Council to Consider ATM-Fee Ban
A day after the Santa Monica City Council gave preliminary approval to a measure restricting ATM bank fees, officials said a similar proposal is scheduled for consideration by the Los Angeles City Council next Wednesday.
Los Angeles Councilman Alex Padilla of Pacoima introduced a motion, seconded by Councilman Mike Hernandez, calling for a study of the feasibility of barring banks from charging extra fees to people who use their ATM machines but do not have accounts at the banks.
“ATM fees are out of control,” Padilla said Thursday. “They’ve doubled and tripled in the last few years . . . “
John Stafford of the California Bankers Assn. said only the federal government can regulate national banks, so ordinances under consideration in Santa Monica, San Francisco and Los Angeles would never withstand scrutiny by the courts.
“Municipalities, the federal courts would tell us, don’t have legislative authority over nationally chartered banks,” Stafford said.
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