What the Fed Didn’t Do
This is a red-letter day, no question about it. The Fed gave us opt-in, which means that new and existing account holders have to sign up for overdraft protection rather than be automatically enrolled when they open an account. But the fight is far from over. As Eric Halperin of the Center For Responsidle Lending, an interviewee in “Overdrawn!”, said:
“We appreciate that the Fed chose to implement the strongest overdraft reform rule it was considering, namely requiring banks and credit unions to ask new and existing customers before charging overdraft fees on debit card transactions. But this improvement is undermined by the Fed’s failure to propose or enact necessary safeguards against a host of unfair practices.”
“Overdrawn!” Screening on Capitol Hill - Nader & Maloney will both be there!
On November 19, which happens to be my birthday, “Overdrawn!” will screen on Capitol Hill. Here’s an electronic version of the press release, with links:
11/6/09 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Karney Hatch, karneyhatch@gmail. com
“Overdrawn!” Screening on Capitol Hill
Ralph Nader to head panel of experts at Q & A
WASHINGTON, D.C. - - “Overdrawn!”, a documentary on predatory lending focused on overdraft fees, will screen in the Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2220, at 5:30 PM on November 19. The film will be introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), whose Overdraft Protection Act in the House was recently given new momentum by the introduction of similar legislation in the Senate sponsored by Senators Dodd, Schumer, Brown and Reed. A question and answer period with a panel of experts will follow the film, featuring Ralph Nader, Ed Mzierwinski of USPIRG, and Lauren Saunders of the National Consumer Law Center.
“Overdrawn!” follows director Karney Hatch as he tries to get to the bottom of the overdraft fee racket. The film features interviews with Ralph Nader, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Eric Halperin from the Center for Responsible Lending, a loan shark, and a former VP from Bank of America. The documentary also examines the larger questions of corporate domination of government and society with author and filmmaker Joel Bakan (“The Corporation”). In addition, the film explores the consumer revolt raging against the banks in Britain, including an interview with Mike Dailly, 2007 Scottish Solicitor of the Year, who is one of the primary leaders of the fight against the banks. The film’s happy ending is Hatch having his overdraft fees refunded by Wells Fargo after taking the bank to small claims court.
Word has been spreading about “Overdrawn!” since its first screening in Portland in 2007. In March of 2008 a condensed version of the film ran on Current TV, the cable channel co-owned by Al Gore, under the title “How to Beat the Bank”. In May of that year, Carolyn Bigda wrote a column for the Chicago Tribune, and in June of 2008 NPR’s All Things Considered discussed the film during a piece on bank fees. Film Threat said in their review that “the documentary sets itself apart from most of its peers by actually offering solutions rather than just exposing problems.”
An hour long “educational cut” of the film is being distributed to universities and libraries by Filmaker’s Library in New York under the title “Rip Off: Banks Exploiting Consumers”; distribution is still being sought for “Overdrawn!” itself, though DVDs are for sale on Amazon.com.
The trailer for the film is available on the website: www.overdrawnmovie.net
Happy Birthday to me!
Debtor’s Revolt
A woman pissed off about Bank of America jacking her interest rate up to almost 30% has called on others in her situation to join her in a debtor’s revolt. Even a year ago I’m not sure I could have supported such extreme action - I’m in favor of legal change. Now that the banks have received hundreds of billions in bailouts and their practices vis a vis predatory lending have not improved appreciably, I’m all for it. And her video is coming up on half a million hits, so someone is listening…
I’m definitely going to score one of her T-shirts as well.