Is it legal to ban ATM surcharges?
A. Yes. Congress could ban ATM surcharges and so could bank regulators, including the the chief national bank regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). However, they have chosen not to do so, leaving it up to the states and cities.The banking industry’ campaign contributions and high-powered lobbying efforts have blocked bi-partisan efforts to limit their power at the federal level. State and local governments also have the power to ban the surcharges, under the federal consumer protection law, the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, which expressly reserves powers to local government to pass stronger laws than Congress, as long as those laws do not conflict with any federal law. The banking industry and the OCC claim that ATMs operated by nationally-chartered banks are exempt from state and local ordinances, relying on their interpretation of the National Bank Act to assert that ATMs of national banks are regulated exclusively by federal law. However, even if the Nati
