free enterprise, what ever the customer is willing to pay, that's what they can get away with charging. When the banks rationalise that the cost of the ATM systems have to be financed somehow (I heard that yesterday on the news) I wonder where the benefits and avoided costs went to when 50% or more of their customers stopped using tellers in favour of the machines? I know: right into profits.

I'm less for legislating the fees out of existence then I am to opening the banking industry up to international competition, where I am sure almost all service fees will disappear as Canadian banks learn to be more efficient in investing versus supporting a financial programme on the backs of user fees.


I think layton's position has legs, but they are very short small legs which will tire quickly.

Charlatan

Interesting, I didn't know that ATM charges where illegal in the US and UK. That doesn't sound like something the US or the UK would outlaw, maybe France but not them.

I can agree with Leto that opening the market to foreign competition would certainly drive the whole competition angle. But as long as the door is closed to foreign banks we can't rely on the banks to self-regulate.

It would be an interesting test of competition if one of the banks suddenly offered the ATM services for free. Would people switch banks?

Also, I seem to recall that at one time the CIBC actually gave me money (a cent or two) when I used the ATM.

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fresnelly

I can't imagine the NDP will really push for legislation on this. There are ways for smart consumers to keep their fees down despite the Banks' rapacious gluttony for them.

I remember when independent "White" machines started popping up in stores and other remote locations and introduced their extra fees. How did the banks compete with these convenient yet more expensive machines? Add their own extra fees of course! Oh, and continue to aggressively shut down small branches everywhere.

Jerks.

I'd like to see more competition from foriegn banks, but I don't want to see a wild, west environment where every mother and her dog offers "banking" services. In such a situation, I'd probably stick with one of the majors anyway.

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Yakk

Banks in Canada are regulated. This means entering the Banking industry in Canada has government-enforced barriers to entry that protect their ogopoly.

Once you have the government protecting your ogopoly, you should be subjet to government regulation.

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Last edited by JHVH : 10-29-4004 BC at 09:00 PM. Reason: Time for a rest.