Hmmm... how it works in Germany (and most of Europe IIRC):
Your bank account is usually fully free of charge, if you get a certain amount of money in each month (i.e. a normal paycheck). Doing transactions and account management online? Free. what you have to pay for; is if you are to lazy to retrieve your account status monthly from a printer in the bank office. Then it's send to you and you'll have to pay the postage.
Getting cash from the ATM? it's free if it's a) your own bank's ATM b) if your bank belongs to a cash group (which mostly are, and ATMS that are free for you in both senses are common). And free over the WHOLE country, not just one or some federal states.
Paying with your debit card? It's free for the customer. Maybe the merchant restricts to minimum amount of purchase to 10EUR because of the debit transaction fee imposed by the bank on the merchant, but remember: getting cash is free, and almost all people here pay either cash or debit.
On the other side, credit cards or PayPal cost you additional fees because the banks are very greedy regarding such methods of payment, and milk the merchants.
I am strangely amused why in the US, fucks up so many (simple) things and procedures... be it cellphone plans or bank account / transaction handling / shopping online or in-store / digital cable / ensurances /etc. As an end-customer, you are getting ass-fucked every day.
But being as the banks are greedy suckers, it's not really keeping me wondering why your Gov wanna curb the fees.
Because that's actually what keeps merchants over here in DE accepting credit cards more: the fees that are imposed on them from the banks are substantially higher than in the US.
...44 cents for a simple electronic transaction? That's called "vampirism" in my eyes. Shit. Are the electrons moving through gold wire, or what? Another reason to not have a residential address in the US.
It's not regulating itself if the market is free, that's simply neo-liberal nonsense that was repelled several times during the last decades.
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Re: Then you're missing the bigger picture if you blame the banks.
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